INDIANAPOLIS _ While Penn State running back Saquon Barkley dazzled the NFL scouting combine Friday with his athleticism in drills to more than cement himself at the best player in the 2018 NFL draft, brash and bold Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield stole the show as he continued to stump for top billing.
The Cleveland Browns have the No. 1 pick in the draft and Mayfield says he should be the clear choice.
"I think if anyone's gonna turn them around, it's me. They're close," Mayfield said. "They have right pieces. They just need a quarterback."
But Mayfield wasn't done with declarations on his mission to not only overcome Barkley, who ran a blistering 4.41 seconds in the 40-yard dash to go along with 29 reps on the bench press and a 41-inch vertical leap, but also USC quarterback Sam Darnold, UCLA quarterback Josh Rosen and Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen, who are all rated higher on boards because they fit the build of the prototypical NFL quarterback more so than the undersized 2017 Heisman Trophy winner.
Mayfield measured in at 6-feet, | inches tall. In the past 15 drafts, the only quarterback shorter than 6-foot-1 to be drafted in the first round was former Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel (5-foot-11, }) in 2014, per NFL research.
"Height doesn't matter," Mayfield said. "If you have something to say about that, I have three years of tape you can watch ... I'm the most accurate quarterback in this draft by far."
Mayfield resisted any other comparisons to the troubled and controversial Manziel, who flamed out the league after being picked in the first round by the Browns in 2014.
He said he is not cocky. He is confident. And honest to a fault.
"I'm brutally honest and some people don't like that, because it's rare these days," Mayfield said. "First things first, whichever team I go to, I'm not going to settle for a backup job."
Mayfield was in full form and rare form indeed.
