There seemed to be a growing consensus Thursday morning that the Cleveland Browns would use the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft on Baker Mayfield, choosing the Oklahoma quarterback over a number of other signal-caller options. ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., for one, has Mayfield going to the Browns in his final mock draft after saying for months that Cleveland would select Wyoming’s Josh Allen.
Wherever Mayfield lands Thursday night, he already will be a winner because look at this photo he posted Wednesday night on Twitter:
Mayfield was paying homage to the iconic, jorts-centric photo taken of Brett Favre in his Mississippi bedroom the moment he learned he had been selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the 33rd pick of the 1991 draft. It’s a snapshot of both a singular moment in time and the early ’90s as a whole.
Favre himself noted Mayfield’s tip of the cap and roll of the jeans:
Tim Isbell, who took the Favre photo for the Biloxi Sun Herald, retold the story of its provenance in a 2015 story. He said that in the moments before the photo was taken, Favre actually was flipping between conversations with executives from both the Falcons and Jets, who held the pick after Atlanta and planned to use it on Favre. The photo itself captured the moment when the Falcons told the future Hall of Famer that they would be selecting him.
Isbell prefers his own shot to the Mayfield version:
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