Browns Quarterback Claims He Had A UFO Encounter, And He’s Sticking To It

Most reports of UFO sightings are met with cynicism and no small measure of querying minds. One NFL QB says he saw one though

By Dylan Balde | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

UFO

Most reports of UFO sightings are met with cynicism and no small measure of querying minds. Ufology is a pseudoscience and will remain so till extraterrestrial life is either discovered off-planet or physically confronted on Earth, with legitimate documentation to extinguish all doubts. Official photographs alleging UFO activity, including those leaked from recent Pentagon archives, are often too shadowy and nebulous to be given the irrefutable stamp of approval by working astronomers, physicists, and cosmologists. A “bright spot of light” could mean anything from weather balloons to broken satellites. Until photos and videos are ruled kosher — and incontrovertibly so, visually — the study of UFOs will forever stay in the realm of fiction. Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield doesn’t think so, however.

Baker Mayfield and his wife Emily claim to have seen a “very bright ball of light” plunging from the night sky in the direction of Lake Travis. The couple were driving back from dinner in Austin, Texas on the evening of March 3 when the UFO encounter took place. The former Texas Tech Red Raider tweeted about it the following day.

Emily Mayfield immediately backed up her husband’s claim, insisting in a followup tweet she herself used to be a non-believer. But not anymore. She writes: “What. Was. That. In. Austin. Texas.”

As expected, hardly anybody on Twitter took the couple seriously, with several making jokes and the occasional clever jab at Cleveland Browns’ then-Super Bowl odds. Many ignored the UFO bit and instead took the opportunity to rain praise upon Baker Mayfield for his celebrated career at the NFL, which was presumably of little comfort to the 26-year-old quarterback, who didn’t take well to being told he was “crazy.” Even fellow NFL star Tom Brady of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers joined in on the fun after Fox Sports Radio host Colin Cowherd expressed his concerns over Mayfield’s supposed UFO encounter on The Herd, saying, “Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, Terry Bradshaw & Tom Brady have never seen aliens. I would prefer my guys don’t talk about it.” Brady responded with characteristic waggery:

Baker Mayfield spoke to Cleveland.com about the incident, hoping to clarify his tweets and convince UFO skeptics of the veracity of his account. “We were driving home from dinner. Just driving back home and had the music going,” he explains. “It was one of those things. [Emily] was looking down at her phone in the passenger seat. It was nighttime so when you’re looking at your phone screen, everything is dark around you and you can only see that light, but it was bright enough to where it caught her attention, too. We kind of just looked at each other, ‘Did you just see that? Yeah.’ Other people in that area confirmed, too.”

In 2019, mystery UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) were found circling Navy Destroyers off the Southern Californian coast, suspended 700 feet in the air. These UAVs were later confirmed to be UFOs, according to a recent Pentagon report, and matched the Mayfields’ description of their own UFO sighting to an unnerving tee. The pyramid-shaped drones of unknown origin were emitting a bright white light, same as Baker Mayfield’s would-be alien visitor.

UFO enthusiast Jeremy Corbell claims the information provided by the U.S. government are as valid as most UAVs come. An Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force has been assembled to elaborate on these findings. Not only that, the Russian Navy also reported often finding UFOs — including a controversial 1982 sighting of humanoids in silvery suits — eerily close to lakes and oceans, suggesting alien life is drawn to water. This too is consistent with Mayfield’s story, having seen the strange light specifically falling toward Lake Travis.

Baker Mayfield, of course, felt a spot of relief hearing the Defense department itself is backing him up. In the same follow up interview with Cleveland.com, Mayfield reiterates: “I’m a firm believer in UFOs and Sasquatch. It’s real, I saw it. I’m glad the Navy finally confirmed some more pictures. Now everybody doesn’t think I’m as crazy. I believe.”

Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough confirmed the Navy photos herself in an interview with CNN. “As we have said before,” she says, “to maintain operations security and to avoid disclosing information that may be useful to potential adversaries, DOD does not discuss publicly the details of either the observations or the examinations of reported incursions into our training ranges or designated airspace, including those incursions initially designated as UAP.”

Though claiming the mythical Sasquatch is scientific fact hardly does Mayfield any favors, perhaps there is some spot of truth to his story, given how all official accounts so far relate the same thing. Brightly lit UFOs flitting close to water. Then again, the Wall Street Journal (in conjunction with the National UFO Reporting Center) describes a staggering increase in UFO encounters — 51%! — during the height of the ongoing pandemic, which once again begs the question: were those “Tic Tac-shaped” drones as real as the Navy is making them out to be, or was it all psychosomatic, caused by loneliness, prolonged isolation, and dare we say — cabin fever?