Todd Monken Praises Baker Mayfield Ahead of Browns, Buccaneers Showdown

The Cleveland Browns may be licking their wounds after a 34-10, blowout loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 1, but there's no rest for the weary as they turn the corner into Week 2. 

Waiting for Cleveland next Sunday is a matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, led by ex-Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, who has quite the reputation for holding grudges. 

Mayfield has already said he had this matchup circled on the Bucs schedule, looking to exact some revenge from his messy exit from the team that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2018.  

Only small remnants of the roster Mayfield once knew remain. It's star CB Denzel Ward, 2020 second-round pick Grant Delpit, and the front office office group of Andrew Berry, the Haslams and JW Johnson. 

New head coach Todd Monken wasn't here when Mayfield was traded, but he did serve as his offensive coordinator for one season in 2019 under then head coach Freddie Kitchens. What Monken remembers most about Mayfield is his unwavering competitiveness. 

"First off, he's a great football player and highly competitive, and it's irrespective of playing the Browns. He's very prideful. He wants to play good football and he's a great football player," Monken raved. "There's very few people that I've been around that like football more than Baker Mayfield, and that's a fact. And so whether it's us or another team, he was not going to be happy with the way he played, and, uh, he's going to be ready to go."

Mayfield became a star in Cleveland seemingly overnight, after pulling off an epic comeback from 14-0 down to beat the New York Jets on Thursday Night Football in Week 3 of his rookie season. The win snapped a 19-game winless streak for the franchise and unlocked Bud Light beer fridges all over town. 

Kitchens became head coach the following season with Monken alongside, but a disappointing 6-10 campaign left the organization cleaning house and paving the way for Monken's predecessor Kevin Stefanski to take over. 

That 2020 season was Mayfield's best with the Browns, as the franchise went to the playoffs for the first time in nearly two decades and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on their home field in the Wild Card round. 

At that point, it appeared the Browns had found their franchise QB. However, he regressed badly in 2021 due to injury and seemed to burn some bridges in the organization. That left team brass searched for upgrades and ultimately going all in the land current starter Deshaun Watson. 

After landing the embattled QB, the relationship with Mayfield was unrepairable and he was traded to the Carolina Panthers later thay summer. Eventually, Mayfield landed on his feet in Tampa and recently landed a third contract with the organization after producing the best seasons of his career. 

Sunday will be his first opportunity to go head-to-head with the quarterback Cleveland chose over him. 

"He can only speak to having it circled. I can only speak to what I think of him as a player and how competitive he is," said Monken. "And I'm super happy for him and his new contract. He certainly has deserved it. He's played his rear end off down there."

With the Bucs entering Week 2 with an 0-1 record of their own, following a frustrating loss to the Cincinnati Bengals that saw Mayfield fumble the ball three times, he'll enter Sunday with even more reason to take down his former team and the struggling QB they gave up on him for.