He needled at Mayfield to see if he could get a response (and did) and that convinced him that Mayfield wasn't ready to turn around an organization as a rookie.

He noted that Burrow didn't get defensive or offended and that gave Cowherd more confidence in Burro's maturity and readiness to be a franchise face.

"I'm starting to see something with Joe Burrow that I really like," Cowherd said. "I've been on Joe Burrow for six months. He follows me on social media. He retweets me. He never fires back. Because Joe Burrow's self-esteem is not tied to what I think of him. Joe Burrow's self-esteem — and this is really important — is tied to what Joe Burrow thinks of himself. It is about confidence, focus, judgement, maturity."

"When I poked Baker Mayfield in the ribs — police video, height — poked him in the ribs, kind of a reach. Oh, it bothered him," Cowherd continued. "He fired back every time. Every time. Because Baker was not ready to go from best college team to lousy NFL team. That's a certain level maturity and self-esteem that few have. Baker Mayfield has admitted in the last month, Baker's words 'I lost my way. I lost who I was.

"Joe Burrow is already there. Took Baker two years. Joe's there. He's not bothered by me, not bothered by critics. He kinda puts his arms around it. And that's a real thing. That's a real thing because this league, the National Football League, beats you up physically and it beats you up emotionally."