Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR.

Backstage at the 19th Greater Cleveland Sports Awards in the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel, Baker Mayfield greeted local media with a customary quip.

“Hey, everybody, did you miss me?”

It’s not as if Mayfield has been in seclusion since that last Browns game in Baltimore on New Year’s Eve eve. Quite the contrary.

In an offseason tour de force the likes of which no Browns player of recent vintage ever has fashioned, Mayfield:

* Snuggled an emu while blindfolded with host James Corden on The Late, Late Show.

* Dined with NFL superstars Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr. at a trendy Los Angeles restaurant, fueling rumors of recruiting high-profile players to Cleveland.

* Nimbly traversed radio row at the Super Bowl in Atlanta like an A-list celebrity as marketing chaperones kept unneeded media at bay.

* Received an adoring shoutout from host Steve Harvey at the NFL Honors program before presenting an award for best touchdown celebration.

* Symbolically was handed Tom Brady’s five Super Bowl rings in the star-studded NFL’s 100th season commercial aired prior to the Super Bowl halftime show.

* Answered questions while sitting mostly nude in an ice tub in an episode of comedian Kevin Hart’s awkward Web series Cold as Balls.

Ironically, what Mayfield did not do may serve him best in his first offseason as the leader, conscience and face of the Browns.

He did not receive the Associated Press NFL offensive rookie-of-the-year award. Mayfield finished second in the vote of AP’s media panel of 50, losing by five votes to New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley.

This arguably-unjust snub should enlarge the chip on his shoulder and further motivate Mayfield, who is notorious for saving critical commentaries on his smartphone and tweeting back at those who cross him.

“Yeah, I’ll use it as motivation, but the more important thing is winning football games,” Mayfield said. “It’s more frustrating than anything because Saquon, that’s my guy, and that’s something he can hold over my head forever now. But you know what, I’ll use it as motivation and I’ll be better in the long run.”

Premature celebration: Mayfield rightfully earned the event’s Professional Athlete of the Year award for the amazing impact he had on the city’s football psyche.

But is the celebrityhood of Mayfield coming too fast and furious? Bill Parcells once warned Tony Romo against being a “celebrity quarterback” – a player who enjoyed the trappings of the job before accomplishing much of anything.

“No, not that at all,” Mayfield said when I asked if his aspirations off the field were of maximizing his celebrity.

“The Kevin Hart thing was actually filmed last year and just now came out. No. You know what? Just enjoy the time, because I think it’s important to step away from the game for a little bit. Do some fun things here and there, be around different athletes.

“But when it comes down to when it’s time to train, I’ll be able to shut that [celebrity stuff] off because that’s something I pride myself in.”

Mayfield did the same thing – to a lesser extent – prior to his rookie year. He was the first NFL player in memory to be the subject of two documentaries before he ever threw a pass.

But they never inhibited his preparation for his rookie season. He worked as hard as anybody. And when his opportunity came in the third game of the season, he provided what was recognized on this night as the season’s Best Sports Moment – coming on in relief of injured Tyrod Taylor and engineering the 21-17 win over the New York Jets that ended the Browns’ 19-game losing streak and lit the torch to the most enjoyable season in, seemingly, a hundred years.

Mayfield’s plans for the remainder of the offseason are healthy.

He won’t do the quarterback guru thing, and he will organize workouts with his Browns receivers.

“We’ll absolutely get together,” he said. “No, I’m not going to have any guy swiping a broom at my feet in the ocean. That type of QB training, I don’t believe in that. I’ll go to a normal gym, where I trained last year. I don’t need some guy to teach me how to throw. I’ll have a guy that pushes me in workouts, has other athletes in there, the intensity’s up. It’s a working environment.

“To have the guys out there, it's time to start that chemistry early, which I'm really excited about. The sooner we can build that timing [the better], then later on you don't have to worry about it. Because it took until about September for us to get timing last year, when I was actually getting reps with them, so I’m looking forward to being able to do that early.”

About those expectations: Mayfield continued to stoke high expectations for the 2019 season.

“It shouldn’t be that the whole town goes crazy over one win on a Thursday,” he said. “It should be the expectation that we need to be competing in the playoffs every year. That’s the fun part about it. The fans can get really excited. But we set the expectations in the building and I’ve always believed that. You have to live up to your own standard.

“The excitement’s real and should be justified. That’s our goal -- to set our expectations and live up to that hype. We’ve kind of showed what we can do at times, but we need to be more consistent and we need to win more games, plain and simple, and compete for the division and playoffs every year.”

The NFL season ended with a young quarterback in his third year, Jared Goff of the Los Angeles Rams, succumbing to the pressure of the Super Bowl and to the genius of Bill Belichick’s defensive scheming.

I asked Mayfield if he imagined how he’d do in Goff’s position and whether he learned anything from watching the game. Browns fans are convinced that Mayfield wouldn’t shrink in the moment as Goff did.

“Kudos to Jared, leading a team to the playoffs and to the Super Bowl that early on,” Mayfield said. “Anytime you’re playing in a Super Bowl you’re going to be playing against a great team. There’s obviously stuff he’d like to have back. You’re playing against the Patriots in the Super Bowl, so you’re going to get their best shot. He did a great job all year.

“I’m looking forward to it when we get our shot to be there and taking advantage of it.”

If you think Mayfield’s offseason has been on a fast track, get set for what may lie ahead. He’s only just begun.