Baker Mayfield already is bucking a trend in the NFL.
The Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback said Thursday on Sirius XM NFL Radio his team’s upcoming appearance on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” might enhance its preparations for the 2018 season. The Browns were selected to feature in the five-part weekly series, which will run between Aug. 7 and Sept. 4.
Many in the NFL consider the pervasive presence of HBO cameras during training camp to be a nuisance, but Mayfield, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, believes the experience can help the Browns focus on football better than they otherwise would.
“For me looking at it, and us as a team, I’d say it can be good if you handle it right,” Mayfield said, per Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot. “If you think about it as a way to get on camera and try to show off and do certain things and handle it the wrong way then that can be very negative, it can be a distraction. But if you use it as a sense of, ‘OK, I got to block out everything else and just focus on playing ball,’ then that can be a great thing for us.
Mayfield also suggests “Hard Knocks” can help the Browns win road games.
“Having people within our practices, within our training camp, right there trying to, not like they’re trying to distract us, but they’re there,” he said. “You could worry about it, you could think about it, but if you’re able to focus in, that can be a beneficial thing for us, talking about going into away stadiums and going into environments where you have to focus on doing your job, so I’m looking forward it.”
The Browns were one of just six teams eligible to feature on “Hard Knocks” in 2018, partially due to their recent lack of success; eligible teams must have not made the playoffs in either of the last two seasons. But Mayfield hopes the show will motivate the Browns to improve this season.
” ‘Hard Knocks’ wouldn’t be there if we weren’t 0-16 last year,” he said. “So, we’re working towards never having to have that situation again. I’m looking forward to being a part of something new there in Cleveland.”
We’ll learn this fall whether Mayfield’s apparent embrace of “Hard Knocks” reflects the naivety of rookie thinking or if the top draft pick will change the game in Cleveland and beyond.
