Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield can’t believe the New York Giants drafted quarterback Daniel Jones in the first round of the NFL Draft back in April. GQ recently interviewed Mayfield and he noticed ESPN was going a segment on Jones. That led to the Oklahoma alum expressing his opinion on Jones.
“I cannot believe the Giants took Daniel Jones,” Mayfield said. “Blows my mind.”
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Clay Skipper of GQ went on to ask Mayfield why he thinks scouts and coaches tend to miss on top quarterbacks.
“Some people overthink it,” Mayfield says. “That’s where people go wrong. They forget you’ve gotta win.”
New York Giants head coach Pat Shurmur was asked about Mayfield’s comment on Jones and he wasn’t very surprised.
“That’s not original commentary,” Shurmur said. He then went on to say the Browns signal-caller is “in a long line of critics” who have ripped the Giants for drafting Jones.
Pat Shurmur’s response: “That’s not original commentary.” He said Mayfield is “in a long line” of critics who ripped the Giants’ decision.
As you’d imagine, Shurmur doesn’t seem to care what Baker Mayfield thinks of Daniel Jones … or, really, anything. https://t.co/6QUObURf0r
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RVacchianoSNY) August 20, 2019
Jones played college football at Duke and he didn’t have stellar numbers. His best season was last year when he posted 2,674 yards, 22 touchdowns and nine interceptions while completing 60 percent of his passes. However, the scouts projected him to be a first or second-round pick in the draft.
“Jones doesn’t have special arm talent, but he can make pro throws and has the ability to attack deep with accuracy,” Lance Zierlein of NFL.com said. “He completed just 59.9 percent of his career passes, but his receivers — who dropped 38 passes this year alone — really struggled to get open at times. Jones has good football IQ and is relatively mobile, but he appears to be more of a game manager than ‘franchise’ talent.”
It’s interesting that Mayfield would say this about Jones considering there were some scouts and experts that were surprised to see him drafted No. 1 overall in 2018. After the first round of last year’s draft, ESPN asked some league executives to get their feelings about the players and where they were drafted. One league executive was asked what he would have said if Mayfield was going to drafted No. 1 overall two months prior.
“No f—ng way. I came to grips with it the night before, but I didn’t fully come to grips with it until the card was turned in, and I was like, ‘My God, what is going on here?’” the exec said via ESPN.
Mayfield ended up having a strong rookie season, recording 3,725 yards with 27 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. So it looks like the Browns made the right call on Mayfield.
As for the Giants, only time will tell on Jones, but so far in the preseason he has completed over 80 percent of his passes and has thrown two touchdowns and zero interceptions in two games.
