Baker Mayfield Rips Damien Woody After Analyst Compares Him to Hue Jackson

Woody said that Mayfield needed to grow up during Monday's episode of ESPN's First Take

Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield responded to criticism waged by ESPN's First Take crew on Monday regarding his postgame comments calling out former Cleveland head coach Hue Jackson.

Jackson, who was fired by the Browns earlier this season, joined Cleveland's AFC North rival, the Bengals as a special assistant. The two squads met for the first time this past weekend and Mayfield threw for four touchdowns in the Browns' 35–20 win.

After the game, Mayfield offered a rather cold, honest take on Jackson's decision to defect to a division rival. But on Monday morning, ESPN analyst Damien Woody joined the First Take desk and suggested that Mayfield's comments were childish.

Watch: Browns QB Baker Mayfield Sounds Off on Hue Jackson

"Baker Mayfield needs to grow up," Woody said. "This is pro football. You’re dealing with grown men. Things happen in pro football. People get fired, go to other teams, players get cut, they go to rivals. It happens all the time. Coach gets fired, he decides to pick up a job, an available job that Marvin Lewis obviously reached out to him about."

"And what I find funny about the whole thing," Woody added. "Baker Mayfield, didn’t he go from Texas Tech to Oklahoma? You went from Texas Tech to Oklahoma—two teams in the Big 12—but you wanna argue, you wanna talk about… You want to talk about that. And that’s in college football. You wanna talk about guys trying to pay bills. ... You went from rival to basically another in the same conference."

Mayfield caught wind of Woody's comments and responded in the comments section of the show's official page on a video captioned: "Baker Mayfield needs to grow up."

"Not even comparable...," Mayfield wrote, referring to his decision to transfer from Texas Tech to Oklahoma. "I didn't lose 30+ games be fake and then do that... I wasn't gonna have a scholarship. Good try though buddy. (sic)"

The Browns and the Bengals will meet again in Cleveland on Dec. 23, which will mark the first time Jackson will return there since joining Cincinnati.

Since Jackson's departure, the Browns have gone 2–1. Mayfield has completed 73.9% of his passes for 771 yards, nine touchdowns and one interception over the three-game stretch.