Panthers QB Baker Mayfield grateful for time with Browns ahead of Week 1 game

Last week, Carolina Panthers starting quarterback Baker Mayfield denied offering a profane quote about the Cleveland Browns as he and his new teammates prepare to face his former club in Sunday's regular-season opener held at Carolina's Bank of America Stadium. 

As ESPN's David Newton explained, Mayfield spoke with reporters Wednesday and insisted he's not looking at Sunday's contest as a so-called "revenge game" even though the Browns replaced him with Deshaun Watson in March and traded him to Carolina in July. 

"It's a great storyline,'' Mayfield remarked about the upcoming matchup against the team that made him the first overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. "Obviously, there's history leading up to this week. [But] there's other games in the NFL that guys are playing (against) their former team. It's just the excitement of leading up to Week 1 that is building that anticipation up. It's the familiarity.''

Mayfield publicly thanked Cleveland fans in March when it was clear his then-employer was looking to land Watson from the Houston Texans. The 27-year-old repeated such comments on Wednesday. 

"I'm grateful for the time I had in Cleveland,'' Mayfield said. "I started my career there. The fans there, it's a football town. As I mentioned multiple times it ended abruptly and unexpectedly, but we're here now.

"Everything happens for a reason. I'm rolling with the punches. I'm happy to be a Panther.''

Mayfield initially suffered a serious injury to his non-throwing shoulder in Week 2 of last season that impacted him throughout the campaign and that ultimately began the beginning of the end of his Cleveland tenure. He finished the season with 3,010 passing yards, 17 touchdowns through the air, 13 interceptions, and a 35.1 total QBR across 14 games.