Mayfield: People want to see Browns lose 'because the hype is so real'

The Cleveland Browns have undergone a remarkable turnaround from the butt of NFL jokes to the darlings of the league.

Entering 2019, the Browns bandwagon is already at max capacity. It's reached the point that detractors are already calling the team - which went 7-8-1 a year ago - overrated.

"It went from having excitement over Bud Light coolers being opened to now people waiting to see us lose so they can say, 'Oh, they got too hyped up,'" Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield told Zach Frydenlund of Complex Sports.

"You've got to believe in it and take it one week at a time. Because I wouldn't say that everybody wants to beat us," he added. "I think in the media and everything that comes with the hype around our team right now, people want to see us lose, just because the hype is so real. But we've got to go out there and take it one week at a time. We're trying to win every week."

The Browns are currently the betting favorites to win the AFC North and are a top-four favorite to come out of the AFC after adding star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. via trade during the offseason. They're also scheduled to play in four prime-time games this season.

While Cleveland seems poised to end a 16-year playoff drought, Mayfield wants to keep things in perspective.

"I'd say the chatter doesn't matter. The expectations for us within the locker room last year were higher than what we accomplished. Outside the locker room, people threw us in the trash before the season. They didn't expect much out of us just because, the year before that, (the) Browns were 0-16," he said. "So, you know, you can only go up from there. And I think now we need to have the same mentality. It stays within that locker room."