Mayfield won’t walk any comments back
Baker Mayfield won’t back down, won’t change. Not for Hue Jackson or critics or anyone.
Don’t bother telling the Browns’ rookie quarterback how he should act. He’s not listening.
“I’m not a cookie-cutter quarterback,” Mayfield said. “Never have been, never will be.”
Mayfield said Wednesday he doesn’t regret calling former Browns coach Jackson “fake” and promised to stay true to himself.
After throwing four touchdown passes and leading the Browns to a 35-20 win on Sunday in Cincinnati, Mayfield was cool toward Jackson when they met on the field and then said he was unhappy with the coach’s decision to take a job with the Bengals, a division rival, just weeks after he was fired by the Browns.
“People took it as me personally attacking Hue, but that’s not it,” he said. “It’s the fact that I get to have my own opinion and he gets to do what he wants. ... I didn’t like the (Jackson) move and people don’t have to care. I’m not looking for anybody’s approval.”
Mayfield says he’ll deal with detractors the way he always has.
“I have an opinion ... but the most important thing is me doing my job and I can manage both,” he said.
Reid’s testing fatigue: Eric Reid said he’s being targeted by the NFL because of his pending collusion case after being drug tested five times since signing with the Panthers on Sept. 27.
NFL drug screenings are random, but the Panthers Saints (10-1) at Cowboys (6-5)
Saints 31, Cowboys 21
safety said this year for him it has been “excessive.” He said in a normal 17-week season he’s tested “maybe twice.”
Reid believes the extra tests are related to fallout from his collusion case against the NFL which alleges owners conspired to keep him out of the league because of his decision to kneel during the national anthem.
Reid said he doesn’t have anything to hide since he’s never failed a drug test, but he added it needs to be talked about because “it’s like stop-and-frisk — it’s just wrong.”
Extra points: The Jaguars could be without CB Jalen Ramsey against the Colts. Coach Doug Marrone said he has a “high level of concern” regarding Ramsey’s availability. Ramsey missed practice because of a knee injury. ... The Falcons placed DE Derrick Shelby on injured reserve with a groin injury. He is the Falcons’ seventh former starter to land on IR. ... Jaguars RB Leonard Fournette’s appeal of a one-game suspension for fighting was denied. ... The Jets placed LG James Carpenter on injured reserve with a shoulder injury, ending his season. Carpenter had started 58 straight games.