Carolina Panthers' Baker Mayfield clears air, denies making remark about Cleveland Browns

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Baker Mayfield didn't deny he wants to beat the Cleveland Browns in the Carolina Panthers' Sept. 11 opener at Bank of America Stadium, but he did deny saying he wants to «f--- them up» after last week's preseason finale against Buffalo.

That contradicted what Bills sideline reporter Cynthia Frelund shared on Monday night's «Around the NFL» podcast with Dan Hanzus, Marc Sessler and Gregg Rosenthal.

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.»

Mayfield denied making any such comment about the team that made him the top pick of the 2018 draft 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."

Mayfield acknowledged he has known Frelund, who also works as an analyst for the NFL Network, for years. He acknowledged Frelund was «descriptive» in what she said about him beating Cleveland.

But he was adamant that's not how the exchange occurred.

«I didn't even say anything,» Mayfield said. «All I did was, 'Great, hope we win.' Pretty plain and simple. I'm