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Interim coach Gregg Williams has 'very good relationship' with Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield

Interim coach Gregg Williams says he has "a very good relationship" with Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Credit: USA Today Sports Images
Interim coach Gregg Williams says he has "a very good relationship" with Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield.

CLEVELAND -- Typically, defensive coordinators and quarterbacks do not spend much time together throughout the week of preparation for games in the National Football League, but Gregg Williams and Baker Mayfield are anything but typical.

With Williams being elevated to interim coach, while still maintaining his role as leader of the defense, after Monday’s firings of coach Hue Jackson and offensive coordinator Todd Haley, he and Mayfield will be spending plenty of time together over the final eight games of the 2018 regular season.

“He and I have had a very good relationship,” Williams said of Mayfield. “Every day in stretch, he’s got something he’s poking at me. (Wednesday), he had so many different things he was poking at me. Some we can’t repeat or print. That’s the fun part of it. The business is tough. The game is tough, but you have to have fun. You have to have some locker room fun. You have to have some practice fun.

“When your quarterback is doing it, other people emulate that, too. Who is that on defense? We have guys on defense that do that, too -- talking smack and being that way. Ask him. I think it’s very good. I’ve talked to lots of people one-on-one so far. I’ll continue doing that the rest of the week leading up to Sunday. Remember this: When it’s more important to them than it is to me and you, look out.”

Credit: Matt Florjancic, WKYC Digital Sports
Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield surveys the field for an open receiver in a drill during Monday's practice at team headquarters in Berea.

Mayfield spoke Wednesday ahead of practice and said Williams’ message to the team after taking over as interim coach was a simple one: “to stick together,” especially with a tough challenge against the Kansas City Chiefs awaiting them at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland Sunday.

“We have this,” Mayfield said. “It is what it is, but we have to push forward. We have a game this week and that is the important part. We can either use it as an excuse to throw in the towel or to rise up and come together as a team.”

Credit: Derick E. Hingle
Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator Gregg Williams looks on during the fourth quarter against the New Orleans Saints at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans.

Admittedly, Williams’ relationship with Mayfield started on the latter’s visit to Berea during the pre-draft process, and the quarterback known for his fiery leadership at the University of Oklahoma showed no signs of intimidation when trading barbs with the defensive coordinator known for his “come get some” mantra.

That confidence displayed on the pre-draft visit is precisely how Williams wants Mayfield to be for the remaining eight games of the 2018 regular season.

“When he came in, in our 30-man visit, he came straight to my office and gave me a ‘come get some’ lecture,” Williams recalled. “Some of his college coaches are buddies of mine. One of my best friends lives down there, too, so he knew some things about me, anyway.

“I thought that was so cool about how he came on the 30-man visit on the competitiveness, about not being afraid to compete and how he was going to be. That’s how your quarterback should be.”

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