From prank calls to 'chemistry': What's going on in the Browns' QBs-only RV?
Tyrod Taylor and Baker Mayfield have quickly become BFFs. The two Cleveland Browns quarterbacks have become so close, in fact, that they've purchased an RV and parked it at the team's training camp so they can have quarterback-only "top-secret meetings."
Until the cameras of HBO's "Hard Knocks" potentially take us inside the vehicle, we can only speculate about what could be going on inside - and speculate we will!
Option 1: Planning their escape
Cleveland is where quarterbacks go to die.
While Taylor and Mayfield have said all the right things about wanting to be the ones to finally end the Browns' curse under center, it could be a cover to buy them time while they make a "Shawshank Redemption"-esque escape to freedom.
Of course, such a daring move would require some serious planning, so it makes sense that they would need their own private space (and why Drew Stanton hilariously hasn't been invited).
A suspicious Hue Jackson knocks on the RV's door, a red-faced Gregg Williams standing by his side: "Tyrod? Baker? Can the QB guru be part of the club...?"
A terrified Mayfield stifles a scream. Taylor grabs the rookie by the shoulders. "Be. Cool. You hear me, kid? Do you want to end up in the CFL?" whispers Taylor.
They scurry around, quickly hiding the maps, schematics, and pictures connected with red string that cover the RV's walls. Before opening the door, Taylor slaps his mentee to stop his whimpers: "Don't make eye contact with him, Bake. He's a sorcerer.
"How else does he still have a damn job?!"
Option 2: Working on their 'chemistry'
If you don't think the idea of Mayfield dressed up as Jesse Pinkman screaming "Science, b----!" at a bald Taylor wearing Heisenberg's pork pie hat is funny, you might not have a soul.
Option 3: Prank calling Johnny Manziel
Training camps are perceived as an around-the-clock grind for players, and while that's mostly true, there's also a lot of time to kill. And what better way to fill the hours between practice and film sessions than a light-hearted prank call to a former Brown north of the border?
Mayfield clears his throat dramatically before picking up the phone, pulling up his hoodie to get into character. He's been working on this impression since he met with the New England Patriots at the NFL Scouting Combine.
"Johnny? This is Bill Belichick," says Mayfield, while Taylor giggles in the background. "Tom Brady just tore his ACL and only Johnny Football can save us. You ready, son?"
A jubilant Manziel can't contain his excitement, throwing his French version of Rosetta Stone in the garbage. "I'll be right there, sir!"
"Psych!" yell Mayfield and Taylor in unison, falling over laughing. "Dude, you can't even beat out guys named Jeremiah and Vernon."
Option 4: Building an elaborate trap for Joe Thomas
The legendary Browns left tackle might have dropped the approximate equivalent of five medium bowling balls in weight since retiring in March, but we all know he could step in right this second and instantly be Cleveland's best offensive lineman.
The two quarterbacks know this, too. But Thomas isn't coming back easily - especially with a cushy TV gig and 11 painful seasons with the Browns already seared into his brain.
So the solution? A Joe Thomas trap, of course! Mayfield and Taylor could be tinkering away in their RV, preparing to lure the future Hall of Famer back to the Browns' facility, where he'll find himself ensnared by a Wile E. Coyote-like device.
"We promise you, Joe," says Taylor as he drags a sack containing a cursing Thomas back into the Browns' locker room, "we'll get you to the playoffs."
"... That's what the other 20 guys said," replies a somber Thomas.