Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield has sent something of a message to the organisation and the city with his latest move this offseason.

Baker Mayfield, having taken the Cleveland Browns out of obscurity and turned them into something of a respectable and serious team, even going so far as to lead them to their first playoff win since 1994 in 2020, has more or less been tossed aside by the team.

Despite exercising their 5th-year option on him, keeping him in the building for the 2022 NFL season, the trade for Deshaun Watson, even with his off-field issues hanging over him, was a pretty big sign to Mayfield that the Browns don’t see him as the quarterback of the future.

There were some suggestions that he might have found himself traded, but with the NFL Draft having come and gone, giving teams the chance to add some signal-callers to their respective sides, opportunities aren’t quite as bountiful as they could have been.

But judging by Baker’s latest action, it appears as though he doesn’t want his foreseeable future to be in Ohio.

Taking his ball and going home

As posted on his Instagram page and then relayed by reporter Ben Axelrod on Twitter, Mayfield will be holding his youth football camp back in Norman, Oklahoma, home of the University of Oklahoma where he played college football for the Sooners:

As Axelrod notes, this is something of a change of pace because for the past few years it has been held in Northeast Ohio, but obviously something has happened to persuade him to do it elsewhere. 

Sending a message

So perhaps this is something of a subtle hint towards those within the Browns organisation, that Mayfield is pretty happy to take part of his career away from the city of Cleveland and is perhaps a sign that he’s ready to move out of there altogether.

Which might just be enough for the Browns to consider getting rid of him and offering him a new position all the sooner, even if they might have to take less than what they might have been hoping for in terms of a trade.