3 NFL players heading into the 2022-23 season with a chip on their shoulder ft. Baker Mayfield 

Baker Mayfield will play for the Carolina Panthers in the 2022-23 NFL season. He will be doing so with a major chip on his shoulder after the developments of the offseason.

Having felt mistreated and disrespected by the Browns throughout the ordeal, Mayfield has something to prove. He wants to show the Browns they were wrong to dispense with him.

This isn’t an uncommon feeling in the NFL, especially with teams always looking to overhaul their roster to win a championship.

It can be a business without loyalty, and throughout the years there have been players entirely motivated to prove someone wrong. It could be a former team or a group of teams that opted not to draft him.

Ahead of the 2022-23 NFL season, there are a number of players who have an axe to grind for a variety of reasons. Here are three of them.

#1 Trevor Lawrence

Indianapolis Colts v Jacksonville Jaguars

Having an average season by NFL standards in your rookie year is nothing to be embarrassed about. However, expectations on Trevor Lawrence’s shoulders going into last season were huge.

He was expected to drag the Jacksonville Jaguars out of the wilderness, whilst developing his game under a head coach who was way out of his depth.

Lawrence didn’t play poorly in his rookie year, but he wasn’t outstanding. He had 3,421 passing yards and 12 passing touchdowns, along with 17 interceptions. Based on his performances in 2021, people assume that the former Clemson star is a bust, despite being taken first overall in the draft.

Lawrence remains the most gifted quarterback to come into the NFL since Andrew Luck, and the sky is the limit for him.

Given the amount of criticism he has received following his difficult rookie season, Lawrence will be determined to prove people wrong.

Having already been written off, Lawrence will be in a much more comfortable environment in Jacksonville in 2022 and it’s not impossible to see him dragging them to upwards of seven wins.

#2 Derrick Henry

Derrick Henry will be motivated to show that he is still very capable

Injuries restricted Henry to just eight games in the 2021 season, and as such, many have written him off as yet another victim of the running-back curse.

It is the position which perhaps places the most physical strain on the body, and very few expect to have long careers without a dip in production.

Performance-wise, Henry rushed for almost 1,000 yards in his eight games and was on course to break the 2,000-yard mark for the second successive season.

Nobody is doubting Henry’s talent ahead of the Tennessee Titans’ campaign, but there are questions over whether his body can stand up to another year of punishment.

Henry will have heard talk about his health and will be aware that the Titans drafted Hassan Haskins in the fourth round of the 2022 NFL Draft.

While not a replacement for Henry, his presence puts the veteran on notice, and if he doesn’t perform, he will not be a guaranteed starter.

Henry still has gas left in the tank and is more than capable of rushing for 2,000 yards in 2022-23. Given the doubts surrounding him, he will be intent on making people eat their words.

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#3 Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield

The Cleveland Browns effectively told Baker Mayfield that they didn’t think he was good enough to be their starting quarterback without even doing a face-to-face.

By trading for Deshaun Watson, paying him a record salary and standing firmly behind him in the wake of a possible suspension for alleged sexual misconduct, the Browns sent a clear message to Mayfield.

What is particularly troubling about this is the fact that Mayfield hasn’t been a bad quarterback for Cleveland.

He arrived in a franchise that had just suffered a winless season and led them to their first playoff win since 1994.

Baker Mayfield played with the confidence that the franchise and city needed, yet he couldn’t quite take the team to the next level.

Cleveland didn’t need to keep Mayfield, but they had to ensure he wasn’t blindsided by the Watson trade.

Having now been traded to the Carolina Panthers, Baker Mayfield will walk into the team as a starting QB. With the presence of Christian McCaffrey to help him as a truly elite rushing/receiving option, the former Browns starter could really enjoy success.

Nobody will be more motivated than Baker Mayfield. He will want to show the Browns that they were wrong to replace him.

There are few better sources of motivation than revenge, and Baker Mayfield is ready to hurt the Browns, especially if Watson is suspended for the entire season.