Mayfield holds his own with critic
Former University of Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield didn’t back down during an interview with one of his biggest critics, sports personality Colin Cowherd, during an interview Thursday.
After months of jabs and critiques from brash FS1 personality Colin Cowherd, former Oklahoma quarterback and No. 1 NFL Draft pick Baker Mayfield hit back.
Wearing a white sweatshirt with "Undraftable" — a nod to one of Cowherd's infamous critiques — below his bandana-ed signature BM logo, Mayfield strolled onto Cowherd's set on the The Herd with Colin Cowherd and stood up for himself in a 15-minute interview Thursday morning.
"You won the interview with that," Cowherd said, gesturing to Mayfield's sweatshirt after the first segment. "You dropped the mic right there."
Mayfield, who also did an interview with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe earlier in the day to promote an upcoming four-part documentary series about his path to the NFL Draft on Fox, came out strong from Cowherd’s opening questions. The host started by asking the Cleveland quarterback about his sideline antics and well-publicized trash talk.
"What's going through your mind when you're doing that during games?" Cowherd asked.
"Have you played football past high school?" Mayfield responded.
"I quarterbacked, and I sucked," Cowherd said.
"Past high school?" Mayfield repeated.
"Well no, not past high school," Cowherd said.
"Football is a violent, competitive game," Mayfield said. "That's the way it was always meant to be played. You're supposed to play it with an edge. You're actually trying to impose your will on the other person to win. There's things that come with it. No, my mistakes are not things that need to be a franchise quarterback, but within football, there's a lot of trash talk, a lot of stuff that is not been made aware to everybody. ...
"There's stuff that's said on the field that you can't repeat, no matter where you're at. Some of my stuff, yeah there were mistakes, but I've definitely learned from it. I wasn't a franchise quarterback then, but I'm hoping to be one in the future. I can learn from my mistakes and do that."
Later, Cowherd showed Mayfield a brief clip of him running away from his teammates and toward the stands to celebrate a late touchdown in the Ohio State win.
To Cowherd, Mayfield's actions showed that he was a bad teammate. Mayfield swiftly dismantled that argument.
"Where are you going over there?" Cowherd asked, watching as Mayfield run off the screen, away from his teammates hugging in the end zone.
"Our band is over there," Mayfield said. "Our student section is over there and then straight back to our sideline."
"What about your team?" Cowherd asked, cutting in.
"Did you watch the rest of the game?" Mayfield said, interjecting.
"I did," Cowherd said. "I watched the whole —"
"You did?" Mayfield said, cutting him off again. "So you saw me celebrate with my teammates? Like the three touchdowns before that, too? You pulled the one clip of me running right there to our fans and people that traveled well to that game, first of all. And then you didn't show the rest of the clip of me going to our sideline?"
"No, no, no," Cowherd said. "You have to go to the sideline. You're not going to go to the hospital. Where are you going to go after the touchdown?"
"You're acting like I just ran away from everybody," Mayfield said.
"Well you did," Cowherd said, "but then you came back and circled around to the sideline."
"What is this?" Mayfield responded. "A five second clip where you're showing me off the screen right there?"
"I'd like you to be with your teammates," Cowherd said.
"Watch the rest of the game," Mayfield said. "I was . ... I feel like you're going for the fact that I'm not a team guy. I'm selfish? Is that what you're shooting for right here?"
"Um, no, I don't think that," Cowherd said. "I think sometimes your judgement is just a tad off and I think the NFL is a judgement league because 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 guy. Got a little more time. I don't love that decision. I don't love it."
"The celebration?" Mayfield asked. "Do you see what people do in the league now, celebration-wise?"
Point, Mayfield.