Baker Mayfield Throws Shade At Hue Jackson After Bengals Move

TheSportster

By Rodrigo Lobato

Published Nov 27, 2018

Baker Mayfield and Hue Jackson appear to not be on the best of terms after the latter moved to the Bengals, and his latest comments prove that.

Apparently, this year’s first overall pick has been holding a grudge against Hue Jackson since he decided to join the coaching staff of Browns’ divisional rivals, the Cincinnati Bengals.

On Sunday, Cleveland could celebrate for the first time in more than three years a win outside of The Land. The Browns triumphed 35-20 over Cincinnati, snapping a streak of 25 straight road losses. However, the victory itself may not have been the main reason why the Ohio franchise players were the proudest of, but due to the rival. They ended a run of seven straight losses to the Bengals, where it just so happens that Hue Jackson—Browns’ former head coach a month ago—is the current special assistant to Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis.

But beating his ex-coach wasn’t enough for the rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield. Browns’ first pick had to let Hue Jackson know that when he decided to move to Cincinnati, they became rivals. After the game, when former Browns coach tried to embrace Mayfield on the field, Mayfield resisted and only gave him a stiff handshake, turning the encounter into an awkward one. During the postgame conference, the quarterback shared his thoughts on his relationship with Jackson.

"Left Cleveland, goes down to Cincinnati," Mayfield said when asked about his feelings about his former coach. "I don't know. That's just somebody that's in our locker room asking for us to play for him and then goes to a different team we play twice a year. Everybody can have their spin on it, but that's how I feel."

After two years and a record of 3–36–1 with the Browns, Jackson was released in October this year, two weeks later he joined the Bengals for the third time in his career.

"It's just like any rivalry game,'' Baker added. "That's how it is now. That's how I'm going to treat it every time we play him, but there's no hate. That's just how it is. That's how I'm going to treat it, and I think that's how the team should treat it too.''

However, it comes as no surprise Baker’s comments. There were already reports that the 2017 Heisman Trophy was not a fan of Jackson according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport, who reported that “From what I hear, Baker Mayfield is not going to exactly miss Hue Jackson."

The signal-caller wasn’t the only Browns player who took advantage of Sunday’s game to show his disagreement with Jackson’s decision. After intercepting, safety Damarious Randall handed the ball to Jackson, who only grabbed it and patted Randall on the helmet.

"That's something I'd always said I would do," Randall said.