Baker Mayfield wants out. On Thursday afternoon, the quarterback formally asked the Browns to trade him (Twitter link via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero). For now, the Browns say that they will not accommodate his request (Twitter link via Jake Trotter of ESPN.com). 
[RELATED: Browns Out Of Watson Talks]
For what it’s worth, there is a difference between a trade request and a trade demand. Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (on Twitter) hears that it’s the former, which may mean that a resolution is still possible.
The Browns’ pursuit of Deshaun Watson irked Mayfield, who was hoping to get back to his old form for Cleveland following shoulder rehab. The Browns offered to fly to Texas, meet with Mayfield, and talk things out. The quarterback has told them not to bother. Now, the Browns are out of the Watson sweepstakes and might not have Mayfield to fall back on.
Mayfield still has another year on his contract at a salary of $18.86MM. Given where the QB market is right now, that might be an appealing proposition for the Colts — a preferred destination for Mayfield.
Mayfield, 27 in April, finished 2021 with a 60.5% completion rate, 3,010 passing yards and 17 touchdowns against 13 interceptions. That’s a dramatic step back from his 2020 stats — 3,563 yards, 26 TDs, and eight INTs with a 62.8% success rate.
The Browns regressed on the whole in 2021, compiling an 8-9 record and failing to make it back to the playoffs. However, it’s hard to judge Mayfield on an individual level, given the torn labrum on his non-throwing side. The QB finished near the bottom of the league in of QBR, but he was top ten league-wide just one year prior. That 2020 campaign resulted in a divisional round appearance and what looked to be the start of something special.
More to come..
Lol I love the Browns
Haslam is trash.
Only problem is someone has to request Baker Mayfield. Unless Indy is interested, he has nowhere better to go and Cleveland has no one better to play.
Man it’s gotta suck being wrong…..ouch
We’ll see. This could just as easily result in a two year placating deal as a trade. Wouldn’t be the first trade request we saw come to naught. There’s still the part where Cleveland has to actually honor the request. What’s he gonna do, hold out and get fined into oblivion when he’s coming off the worst year of his career?
And to steal the line from “Little Big League” –What is the going rate for a QB who can’t win games and can’t seem to stay healthy?
As you say, his only option would be to hold out. His value is low now to begin with. He will kill his own value should he hold out coming off of horrible season.
To Seattle for the 9th overall pick
lol
In the 3rd round?
I hope your joking. At best a mid-late 2nd but most likely a 3rd.
At best nothing we don’t want him here.
No way! You could get Gardner Minshew for less, and he is at least as good as Mayfield, and is a lot more likable, too!
Please NY Giants
Please NY Giants stay away. Mayfield is coming off an injury and only has a year left on his rookie deal. They can just sign him next offseason if they want him.
Ugggh and just like that this organization is a mess again 🙁
Here we go… this is great entertainment. Almost better than live action. He hasn’t had a roof over his head in Cleveland , possibly he can move into a dome.
Seattle, Indy, NYG, Detroit, Houston all reasonable destinations.
I like Baker but I also like Daniel Jones. I think he gets a bad wrap for a guy on an absolutely atrocious team. I think the Giants would be foolish to blame him for their offense being so bad and their best choice is to try to build around him in a hurry.
Detroit already has an expensive former number one overall pick who isn’t their QB of the future. Houston is in full tank mode. Seattle at least should be after trading Wilson and cutting Wagner.
Giants make absolutely no sense. Only a decent team who just needs a QB like Indy makes sense. Giants are horrible and adding Mayfield is not going to fix that, especially considering he’s coming off an injury and does not have a long term deal.
It’s not about making the Giants a SB contender next year they have a new coach. He may want a different QB.
I’m just glad it’s not Diva Rodgers dominating headlines anymore
And I’m glad nobody is randomly bringing him into stories for absolutely no reason…
0523me watch out what you say about the Diva Rodgers. MannyPimeappleExrpess is his code name on here.
Says the guy who insists on joining every conversation where Rodgers name is brought up, to complain about joining conversations about Rodgers.
I’m in the Baker is a good QB camp. The Browns play calling has been abysmal and he was trying to be a hero last season and should’ve been shut down. I completely understand his position. The Browns were publicly courting another QB, why would he want to stick around in that lame duck type situation. I think Baker is going to bounce back on another team and the Browns will continue to Browns for another decade at minimum.
