Browns HC Kevin Stefanski has 'good relationship' with QB Baker Mayfield

Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer delivered a bombshell of a story earlier this week when she wrote that Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield could potentially request a trade during the winter or spring months if he "doesn’t get assurances that things will change next season" as it pertains to alleged problems he has with head coach and offensive play-caller Kevin Stefanski. 

Mayfield vehemently denied this claim Thursday, and reporters understandably asked Stefanski Friday if his relationship with his current QB1 has changed from this point last year. Stefanski offered somewhat of an unconvincing response. 

"My relationship with Baker is no different," Stefanski replied, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. "Good relationship." 

Before Mayfield, the No. 1 pick of the 2018 NFL Draft, begins the final year of his rookie contract that carries a salary of $18.858 million, he will first have surgery to repair his badly injured non-throwing shoulder that he initially hurt in Week 2 back on Sept. 19. It's widely assumed the Browns won't offer him a contract extension coming off a campaign where he underperformed while playing through multiple physical setbacks, and the franchise has repeatedly been linked in rumors and rumblings with proven veterans who may be available via trades since even before Cleveland officially shut Mayfield down on Tuesday.