The prospect of a Baker Mayfield revenge game got a lot more real yesterday, as the Carolina Panthers officially named the fifth-year veteran their new starting quarterback. And although the former Cleveland Brown said he isn’t currently focused on that upcoming Week 1 clash, he did admit that it’ll mean a little something extra to him when it finally arrives.
As for his old teammate in Myles Garrett, the feeling isn’t mutual.
Cleveland’s star pass rusher spoke with reporters on Tuesday and gave his thoughts about that season opener against Mayfield and the Panthers. When asked if the matchup will mean something different to him, Garrett didn’t seem to have any extra juice for it.
“No,” he said. “There’s no rivalry there between me and him and there’s no rivalry there between the Panthers and the Browns. Yes, he was here. But that doesn’t mean I have an added sense of urgency to get to him. I wanna play my best and whatever’s in the cards, that’s what in it for me. If I can help my team win, if I can put ’em in the best position to win—I’ma do that. If I can get a couple of sacks along the way, I’d kinda enjoy that too.”
A dreadful two-year run for the Browns, one that resulted in just a single victory over 32 games, helped bring both Garrett and Mayfield to Cleveland as back-to-back No. 1 overall picks. They’d lead the charge for the franchise’s small revival soon after, pushing the team to its first playoff victory in almost three decades during the 2020 campaign.
But that’s all history—as is the divorce between Mayfield and the organization. Now, it’ll just be a matter of getting back at his ex, whether they really care about him or not.
