Several Browns players apparently weren't too happy with Baker Mayfield earlier this month after he called out running back Duke Johnson.
According to NFL.com, multiple players confronted Mayfield at some point after his comments were made on June 4 and voiced their displeasure. It seems Mayfield's teammates wanted to see the quarterback support Johnson rather than call him out through of the media.
Johnson has been demanding a trade since at least April, and although he showed up for mandatory minicamp in early June, he made it clear that he still wants to be traded, which didn't sit well with Mayfield.
"That's something that we've been dealing with for a while," Mayfield said on June 4, via the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "If we have guys that want to be here, they'll show that, they'll voice that. Obviously he's going to handle his stuff how he wants, but you're either on this train or you're not, it's moving. You can get out of the way or you can join us. So it is what it is."
Johnson presumably wants to be traded because he doesn't think he has much of a future in Cleveland, where he'll eventually be sitting behind Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. The Browns haven't really shown any interest in trading Johnson though, but that's probably because Hunt is going to be suspended for the first eight games of the season.
Mayfield wasn't just upset that Johnson requested a trade, he also seemed upset that Johnson took the situation public.
"It's just the way he's handled it," Mayfield said. "It can be a stir-up in the media, it can be however it wants, but if somebody wants to be here, they'll be here in that situation. You've got guys within our locker room that are dying to get playing time, that are dying to be here, and I get it."
After Mayfield's harsh words for Johnson, it's pretty clear his teammates wanted him to be more diplomatic about the situation, like Jarvis Landry was when he was asked about Johnson on the same day.
"I hope [Johnson] understands and feels that guys are here for him, whether he is here or not, that the relationship goes beyond the player, the person as well, so I definitely hope he understands that and knows that there are guys that are here for him," Landry said.
As for Mayfield, if anyone understands why a player would want to leave one situation to find a better situation, you'd think it would be him. The former Heisman Trophy winner left Texas Tech after his freshman year of college to attend Oklahoma.
By the way, Mayfield's teammates weren't the only ones who took issue with the way he called out Johnson. Luther Campbell, a.k.a. Uncle Luke from 2 Live Crew, tweeted out some choice words for the quarterback after the incident. Campbell is married to Kristin Campbell, an NFL agent who not so coincidentally just happens to represent Johnson.