I’m a Mayfield fan. The guy played hurt for most of the year and didn’t have a really good season. 2022 he’ll turn it around whoever he plays for. I hope it’s the Colts
Yeah it was a lose-lose situation for Baker last season. He plays hurt and continues to look bad or he sits out potentially opening the door for Keenum to look like a capable game manager. Either way there would’ve been questions if Baker is the long term guy.
This is why guys don’t want to play hurt. Guy gave the Browns all he had last year and the coach and gm are using Baker as a scapegoat.
Just embarrassing, now if he goes out and plays well they lose him for nothing except a Comp pick. The Browns found a way to end up in a lose-lose situation and it’s all their own doing. Bad franchises are bad for a reason clearly.
Only a clown show franchise decides to “move on” from their best QB option with NO ACTUAL PLAN HOW TO UPGRADE.
Comical.
That’s what gets me. I’m a Browns fan and would be okay with upgrading from Baker, but to fracture the relationship this badly without even having a plan is a pretty bad look. I can’t even be upset anymore, it’s just fun to sit back and watch it burn lol
The Browns are like a schlub leaving his wife because the best looking woman at work sneezed one day and he thought she smiled at him.
They had almost no chance of getting Watson.
And now, they have nothing.
This is the reason the Browns have been historically bad for so long. They march headlong into some ridiculous idea which has no relation to their actual plan and have no plan B for when it goes ass over teakettle.
It is so frustrating being a Cleveland fan when Browns owners keep making the same mistakes over and over. (BTW, Haslam will blame the current regime when next year goes bad because we WON’T HAVE A QUARTERBACK. He’ll fire them for HIS incompetence.)
Browns are clearly the number 3 franchise in town. It is time to start treating them like it. The other two franchises have actually been to their respective finals multiple times since the original Browns left. THOSE franchises are the ones to support. Not the Browns.
I actually respect Browns fans. Can’t accuse them of being bandwagon.
Steeler fans act like Mike Tomlin drove to their house, knocked on their door and spit in their face if they don’t win a Lombardi each year.
Cleveland needs Sonny Weaver as GM
And Bo Callahan at QB, who cares if he doesn’t have any friends.
Sonny Weaver couldn’t even save that franchise from ol’ Jimmy. The Browns have a great fanbase, and they deserve better. Until that franchise is sold, they’ll never get it, though.
Browns fans should hold a “Sell The Team Rally”.
Surround the stadium and yell loudly for the cameras.
I remain convinced that the Commissioner at the time stuck Haslem on Browns fans in retaliation for their causing commotion when the NFL allowed Modell to move to Baltimore while the fans were supporting a lousy team.
Later it was Randy Lerner’s team to sell, yet there was never any solicited bidding. I never saw that before when an NFL team was sold. Don’t keep up enough to know if it been done that way since. Is the NFL Commissioner electing an owner for the Broncos, or is the family of the owner doing it?
Since you “don’t keep up enough to know” you shouldn’t comment on the ownership. Commissioner didn’t stick Haslam on Browns after Modell moved the team. Al Lerner owned the franchise, then his son, then Haslam.
In this situation, people blaming Haslam are just using this as another reason to pile on. Berry has said since day one that he will always be looking to upgrade the talent at every position. Mayfield lovers who say he’s the best QB they’ve had since coming back miss the point. Watson is a top 5 QB. Mayfield isn’t even too 10 and he is too immature – calling out his head coach postgame, calling out teammates when he hadn’t earned the right, multiple tweets by him and his wife, etc.
Instead of taking the high road when the organization did exactly what they should do by vetting the chance to upgrade a position, he chose to slog through the cesspool. Should have done a Jimmy G and kept his mouth shut, used it as motivation, and come back and lead the team like an “adult” and prove why they shouldn’t have dabbled with Watson.
This has been poorly handled by everyone – front office, player, media – and the fans of a once storied franchise have to put up with more dysfunction and embarrassment when they just want to win.
Unless I missed something, the 49ers haven’t publicly humiliated Jimmy G. in the process of exploring upgrades. They didn’t let it leak they want whatever they don’t see in Jimmy. That’s notable because when these things leak, it’s because the franchise wants them to leak. At that point, I don’t think Mayfield owes that franchise anything. Forget that “shut up and play” BS.
