SANTA CLARA — Upon further review, it turns out Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield didn’t refuse to shake hands with Richard Sherman and other 49ers before Monday night’s game.
Sherman, who accused Mayfield of disrespecting the 49ers by not properly greeting them on the field for the coin toss, admitted he was wrong and intends to apologize to Mayfield.
Shortly after Sherman’s postgame claim about the missing handshake from Mayfield, there was video evidence to contradict the 49ers cornerback’s assertion.
So Richard Sherman claims Baker Mayfield refused to shake his hand at the coin toss. This video seems to indicate otherwise: pic.twitter.com/4CgOsLKLPL
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) October 8, 2019
The story making the rounds after the 49ers’ 31-3 romp over the Browns was how Mayfield fired up the 49ers.
“What’s amazing, and annoying, was him not shaking hands at the beginning,” he told the NFL Network’s Mike Silver. ”That’s some college (stuff). It’s ridiculous. We’re all trying to get psyched up, but shaking hands with your opponent — that’s NFL etiquette. And when you pull bush league stuff, that’s disrespectful to the game. And believe me, that’s gonna get us fired up.”
But Sherman went on “The Pat McAfee Show” Wednesday to retract his comments about the brash Browns quarterback.
“It’s definitely my bad,” said Sherman, who picked off a Mayfield pass in the win. “I never want anybody to have to deal with some stuff that they didn’t do. And so, you know, the questions that he’s gonna get and the annoying nonsense questions about some stuff that happened in a game that’s already been done, you know, sure he’ll get an apology for that.
“I’ll probably reach out to him via text or social media to actually get ahold of him and talk to him in person, I mean on the phone,” he added. “But, yeah, yeah, because that sucks … But yeah, he definitely deserves an apology, and that’s my bad on that.”
At his locker later Wednesday, Sherman said: “I’ve said my piece about it. I’m going to have a conversation with him and then be done with it. It’s just funny it got so big. I’m all, ‘Man, I thought the football game is what they watched for.’ But I guess it’s a soap opera.”
Mayfield was asked after Browns practice Wednesday about the handshake drama and Sherman’s subsequent apology.
“That’s nice of him,” Mayfield said of the apology, noting he hadn’t yet had a chance to see if Sherman had reached out to him. “I know what I did, but that’s the one time the camera and something recording me has gone in my favor.”
Baker Mayfield on the Richard Sherman handshake accusation and apology.
"I know what I did, but that's the one time the camera and something recording me has gone in my favor."
Full Video ➡️ https://t.co/WKzyGTJxcu#OUDNA | #BoomerSooner https://t.co/pWvOLrSg1j
— 𝕺𝖐𝖑𝖆𝖍𝖔𝖒𝖆 𝖛𝖘. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 (@soonergridiron) October 9, 2019
While Mayfield did shake hands and exchange hugs with the 49ers captains before the coin toss at Levi’s, he immediately peeled off toward the sideline after the toss and didn’t shake hands again, which is usually customary.
“I respect him and who he is as a player,” Mayfield said of Sherman. “He’s a great player and has been for awhile. In no way did I mean it like that. ”
Sherman, though, said Wednesday he is still bothered by Mayfield darting away.
“I may have phrased it differently, but I meant what I said,” Sherman said on McAfee’s show. “I did feel the disrespect. . . . I felt disrespect and at the end of the day that’s all the story was, really. Like, people can say, ‘Oh my God, he shook your hand’ or ‘Oh my God you were wrong.’ You can say whatever you want. I don’t give a damn.”
