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Draft season is often called silly season. Media personalities are throwing around crazy takes and dubious rumors on twitter, teams are intentionally misleading the public, and fans are obsessing over things like how big a prospect’s hands are or how many people went to their birthday party. The amount of “news” happening in what should really be a quiet period in the NFL schedule can be overwhelming, to the point that many fans (like myself) end up tuning a lot of it out. Thankfully, some statements manage to break through this cacophony and set themselves apart as truly extraordinary. I think what Hue Jackson recently said about Baker Mayfield is one of those quotes. Here is the quote, as transcribed by Tony Grossi:
Hue Jackson on Baker Mayfield: I feel like he's a Pied Piper of Oklahoma football. When he walked into the bldg, he made this sound - kind of went hee hee -- & all the players in the bldg started going hee hee and here we go. Most unbelievable thing I've ever seen. .
— Tony Grossi (@TonyGrossi) March 27, 2018
What even is this. I am dying to know just what exactly this noise is supposed to sound like. Is this “hee hee” like a high pitched Michael Jackson thing? It would make sense with the crotch grabbing. I absolutely must hear what Baker “Pied Piper” Mayfield sounds like when he enters a building, and how his team responds.
I think this is a metaphorical thing. Hue Jackson is just saying Mayfield is a good leader. He’s also kind of comparing the rest of the Oklahoma football team to a bunch of rats, but mostly it’s about Baker Mayfield. In recent days there’s been a lot of noise about Sam Darnold being a lock to the Browns first overall, so maybe this is a calculated attempt to throw other teams off the track and put the breaks on that speculation. It could also just be what Jackson legitimately thinks about Mayfield’s leadership abilities. Either way, even if Baker Mayfield never puts on a Browns jersey, we’ll always have this quote, and they can never take that away from us.