Baker Mayfield was edged out by Saquon Barkley for the 2018 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award, and to nobody’s surprise he’s using it as motivation.
On Wednesday night Mayfield won the Professional Athlete of the Year Award at the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards. Backstage, he spoke with reporters about a number of things, including the OROY snub.
“I’ll use it as motivation, but the more important thing is winning football games,” Mayfield said, per Nate Ulrich of ohio.com. “Yeah, it’s more frustrating than anything because Saquon, that’s my guy, and he’ll hold it over my head forever. But you know what? I’ll use that as motivation, and I’ll be better in the long run.”
Much like Tom Brady, Mayfield never lets a potential bulletin-board moment pass him by. He’s got a massive chip on his shoulder that’s been a driving force since his tenure at Texas Tech.
Many fans were upset that Mayfield lost to Barkley, with the overriding thought process being that he made a bigger impact on his team. That’s undeniable, as Mayfield turned the league’s longstanding laughingstock into a competitive team that won seven games and pushed for a playoff berth.
But Barkley’s just the third rookie in NFL history to eclipse 2,000 scrimmage yards and absolutely deserved to win, too. Now that he has, he’ll be receiving some bling from Mayfield, who made a bet before the NFL Honors ceremony that he will honor with a chain necklace.
“It’ll say ‘quads’ on it, not ‘Sa-quads’ but just ‘quads,’ ” Mayfield said. “The two extra letters in there cost a little bit extra money, so we’ll stick with just ‘quads.’”
It’s going to be fascinating to watch these two young superstars in the coming years and find out who really will be “better in the long run.”