QB Baker Mayfield posts message thanking Cleveland followers on similar day Browns’ brass meet with Deshaun Watson

Because the Browns‘ brass flew again from a gathering with Deshaun Watson, who they hope would be the crew’s future quarterback, its present quarterback, Baker Mayfield, posted an announcement to social media Tuesday evening thanking the town of Cleveland and its followers “who really embraced who I’m.”

“With many uncertainties, right here is the place my head and coronary heart is,” Mayfield wrote as an introduction to his message, which he addressed to Cleveland and posted to his Instagram and Twitter accounts.

“The previous four years have been nothing in need of really life altering since I heard my identify referred to as within the draft to go to Cleveland. This isn’t a message with hidden which means. That is strictly to thank the town of Cleveland for embracing my household and me,” he mentioned. “We have now made many recollections and shared rising on this course of via all of the ups and downs.

“I’ve no clue what occurs subsequent, which is the which means behind the silence I’ve had through the length of this course of. I can solely management what I can, which is trusting in God’s plan all through this course of. I’ve given this franchise all the pieces I’ve. That’s one thing I’ve all the time finished at each stage, and at each degree. And that won’t change wherever I take my subsequent snap. No matter occurs … I simply need to say thanks to the followers who really embraced who I’m and the mentality that aligned so nicely with this metropolis’s onerous working folks.

“Cleveland will all the time be part of Emily and my story. And we’ll all the time be pleased about the influence it has had and can have in our lives. Sincerely, Baker Reagan Mayfield.”

The Browns flew to Houston on Tuesday to pitch Watson on waiving his no-trade clause to return to Cleveland, a league supply instructed ESPN. The Browns are considered one of 4 groups, together with the New Orleans Saints, Carolina Panthers and Atlanta Falcons, which might be trying to land Watson in a commerce with the Texans. Watson has already met with the Saints and Panthers and is scheduled to fulfill with the Falcons on Wednesday.

Watson didn’t play final season following an offseason request to be traded and the emergence of 22 civil lawsuits towards him alleging sexual assault and inappropriate conduct throughout therapeutic massage periods. A grand jury in Texas on Friday declined to indict Watson on criminal charges, signaling the tip of felony proceedings associated to him in Harris County, the place Houston is positioned.

Earlier than assembly with the Browns on Tuesday, Watson answered questions on two of the 22 lawsuits filed towards him throughout ongoing depositions, the plaintiffs’ legal professional, Tony Buzbee, instructed KHOU 11. Watson had invoked his Fifth Modification proper towards self-incrimination when sitting for 2 periods of depositions that started Friday.

Browns basic supervisor Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski have publicly declared that Mayfield would stay their quarterback, up via the NFL scouting mix in Indianapolis.

“We totally anticipate Baker to be our starter and bounce again,” Berry mentioned in January.

However that equation appeared to alter Friday when the grand jury declined to indict Watson, leaving Mayfield’s future in limbo with the franchise that chosen him No. 1 total within the 2018 draft.

Mayfield has endured a tumultuous tenure in Cleveland over 4 seasons. He performed beneath 4 head coaches via his first three seasons within the league. Regardless of that, Mayfield led Cleveland to its first playoff victory in 26 years through the 2020 marketing campaign.

However in Week 2 of the 2021 season, he suffered a torn labrum in his left, nonthrowing shoulder and struggled the remainder of the way in which. He wound up ending 27th within the league in QBR because the Browns missed the playoffs and completed with a disappointing 8-9 document.

Mayfield, who underwent surgical procedure to restore the labrum Jan. 19 and is anticipated to be totally cleared nicely earlier than coaching camp, is coming into the ultimate 12 months of his rookie deal, which pays him $19 million in 2022.