As a new mentor of Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield, Chad Pennington has advice to share with the No. 1 overall draft pick for almost every situation he'll encounter as a rookie.
But Pennington's main messages boil down to this: Continue to work like an underdog and focus on football instead of building a brand.
Those are the points Pennington, the 18th overall pick of the New York Jets in 2000 who played quarterback in the NFL for 11 seasons, has harped on since he met Mayfield in January at the Senior Bowl.
During the practice week in Mobile, Ala., Pennington served as a resource for prospects as part of the NFL Legends Community's mentorship program. Five weeks later, he worked with Mayfield in the same capacity at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. The two have exchanged text messages since then.
Pennington hopes Mayfield, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Oklahoma, will never forget how he became a household name.
"My first piece of advice came from a place of transparency and honesty in saying that, 'Baker, you have to remember who you are, and that is a guy who was a twice walk-on in college, and without your work ethic and your talent, you would probably be a (graduate assistant) somewhere coaching,' " Pennington said in a recent phone interview with the Beacon Journal.
"The conflict is now people are treating him differently than who he knows he really is. And so he has to be able to distinguish the difference between (the two and tell himself), 'This is who people think I am and want to treat me this way because I am the first pick, I am a Heisman Trophy winner, but I, as Baker Mayfield, have to remember that I'm a twice walk-on, and I have to keep that edge about me, or this game and the entertainment value around this game will eat a player up and spit him out.' "
