Cynthia Frelund defends Baker Mayfield ‘f–k up’ the Browns reporting

Cynthia Frelund is standing her ground.

After Baker Mayfield denied having said that he would ‘f–k up’ his former team when the Panthers play the Browns in Week 1, Frelund is defending the accuracy of the remark she attributed to the quarterback that she made on a recent episode of the “Around the NFL” podcast.

Frelund told ESPN that Mayfield reiterated her own words of encouragement — to ‘f–k them up’ — back to her.

“He echoed it back,” Frelund told the reporter David Newton. “It was very innocuous on his part. The tone was gracious and happy and excited.”

A maybe-relevant distinction here is that this is not exactly what Frelund said on the podcast. There, she said that she told Mayfield to “kick their [ass],” and he responded that he was going to “f–k them up.”

In her initial telling of the story, he was saying something slightly different back to her, albeit something that was effectively the same in spirit.

Before Mayfield’s denial, his former teammate, Myles Garrett, reacted to the story, effectively writing it off as saying that this is who Mayfield is — but it will also be some extra juice to motivate the Browns.

With Deshaun Watson suspended for the first 11 games of the season, the Browns are starting Jacoby Brissett against the Panthers on Sept. 11. The Panthers are favored by 2.5 points in the matchup.