Mayfield - Giants' pick of Jones 'blows my mind' - ESPN

9:53 AM ET

Include Baker Mayfield as another person surprised by the New York Giants' decision to draft quarterback Daniel Jones earlier this year.

"Blows my mind," the Cleveland Browns quarterback told GQ in a wide-ranging interview released Tuesday. "Some people overthink it. That's where people go wrong. They forget you've gotta win."

Jones finished with a 17-19 record at Duke before the Giants made him the No. 6 overall pick.

A timeline of some notable trash-talking incidents involving Baker Mayfield:

• September 2017: Plants the flag at midfield after Oklahoma's win at Ohio State.

• November 2017: Directs groin grab at the Kansas sideline after pregame incident in which Kansas captains refused to shake his hand.

• November 2018: Calls ex-Browns head coach Hue Jackson "fake" and ignores Jackson after Browns' win over Bengals.

• June 2019: Criticizes RB Duke Johnson's trade request, saying, "You're either on this train or you're not."

• June 2019: Antagonizes Texas QB Sam Ehlinger, criticizing his high school pedigree and saying: "He doesn't like me, and I hope he knows I don't like him, either."

• July 2019: Defends Odell Beckham Jr. by ripping Giants fans, saying that Beckham is "here to play in front of fans who actually care, who will actually show up to every game and pack the stadium and love him for who he is."

• August 2019: Questions the Giants' selection of QB Daniel Jones with sixth overall pick in interview with GQ, saying the selection "blows my mind."

-- ESPN Stats & Information

Mayfield wasn't the consensus No. 1 overall quarterback prospect before the 2018 draft despite going 34-6 at Oklahoma. But he was at the top of the Browns' draft chart as they selected him No. 1 overall and watched him lead the franchise to a 7-8-1 record after going 0-16 the previous season.

"Either you have a history of winning and being that guy for your team or you don't," he told GQ.

Mayfield covered several other topics in the interview, including when he planted the Oklahoma flag at midfield in Ohio Stadium after the Sooners defeated Ohio State in 2017. Mayfield said that the "higher-ups" at OU asking him to apologize for it was "just jaw-dropping" to him.

"Actually we won. That's what we're about. I had done so much and worked so hard to play for that school, I was just kinda ... almost embarrassed for them to tell me to apologize," said Mayfield, who, when asked how heartfelt that apology actually was on a scale of 1 to 10, replied, "zero."

"Which might hurt some Ohio fans' feelings," he added. "But I think we're all good now."

Mayfield wasn't the only Browns player to criticize the Giants in a story published Tuesday.

Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who has been outspoken about the Giants since they traded him to the Browns in March, told Sports Illustrated that he believes the trade was "personal." Beckham told the magazine that he believes the Giants had better offers from other teams but traded him to the Browns hoping to stifle his career.

"This wasn't no business move. This was personal. They thought they'd send me here to die," he said.

The Giants declined to comment when contacted by SI about Beckham's remarks.

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