Don’t call Baker Mayfield a bad teammate unless you want to get roasted

Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield plays with a gigantic chip on his shoulder. So Fox Sports’ Colin Cowherd probably should’ve known Mayfield wasn’t going to take criticism sitting down during an interview Thursday.

Especially when it was half-baked, lazy criticism made in bad faith.

Mayfield, 23, hasn’t always been a squeaky clean player between the lines. He apologized for planting an Oklahoma flag in the middle of the Ohio State logo in Ohio Stadium after a win in September 2017, and apologized again in November when taunted Kansas players by grabbing his crotch.

For much of the time before the 2018 NFL Draft, he had to convince teams he could rein in his competitiveness and pettiness when necessary. That would’ve been a fair criticism.

Instead, Cowherd insinuated that Mayfield is a bad teammate for ... not celebrating every single touchdown by joining his teammates in the end zone?

It was right about here when you knew Mayfield wasn’t going to hear it:

As Mayfield immediately points out to Cowherd, he celebrated with his teammates on three other touchdowns and ran out of frame in the video to go to the Oklahoma student section.

What Mayfield didn’t point out is that quarterbacks jog off the field after touchdowns all the time. Do you think Aaron Rodgers runs to the end zone enthusiastically every single time he throws a touchdown? No. He “Discount Double Checks” and jogs to the sideline. What a bad a teammate.

In his first months with the Browns, Mayfield has had nothing but praise for his teammates and starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor, offering further proof he’s a good player to have in the locker room.

When Mayfield calls out Cowherd for suggesting he’s a bad teammate — something his Oklahoma teammates would undoubtedly, emphatically deny — the Fox Sports host starts backtracking.

“No, I don’t think that. I think sometimes your judgement is a tad off, and I think the NFL is a judgement league. The game is so fast. The windows get really, really tight and really, really small. You’ve got to make decisions really, really fast. In college, you’ve got that Orlando Brown, you’ve got a little more time. I don’t love that decision. I don’t love it.”

Sure, Colin.