Baker Mayfield was the first pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, and he is someone who people have very strong opinions about. And whether you love him or hate him, you can’t deny that the new Browns quarterback made college football more interesting during his time at Texas Tech and Oklahoma.
9 things that made Baker Mayfield the most likable villain in the NFL Draft
Mayfield kept things interesting during his college years.
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
Mayfield’s performance at Oklahoma was impressive enough to earn him the Heisman Trophy following the 2017 season. He also pissed off a lot of folks and issued a handful of apologies along the way. Here are Mayfield’s most memorable antics.
That time he taunted Kansas mercilessly
There’s no love lost between Mayfield and his Big 12 rivals, the Kansas Jayhawks. To be fair, they started it when they refused to shake Mayfield’s hand before the coin flip when the two teams met in Week 12 of last season.
This turned into Mayfield and a Kansas player going toe to toe after the coin toss. They had to be separated by an official. Mayfield taunted players with a crotch grab that earned him a partial-game suspension the following week against West Virginia, and he taunted Kansas fans by telling them to stick to basketball.
Mayfield later apologized. But he also dropped 257 passing yards and three touchdowns on the Jayhawks in Oklahoma’s 41-3 win, which was the biggest troll job of all.
That time he planted Oklahoma’s flag in Ohio Stadium
As an Ohio State fan, this was not my favorite Baker Mayfield moment and might not endear him to Browns fans. But it was a quintessentially Mayfield thing to do. After the Sooners’ 31-16 road win over the Buckeyes, Mayfield did the unthinkable: He planted an Oklahoma flag on Ohio Stadium’s 50-yard line.
Mayfield was still salty toward the Buckeyes for singing Carmen Ohio on the Sooners’ field after Ohio State’s 45-24 win in Norman in Week 2 of the 2016 season, which is a thing they do after each game. Mayfield apologized after the fact for the flag-planting incident, but it’s one that Buckeyes fans won’t soon forget.
That time he sonned the hell out of Baylor
Who’s Baylor’s daddy? Why, it’s Baker Mayfield, according to Baker Mayfield.
Before Oklahoma’s 49-41 win over the Bears last season, there was a skirmish of sorts between players. Mayfield intervened with an admonition.
“You forgot who daddy is,” Mayfield said. “I’m going to have to spank you today.”
It ended up being one of Oklahoma’s closer wins of the season, but Mayfield kept his promise with 283 yards, three touchdowns, and no picks.
That time he caught a trick play TD
And it was a beauty. Just before halftime in the Rose Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal, Mayfield caught this wide open score to give the Sooners a 31-17 lead going into the half.
That wouldn’t hold. Georgia went on to win 54-48 in a double overtime thriller. But that doesn’t change anything about the fact that this was a dope-ass play.
And oh, yeah, about that ...
That time he played in the Rose Bowl after battling the flu all week
This flu season was brutal. I had it and the most strenuous thing I did for a solid week was take my dog outside, which aggressively pushed me beyond my flu-imposed physical limits. Mayfield had flu-like symptoms in the week leading up to the Rose Bowl. He had 287 yards, two passing touchdowns, one receiving touchdown, and a pick in the loss.
That time he had a messy divorce with Texas Tech
In 2013, Mayfield became the first true freshman walk-on to open a season as an FBS team’s starting QB. He had a good year, but he slipped down the depth chart after getting hurt a couple of prolific games in. He wound up transferring and walking on at Oklahoma, and his camp and the Texas Tech community traded plenty of barbs in the aftermath. While Mayfield was in Lubbock with Oklahoma in 2014, he got kicked out of a local restaurant.
That time he made a list of media members who doubted him
Everyone has a take about Mayfield. He’s been compared to Ryan Leaf (by Leaf) and Johnny Manziel, and at least one team had a private investigator following him around.
Mayfield won’t forget. He’s got a list of media members who have doubted him and a collection of screen caps on his phone to remind him of the disrespect and to motivate him. He’s basically the Arya Stark of this draft class.
That time he got drunk and was tackled by a cop
Who among us doesn’t have some kind of embarrassing story about drinking too much and having some kind of run-in with the cops during our college years? Mayfield: He’s just like us, except for his run-in with the cops was especially rough.
He was charged with public intoxication and disorderly conduct, and it led to yet another Mayfield apology.
That’s quite a list. Now we’ll get to see if Mayfield will also make the NFL more interesting in his rookie season.
Oh, and jorts ...
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