Quarterback Baker Mayfield was the Browns player most visibly upset with Hue Jackson after Jackson was fired as the team’s coach last season and went to work for the Bengals, but he wasn’t alone in harboring bad feelings about the former coach.
Tight end David Njoku was a guest on The Rich Eisen Show Tuesday and was asked whether Mayfield’s slam of Jackson following a game against the Bengals last season was a case of the quarterback speaking for the entire locker room.
“Well, obviously we weren’t happy with what Hue said about us after he left. It is what it is,” Njoku said. “Baker didn’t appreciate it. We came together after Hue left and took it upon ourselves to work extra hard to finish the year strong. . . . Baker has a voice, as we all do, and he didn’t appreciate what happened. It’s not like we’re robots. We felt, in a way, disrespected. It is what it is.”
The Browns responded well after Jackson was fired, but the same kind of in-season motivational boost isn’t expected this year. They’ll need to find something, though, because coming close to a winning record this year won’t be seen as the same kind of accomplishment.