CLEVELAND — The Buffalo Bills had a little bit of fun at the expense of their upcoming opponents for the 2019 regular season, and that includes second-year quarterback Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns.
Shortly after the National Football League released the 2019 schedule Wednesday night, the Bills posted a video to Twitter where they poked fun at each of their opponents, and at the middle of the video, Mayfield was targeted for his now famous underwear photo shoot and his quote, “Woke up feeling dangerous today.”
Mayfield is no stranger to attention from the advertisement.
On the same day his first training camp with the Browns came to an end, he announced a partnership with PSD Underwear, which earned him plenty of attention and some good-natured ribbing in the locker room.
“Per usual, there’s always consequences for being a rookie and putting yourself out there, so yeah, I heard about it,” Mayfield said following the final practice of training camp last August.
Sans a shirt, Mayfield was featured in the ad wearing his trademark headband with the waistband of his underwear showing over the top of his pants. Mayfield was pictured leaning against the left front fender of a Rolls Royce and mere feet away from a live tiger.
Prior to the photoshoot, which was done last July while Mayfield was on the break between mandatory minicamp and the start of training camp, he was warned not to make any “sudden movements” that would attract the attention of the tiger.
“Pretty different,” Mayfield said of being on set with the tiger. “It’s one thing to watch Animal Planet, and it’s another to watch them feed it 12-ounce filets right in front of you for walking to the correct spot. Pretty scary.”
Although Mayfield has no shortage of non-football endeavors, he backs up the attention-getting moments with solid play on the field.
After taking over the first-team offense in the second quarter of the Week 3 win over the Jets, Mayfield completed 310 of his 486 attempts (63.8 percent) for 3,725 yards and an NFL rookie-record 27 touchdowns against 14 interceptions.
Under the direction of new Browns coach Freddie Kitchens, the interim offensive coordinator for the second half of the 2018 season, Mayfield completed 180 of his 263 attempts (68.4 percent) for 2,254 yards and 19 touchdowns against eight interceptions.
“I am one that during the offseason, I can get stuff done, but I can also still work and do my job,” Mayfield said. “That is what I wanted to do, get everything off the field handled and taken care of. It’s important to have a say in your off-the-field brand and what you are doing, your sponsorships, what you want to be represented by and the image you want to have.
“I think that is important, but when it comes down to it, as soon as you hit the football field, nothing else matters. I wanted to make sure that I took care of that. People say, ‘Make sure that you handle all of that before.’ I knew that. When it comes to ball, that is my main focus.”