Over the course of the past three months, it hasn't been hard to figure out how Baker Mayfield feels about Hue Jackson.
In an Instagram comment posted shortly after Jackson's firing, Mayfield referred to his former head coach as "fake." After beating the Cincinnati Bengals, who Jackson joined as an assistant, the Cleveland Browns quarterbac declined a hug from Jackson, settling instead for an awkward handshake.
In their rematch a month later, Mayfield not-so-subtly stared down Jackson and in interviews, he's hardly been shy to share how he really felt. Nevertheless, when asked about his "lingering issue" with Jackson on Fox Sports' Undisputed, Mayfield downplayed the idea of the rift being personal.
"If you're not with us in Cleveland, you're against us," Mayfield told Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe. "We have division rivals and that's how I feel about it. If you don't like that, then you probably don't realize what type of game football is. So that's OK."
In other words, now that Jackson is no longer a member of the Bengals staff, the ill-will Mayfield seemingly held against his ex-head coach is a thing of the past. Last month, Cincinnati fired head coach Marvin Lewis and is expected to hire Los Angeles Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor following the Super Bowl.
Even when pressed on the specifics of his relationship with Jackson, Mayfield barely budged. Asked in particular about a scene on Hard Knocks in which the former head coach "awarded" him the Browns backup job, the former No. 1 pick denied that he received the moment as an insult.
"They had a plan. They told me that before even the draft, before I even knew I was going there," Mayfield said. "They asked me how I feel about it. Obviously I want to play, that's who I am."
It didn't take long for Mayfield to get his turn and whether it was a coincidence or not, he thrived after Freddie Kitchens was promoted to offensive coordinator following Jackson's firing.
Earlier this month, Kitchens was named the new Browns head coach. And if Mayfield's "If you're not with us in Cleveland, you're against us" line sounds familiar to you, there's probably a reason for that.
"f you do not wear brown and orange, you do not matter," Kitchens said in his introductory press conference.
