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After months of speculation, the Cleveland Browns went ahead took former Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield with the first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Now begins his official journey on becoming the future franchise quarterback of the most dysfunctional team in the NFL.
Of course, he is hardly the first player in league history that will attempt to do so. According to Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon-Journal, former NFL quarterback Chad Pennington offered Mayfield some words of advice on how he can succeed:
Article Continues Below“My first piece of advice came from a place of transparency and honesty in saying that, ‘Baker, you have to remember who you are,'” Pennington said. “‘And that is a guy who was a twice walk-on in college, and without your work ethic and your talent, you would probably be a [graduate assistant] somewhere coaching.'”
Needless to say, there is plenty of truth to Pennington's comments. Mayfield's college career got off to a rocky start after attempting to walk-on at Texas Tech. When that ultimately fell through, he tried a second time with Oklahoma and the rest is history.
Although he may not have bee as touted a prospect as Mayfield, Pennington certainly has an idea of the pressure he will face in the NFL. The former quarterback was taken with the 18th overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft by the New York Jets. Pennington sat and observed from the sidelines for two seasons before becoming the full-fledged starter.
This may be a similar route the Browns take with Mayfield since they managed to acquire a bonafide starter in Tyrod Taylor. That said, Mayfield will need to remain as confident as possible if he is going to take over the position at some point in the near future.
