UPDATED 10/9, 10:55 a.m. ET: Richard Sherman gave his best version of an apology, when he said "my bad" in reference to the Baker Mayfield handshake controversy.
Sherman was a guest on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday, and implied that he'll be reaching out to Mayfield. "I never wanna see somebody deal with some stuff that they didn’t do," he said. "The annoying questions he’s gonna get about a game that’s already done, he’ll get an apology for that."
See original story below.
Baker Mayfield continued to make noise off the field on Monday, after Richard Sherman criticized him for reportedly not shaking his hand ahead of the Browns' Monday night matchup against the San Francisco 49ers.
It's NFL tradition that the opposing captains shake hands with each other at the pre-game coin toss as a sign of respect. From videos of the coin toss, it appears as though Mayfield purposely didn't engage with the 49er's cornerback, Richard Sherman and fellow captain DeForest Buckner, but appeared to dap up the other San Francisco captains. This rubbed Sherm the wrong way, and he gave his thoughts on the interaction following the game.Â
"What's amazing, and annoying, was him not shaking hands at the beginning," Sherman told NFL.com. "That's some college shit. It's ridiculous. We're all trying to get psyched up, but shaking hands with your opponent—that's NFL etiquette. And when you pull bush league stuff, that's disrespectful to the game. And believe me, that's gonna get us fired up." But there's also video in which Mayfield can clearly be seen shaking Sherman's hand.
What drew Sherman's ire is that Mayfield didn't hang around to shake hands after the coin toss, but neither did some of the other Browns who were with him.
Sherman later changed up what the issue was. "You don’t see any difference in the way I shake everyone else’s hand and the guy who stands back with the petty shake," he wrote in response to Pat McAfee sharing multiple angles of the handshake.
This caused Sherman to be riled up after the game. "Respect the game," Sherman continued. "You can have rivals, but pay your respect in that moment—especially when you're young... And when you see a guy who doesn't? You humble him every chance you get. Because eventually, he will have respect for the league—or he'll be out of it."
Sherman also compared Mayfield to Mahomes. "He hasn't earned anything in this league," he explained. "How many games has he won? He's acting like he was the MVP last year. If (Patrick) Mahomes did that, it would be one thing. But he would never do that, because he has too much respect for the game."
Adding to the Browns demoralizing loss was Nick Bosa showing that he has a long memory. After laying a hit on Mayfield that forced the quarterback into an intentional grounding penalty, Bosa mimed plating a flag the turf. This was "payback" for when Mayfield planted the Oklahoma flag in the middle of Ohio Stadium following Mayfield's victory over Bosa's alma mater in 2017.
