Ken Zampese: Browns "mucked it up" with Baker Mayfield
Buccaneers assistant coach Ken Zampese criticized the Cleveland Browns for their handling of quarterback Baker Mayfield, suggesting the team 'mucked it up' by trading him for Deshaun Watson. The comments come ahead of a matchup between the Buccaneers and the Browns.
Why it matters
This highlights the high-stakes nature of NFL roster management and the personal impact of franchise-altering decisions on players and coaching staff.
Eight years to the day after Baker Mayfield made his debut for the Browns, he’ll be facing the Browns in his fourth year as the starting quarterback of the Buccaneers.
Buccaneers senior offensive assistant/pass game specialist Ken Zampese was Mayfield’s position coach when he came off the bench to beat the Jets on September 20, 2018. And Zampese had some candid comments on Wednesday about how the Browns blew it with Baker.
“ They had the guy ,” Zampese said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN. “They had the guy and they gave him up.”
They gave him up once they decided to make a franchise-altering (in a bad way) trade for Deshaun Watson. Mayfield was later traded to the Panthers.
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