Baker Mayfield wrote one last love letter to Cleveland Browns fans

Baker Mayfield still thinks about his time in Cleveland.

Can anyone blame him? He led the Cleveland Browns to the franchise's first playoff victory in 26 years in 2020. He stood one more quality season from a long-term extension in the city that called him its son. That one season never came, as he dealt with numerous injuries that torpedoed his production and led to Cleveland trading for Deshaun Watson in a move that hasn't come close to paying off .

Since his time in Cleveland, Mayfield nearly fell out of the league, bouncing from the Carolina Panthers to the Los Angeles Rams until finally settling in with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After leading Tampa Bay to a playoff win in the 2023 season, Mayfield earned a three-year, $100 million deal with $50 million guaranteed from the team that was nearly his final stop in the league .

Even amid his new-found success, throwing for 4,044 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions, Mayfield still thinks of Cleveland and the blue-collar fans who once screamed his name.

“I felt like I was a part of Cleveland, just that blue-collar mentality," Mayfield said, via Jeff Howe of The Athletic . "I tried to give everything I had to those fans, but it didn’t wind up working out."

Mayfield added: “I saw us coming very close to beating the Chiefs in the Divisional Round in 2020. So in my mind, I was like, OK, if I can just heal back up and play close to that potential, we’ll be back in the same spot and maybe be in the AFC Championship. There’s a lot of things you can go back and [try to] change, but I’m not going to do that.”

Looking back, it is always easy to say Mayfield shouldn't have played through injuries. But he did. And the Browns struggled. But the Browns also gave up on Mayfield. The franchise saw Watson as something new and someone better. It was a bet that hasn't paid off, as Watson has played 12 games in his Cleveland career while looking painful average in each of those starts.

Maybe Mayfield was never supposed to be the guy in Tampa Bay. He was always Cleveland's own. And though few will admit so, it's a safe bet to assume many in Cleveland are still thinking about him just the same.

“I understand why I’ve always had that spotlight on me,” Mayfield said. “I’ve always been one to wear my emotions on my sleeve and speak my mind, and sometimes that’s rare. But if you ask any of my teammates that I’ve played with inside the locker room, they understand exactly who I am.

“I’ve gotten to this point because I did it my way. Why would I change that now and try to switch it up? I think I got lost early in my career of trying to satisfy people’s opinions and do it a certain way. But hey, when it comes down to it, quarterbacks are just supposed to win games. If you’re doing it your way and winning games, there’s nothing wrong with that. Throughout my journey, I found my way back to that. It wasn’t easy to do, but I found my way back.”