The Browns have Baker Mayfield under contract through 2022, thanks to his fifth-year option. Now that the quarterback is firmly in extension territory, agent Jack Mills believes that a long-term arrangement is just around the corner. 
“I think something will be done this summer,” Mills said (via Tony Grossi of WKNR). “As far as trying to get a deal done, I don’t know if it’ll get done. It’s something that would be pretty much in the team’s control.”
Mayfield’s fully-guaranteed $18.858MM salary for ’22 is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s less than 14 other quarterbacks are making in average annual value. For his part, Mayfield says he isn’t sweating it.
“I’m in no rush because I’m just trying to win games,” the QB said earlier this month. “Like I said, it’ll handle itself. I’m sure [agents] Tom and Jack Mills are handling that. I don’t try and feed too much into that because it’s like wasting my time and energy and thought process on things I’m not in control of right now.”
After the Browns declined to pursue Aaron Rodgers this offseason, it’s safe to say that they’ll move fast to get Mayfield locked up for years to come.
That’ll be an interesting one. I wouldn’t put him in the top 10-12 QBs. Does that put him at 30 mill? I doubt he signs for that but I’m not certain he’s worth more.
Legitimate question: who are 12 guys you’d put ahead of him? I’m not trying to challenge you or anything so I don’t mean to sound like I’m jumping down your throat lol
I’m a Browns fan so I’m admittedly a little biased but I’d put him at probably 11 or 12 or so. I think he’s trending upward and another year like last year would probably change a lot of peoples’ minds about him, but he was really good for them and kept getting better as the year went on.
Obvious ones:
Rodgers
Mahomes
Brady
Wilson
Watson
These guys are obviously better right now
This next group I question you, as a browns fan, would you rather have Mayfield or this player:
Allen
Jackson
Herbert
Prescott
Tannehill
Wentz
Stafford
Murray
Carr
Ryan
The following are teams that I think would be better next year with Baker:
Broncos
Steelers
Bengals
Jaguars
Dolphins
Jets
Patriots
Eagles
Giants
WFT
Bears
Vikings
Lions
Saints
Panthers
49ers
So in conclusion,
He is at the very least a top 16 QB.
But I think right now, he is better than Carr, Ryan, Wentz, Murray, Herbert, and Jackson.
Again, this is all for the 2021 season, but I consider him to be a top 11-12 QB
I like your list. I’d replace Wentz with Burrow on the next tier list, but I agree that the 5 ahead of him are definitely obvious ones.
I’d put Allen and Lamar ahead of Baker at the moment, and Herbert probably would be too but I need to see him do this for another year before I put him there. (Baker was just as good his rookie year and then he flopped the next year, so I wanna see more just to be safe.) So there are 7 guys I would say are definitively better, and I’d probably take 1 or 2 of Dak/Tannehill/Stafford above him too. So that would probably put him at about the 9-10 range, but pretty much anyone in about the 8-12 range is interchangeable and you could make arguments for or against any of them. I do agree that most of those teams would be better with Baker too.
Franchise QBs go for $30M/yr. If you determine Baker is the guy for years to come, then that is the floor for the discussions.
I would say Baker is flirting with top 10 status this year.
Might as well wait…18 million ain’t nothing to sneeze at and it looks like it will be a breakout year for him…if I’m the Browns I’m looking to lock him up for something a little more team friendly before that happens