NFL Network Analyst Cynthia Frelund Doubles Down on Baker Mayfield’s ‘I’m Going to F*ck Them Up’ Comment

New team, same old Baker Mayfield.

A quote attributed to Baker Mayfield caused plenty of headlines earlier in the week when he dropped some bulletin board material. Baker Mayfield didn’t deny that he badly wants to beat the Cleveland Browns in the Carolina Panthers’ Sept. 11 opener against his former team, but he did deny saying he wants to “f— them up” after last week’s preseason finale against Buffalo.

Mayfield denied making any such comment about the team after Wednesday’s practice.

“First, I didn’t say it,” said Mayfield, who spent the past four years in Cleveland. “Everybody is going to write whatever story they want. There’s history because I played there the last four years. I’m an extremely competitive person. Everybody knows that. If I wasn’t wanting to win, then there would be a really big issue of me being the quarterback here.

“I want to win in everything I do. That’ll never change. But it’s not how I phrased it. It’s not even what I said, so let’s leave it at that.”

NFL Network analyst Cynthia Frelund shared the original comments on Monday night’s “Around the NFL” podcast with Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler, and Gregg Rosenthal.

The reporter is not backing down from what she said.

“Frelund shared on the podcast and repeated to ESPN.com that she talked to Mayfield after the Panthers’ 21-0 victory and said that Mayfield repeated her words when she playfully told him to “f— them up.”

“He echoed it back,” Frelund told ESPN.com. “It was very innocuous on his part. The tone was gracious and happy and excited.”

Frelund downplayed the exchange this week on Twitter, saying it was “playful” and that the reaction to Mayfield’s quote was “silly.”

Oh boy, this is silly. Don’t make this more than it is. I was wishing him good luck, colorfully. He agreed with me, colorfully. What do you expect anyone to do in this situation… #browns

— cynthia frelund (@cfrelund) August 30, 2022

I don’t make huge stories out of jokes, or anything.

— cynthia frelund (@cfrelund) August 30, 2022

Actually I was going for supporting a person who has a lot of heart and I want to succeed. Publicly.

— cynthia frelund (@cfrelund) August 30, 2022

I’m not anti Browns, I am just supportive of Baker’s career and want him to succeed.

— cynthia frelund (@cfrelund) August 30, 2022

Baker really should have just owned the comments, rather than throw the reporter under the bus.

Clearly he likes to spout things off, and that’s fine, it’s who he is. He should just embrace it rather than deny it.

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