CLEVELAND — During the NFL’s recent three-day break, Baker Mayfield thought it was a good idea to get away from Ohio for a few days.
Mayfield joined running back Nick Chubb, tight end Austin Hooper and receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry for a weekend excursion to Yellowstone National Park. The trip had the blessing of Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski.
“I think it is great,” Stefanski said. “I was not aware of it. They told me when they got back in, but any time you can get together away from this building safely and build the team chemistry, I think it is a big deal. It is something really last year you could not do. You just were prohibited from getting together outside of this building. Maybe they are making up for lost time.”
Mayfield posted photos on Instagram of the group with their families golfing and dining out. The quartet also could be seen in photos on a football field.
“Anytime you can spend more time off of the field, it builds chemistry.” Mayfield said. “Obviously, that three-day mandated time off from the league, just a chance to get away, do it safely and not exactly being around a whole lot of people. We will benefit from that just based on bonding and that time off of the field.”
The time to relax was short lived as the Browns prepare to take on Kansas City Sunday afternoon. The Chiefs, the defending AFC champs, knocked out the Browns in last year’s playoffs.
Last year’s playoff loss is a dull memory, especially for Chubb.
“I just held onto the feeling of how I felt, and the team did the same thing after that game,” Chubb said. “We knew how we felt. We did not want to experience it anymore. Overall, just a great learning experience for us, and we learned from it.”
Stefanski agreed that the loss was a motivating factor heading into training camp.
“Any time you are one of those 31 teams that do not [win the Super Bowl], you take that last loss personally and you carry that with you in the offseason,” Stefanski said. “I think once you get into training camp that you turn the page and you are on to this year, 2021.”
But with seven months between that cold January evening and the heat of training camp, the Browns had a long time to think about that loss.
