You either like Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield or you don't. He isn't afraid to voice his opinion — good or bad — and is always willing to call somebody out, especially critical somebodies within the media.

Some feel maybe Mayfield goes a bit too far, at times. Others find him incredibly entertaining. He gives the Cleveland-area reporters, and the national ones, a lot to write about.

Count Kyle Shanahan among those who really like Mayfield. The San Francisco 49ers head coach joined KNBR on Friday morning and was asked if the Browns quarterback is a "baby Brett Favre" or a "disaster waiting to happen." The latter of which was referring to Mayfield's personality in front of the media.

"Well, I mean, Brett Favre was both of those too," Shanahan responded. "You can tell how [Mayfield] carries himself, how he plays. I mean, I love that type of person. You can tell football means everything to him. He's going to give everything he has. He's not totally worried about how he looks and comes off. He's just caught up in the moment and is who he is.


"That stuff doesn't bother me. I think he's a very good player. I loved him coming out of college. He's had a year and four games in the NFL, and I think he's been as good as advertised.

"Nobody's perfect. He has made mistakes, just like everybody does, and everyone will continue to do, but he deserves what he's gotten, and I know he can get a lot better as this keeps going. He has the weapons to do it. He has the talent to do it. And you can tell he's got the mindset to do it."

Speaking of Browns quarterbacks, the topic of Shanahan's one season as the offensive coordinator in Cleveland came up. It was 2014, the same year the Browns selected Justin Gilbert and Johnny Manziel in the first round.

Brian Murphy and Paul McCaffrey brought up that draft and only had to get as far as Gilbert's name before the 49ers coach sighed in disgust.

Apparently, it wasn't a good memory for him.


"You're bringing up some wounds," Shanahan said. "I haven't left many things in my life, and this is all adding to it. We had the fourth pick in the draft, we had just gotten Josh Gordon suspended, and we had Sammy Watkins and Odell Beckham sitting there at four.

"We traded back, I think to 10, and then traded up to nine to take Justin Gilbert. Then we traded up in the draft to take Johnny Manziel in the 20s, so it was a rough day for me."

You can listen to the entire conversation with Shanahan below.



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