Baker Mayfield stands behind his criticism of former Browns coach Hue Jackson, saying the public doesn't know the details of the coach's time in Cleveland.
And Mayfield also said he doesn't plan to share those details.
“No, everyone likes to make things a bigger deal than they really are, that’s just how it is,’’ Mayfield told reporters Wednesday, when asked if he regretted his recent comments about Jackson. “People took it as me personally attacking Hue, but that’s not it. It’s the fact that I get to have my own opinion on how it transpired and he gets to do what he wants. That’s how it is.
“Although I’m an athlete, I’m not a cookie-cutter quarterback, never have been, never will be. I speak my mind. That’s just how I am, so I didn’t like the move and people don’t have to care. I’m not looking for anybody’s approval. I don’t regret any of it. It’s about this team and what we have and we have to stick together and play together.”
The Browns quarterback initially came under fire when he appeared to snub Jackson, now an assistant coach with the Bengals, after Cleveland's 35-20 win over Cincinnati Sunday. Monday, ESPN's "First Take" analyst Damien Woody said, "Baker Mayfield needs to grow up." That prompted Mayfield to respond on the "First Take" Instagram page, where he posted, "I didn't lose 30+ games (and) be fake …"
Mayfield didn't back down from using "fake" to describe Jackson.
“There’s just things that happened inside the building that I’m not going to get into detail with, it’s in-house information and it doesn’t matter,’’ Mayfield said.
“We've moved on. We have our coach right now. We have our play-caller, and we're having success, so we need to focus on that."
Mayfield seemed to tire of talk about the "fake" comment. According to Cleveland.com, when a reporter later asked another question about the issue, Mayfield said, “You're caught up on that word, aren't ya?"