CLEVELAND — Baker Mayfield is officially on the mend.
Taking to Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, the Cleveland Browns quarterback shared a video message after undergoing surgery on his injured left shoulder in Los Angeles. In the one-minute and 10-second long video, Mayfield said that the procedure, which was performed by Dr. Orr Limpisvasti went "great" and that he's looking forward to his upcoming rehab process.
"It was a complete success. Had a great medical team that took care of me and checked that box off to get this fixed," Mayfield said of his surgery. "And now it's on the way to the road to recovery."
Mayfield's surgery came as the result of a torn labrum that he suffered in his left shoulder attempting to make a tackle in the Browns' Week 2 win vs. the Houston Texans. Despite reaggravating the injury in Cleveland's Week 6 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Mayfield only missed one game during the 2021 season due to his shoulder before opting to sit out the Browns' Week 18 win vs. the Cincinnati Bengals with the team already eliminated from postseason contention.
While he was ultimately cleared to play, the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NFL Draft struggled throughout his fourth season in Cleveland as the Browns fell well short of their lofty preseason expectations. In his video message, the 26-year-old Mayfield acknowledged the toll that the past year has had on him and those close to him.
"This is one of those steps to get back to my true self. This past year hasn't been very easy," Mayfield said. "A lot of stuff has gone down and it wasn't easy on me or my family, so I appreciate everybody that's reached out and wished me good luck on the surgery. All the prayers and everything -- it definitely didn't go unnoticed, so thank you.
"Now it's on the way to the road to recovery. It's not going to be an easy one but it's going to be one that I'm going to remember and it's going to be a special one. So I'll keep you guys updated. Thank you so much. But this is not the end of my story. It's just going to be one of those little things that I'll look back and remember that's one of those challenges and adversity that I'm going to try to take advantage of and it'll make me a better person."