Baker Mayfield wasn’t going to be the popular poster boy quarterback for long.

Mayfield, who is entering his sophomore season in Cleveland, has dropped a flurry of bold soundbites over the few months, most recently in a GQ profile, trashing the Giants for drafting Daniel Jones.

“Blows my mind,” Mayfield said of the Giants, who selected the rookie quarterback at No. 6 in this year’s draft. Mayfield denied the remarks Tuesday.

For those close to Mayfield, however, that’s simply the quarterback seeing the world as it is.

“A lot of people in the world today, they don’t like the truth,” Browns coach Freddie Kitchens explained in the feature. “They’d rather you just tell them something that they want to hear. Baker’s not going to be like that. He’s just going to tell you like it is. It’s your problem if you don’t like it. It’s not his.”

However, Mayfield accepted his place as Tyrod Taylor’s backup last season (“He’s a guy I could sit behind and learn from“) after being the first overall pick in the 2018 draft. He did not make huge waves even as the Browns were featured on “Hard Knocks” with the quarterbacks-only RV among the juicier storylines even as he starred during the preseason.

He took over as the starting quarterback in Week 3 after Taylor got hurt. Head coach Hue Jackson was fired a few weeks after that and he joined the rival Bengals under then-coach Marvin Lewis in November 2018, which didn’t go unnoticed by his former quarterback.

“Left Cleveland, goes down to Cincinnati. I don’t know. That’s just somebody that’s in our locker room asking for us to play for him and then goes to a different team we play twice a year. Everybody can have their spin on it, but that’s how I feel,” Mayfield said at the time.

It was the first NFL sign that Mayfield would be embracing the persona that caused so many controversies in his college days. Still, Mayfield was winning more without Jackson and NFL fans were happy to land on his side over a coach who went 3-36-1 in Cleveland.

The Browns finished the season at 7-8-1, resulting in Cleveland’s — and the NFL community’s — burgeoning love affair with the 24-year-old quarterback.

“Quarterbacks, by the textbook, are supposed to be reserved, cool, calm, and collected,” Mayfield said to GQ. “I do it my own way.”

Mayfield has been quarterbacking his own way since college, which included a notable moment in 2017, when the then-Sooner attempted to plant Oklahoma’s flag in the center of the field at Ohio State after a win.

He was told to apologize for the theatrics by “higher-ups” at Oklahoma.

“I had done so much and worked so hard to play for that school, I was just kinda,” he said, pausing, “almost embarrassed for them to tell me to apologize.”

Though Mayfield has made it clear he won’t apologize for being himself, that sentiment hasn’t come without consequence. In June, some Browns players had approached Mayfield over comments made about Duke Johnson’s trade demands following the addition of several playmakers in the offseason.

“It’s self-inflicted. It is what it is. It’s not awkward for anyone else in this building,” Mayfield said. “He’s gotta do his job. He said he was a professional. I hope he does his job.”

Mayfield and the players are said to have discussed their differences in private.

With the season opener against the Titans just three weeks away, the Dawg Pound is readying for the most-hyped season in years.

How much Mayfield’s bravado is tolerated will depend on how much he is able to win. He was celebrated for getting the Browns from 0-16 to 7-8-1. Despite the consistent buzz, Mayfield recognizes the potential fallout should the team fall south of .500.

“Here’s the thing,” Mayfield told ESPN in another lengthy feature earlier this summer. “They’re gonna hype you up. But as soon as you lose a couple of games, they’ll throw you in the trash.”

In the meantime, he’s simply embracing the hate that comes is his way.

“I’m gonna be myself and believe in that,” Mayfield told Complex in a recent Q&A. “And if you don’t like it, that’s OK.”