NFL’s Baker Mayfield Says Vaccines Are Much More Than A ‘Competitive Advantage’

Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield is putting out a positive message about COVID-19 vaccines.

He spoke openly about how getting the shots benefits players and humanity.

“It’s a competitive advantage, but it’s also way more than that,” the 26-year-old athlete told reporters from his youth football camp Wednesday. “It’s about safety and just general health and well being of human life.”

Positive COVID-19 tests have hindered the Browns during the coronavirus pandemic, forcing them to shut down their practice facility. Sports Illustrated points out that the team played a game last season “basically without most of their wide receiver room.”

The NFL is urging teams to get more than 85% of their players vaccinated before most of them open training camp on July 27. The league reported last week that 10 teams have met the goal and 73% of players league-wide have had at least one shot. Unvaccinated players will have to take precautions like daily testing, wearing masks, limiting the number of players in rooms and not eating in the cafeteria. 

Yet Mayfield’s remarks also focus on the bigger picture.

Over the weekend, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, predicted that “most” unvaccinated Americans who haven’t already had COVID-19 will contract the delta variant — and it will be the “most serious” virus of their lives.