There are often three sides to a story of a one-on-one interaction—what person No. 1 says, what person No. 2 says and what actually happened. Today, person No. 2 gave their side.
Following Wednesday’s practice, Carolina Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield addressed the now infamous sideline conversation he had with NFL Network analyst Cynthia Frelund. Frelund’s initial account of the talk, which took place last Friday night, painted a picture of vengeance—one that had Mayfield wanting to [insert expletive here] the Cleveland Browns up in Week 1.
This is what Mayfield had to say:
“Well, first, I didn’t say it. Obviously, I mean, everybody’s gonna write whatever story they want. There’s history that I played there the last four years. I’m an extremely competitive person. Everybody knows that. If I wasn’t wanting to win, then there would be a really big issue of me being the quarterback here. So I wanna win in everything I do. That’ll never change. Now, that is not how I phrased it. That’s not even what I said. So I’ll just leave it at that.”
Frelund has since gone on to say the discussion was had in jest and that Mayfield didn’t carry any pointed meaning behind it. He agrees.
“All I did was agree,” he said of Frelund’s good luck wish for the season opener. “You know, I hope we win. It’s pretty plain and simple. I’m competitive. I wanna win. I don’t think that should be harped on.”
So until we get to Sept. 11 at Bank of America Stadium, this case is likely closed.
