Baker Mayfield calls Giants ‘an ideal situation’ for him

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Baker Mayfield said it would be “an ideal situation” if the Giants drafted him in April.

“Throwing the ball to Engram, Shep and Odell wouldn’t be too bad,” he said of Evan Engram, Sterling Shepard and Odell Beckham Jr., the three Giants targets who figure to be on the field in 2018. “Those are some studs right there. Being there, that’s a big-time franchise. The spotlight, I think I thrive on that. I think that would be an ideal situation.”

It also would be a bit of an awkward one. The Giants have committed to bringing Eli Manning back for 2018, which likely means that any rookie quarterback they take in this year’s draft — with the second overall pick or later — will have to start his career on the bench.

Mayfield said he’s cool with that, too.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I’m ready to go in and compete. I’m not going to wait lightly, but obviously sitting behind Eli would be a great situation.”

Mayfield was scheduled to meet with the Giants at the Senior Bowl last week but because of his truncated schedule because of his mother’s illness, they were not able to connect. He did meet with the Jets in Mobile, Alabama, though.

“It went well,” he said. “I thought it did. It was good to be around those guys.”

One of the things most teams want to know about are Mayfield’s off-the-field issues. He won the Heisman Trophy this season but also made plenty of headlines for brash, crass behavior.

It’s something that could scare away teams looking for the face of their franchise, but it’s also something Mayfield said he is prepared to answer for in interviews.

“A lot of the stuff is off the field and whether I’m going to be the next Johnny Manziel,” he said. “That’s the biggest question I’ve already had to address a lot, whether I’m going to grow up and whether I’m going to handle things that come my way the right way, or if I’m not. For me it’s just being honest and showing them I love the game. There’s a lot of passion to it, and there are mistakes that I’ve had, but I’ve learned from them. I’m going to move forward and prove that.”

Do teams make that Manziel comparison directly?

“A few people do,” he said. “They ask what I’m doing here [on film] or what was I thinking, yeah. It comes with the territory. He was a great player, but we’re not the same off the field though.”

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.