Also, yes, Watson is the better QB talent. You can’t just gloss over the fact that Watson is a terrible person, especially when the Browns management wants an “adult” at QB. Their hypocrisy is amazing.
@ frozeninneohio ;
I grew up a Browns fan and watched Paul Brown coach and run the franchise.
I followed the situation via the Internet and on calls to people in Cleveland when Haslam came out of nowhere. I was told Kosar and Shula among others wanted to buy the team from Lerner but were shut out.
Stick it where the sun don’t shine.
When an organization disrespects your franchise QB by publicly acknowledging your interested in another QB who has mass character flaws and then saying they want an adult to be their QB. Baker mayfield is doing the right thing by requesting a trade
That’s just it. I don’t see how they can’t see the situation they put Baker in. He’ll be answering questions about this all season if he stays in Cleveland. If the dude has one bad game, it’ll be brutal. That’s not even touching on how it impacts the lockerroom. You can’t do this so publicly.
It’s one thing to quietly explore your options, and quite another to embarrass the QB you have.
I don’t think anyone realizes just how arrogant, backstabbing, manipulative, egocentric, and just plain full of it that Jimmy Haslem and his wife are.
They have left behind a trail of FO people. coaches and players whose careers they ruined for years now. The NFL office should take over the franchise.
Anything that puts a stop to the Progressive commercials I’m for.
No, they’ll feature him trying to sell his home now!
Zillow crossover.
lolBrowns
I think Philly should kick the tires on this
“The Browns is the Browns”
They is who we thought they was.
Good for Baker. He’s too good a human, player and leader for that trash organization. Demand it, then sit out. The Browns caused all of this. They gave him no option.
It’s hard to have a hard-nosed “champion” attitude when your own team casts shade on you publicly by ranking up and then puts mud on you for not being “an adult”. They can hold onto him, but if the same thing happened to somebody like Rodgers or Brady, it would be pretty stormy in the media.
Stupid.
Part of me feels like this will be blown over if Baker gets the extension he wants, but I also can’t blame him if he just completely wants out at this point. He’s been wildly inconsistent but you can’t blame him for getting upset at being the bridesmaid. I mean what did the Browns expect? That Baker would be completely fine with their public attempt at moving on from him and when that plan backfired, that he would act like nothing happened?
How about being professional about it? As you mentioned, “he’s been wildly inconsistent”. What did he expect the team to do? Just do nothing and hope that this season the good Baker Mayfield would show up. That’s not how the real NFL works.
Don’t you just love the Browns? They fill their team with reprobates and then plant the rumor that Mayfield isn’t enough of an “adult” to lead them. Only a clown organization would poison the well they drink from.
Take away last season and everyone would this this is crazy.
Baker came in and had one of the best rookie qb seasons, also had deal with an off-season of hard knocks as a rookie.
Year 2 not a great year but still young and only year 2.
Year 3 he took huge steps forward the browns won a playoff game and almost beat the chiefs.
Year 4 he played hurt all year. Gutted it out.
He’s also had hue jackson year 1, Freddie kitchens year 2, year 3 stefanski, year 4 didn’t matter he was hurt
He’s a 2nd tier quarterback now, Mariota, tannehill, Wentz, kaep, tyrod, keenum. Has to learn to shut up and not be a distraction or be out of the league.
First off, those QBs themselves are on different tiers. Wentz may be the only one on the same tier as Baker.
Secondly, who are you getting that’s better? Everyone doesn’t get an elite QB.
Lastly, Kaep hasn’t played in years. Like, what? Lol
The biggest joke of professional sports franchise.
Interesting avatar.
Are you Jimmy Haslem?
Trade him for whatever you can get for him. Time to tank in 22 and load up on draft capital for 23 draft. Everyone should be made available. Lower payroll, get the franchise QB in 23 draft and setup for a Super Bowl window in 24-27. Start the TANK NOW!!!!!
Can you start the tank when you have been what seems like tank mode since I can remember? You had a one year respite but have been bad to awful otherwise?
Because tanking in the past has done well for the Browns when? 1 playoff win in 20+ years…….
Progressive Insurance needs to move on from Baker as well. You can’t have a childlike individual as a spokesperson. I know he plays for the team in Southern Ohio but Progressive should pull the plug on Baker and replace with Burrow as there spokesperson. Burrow may play for Be gals but he is an Ohio kid who loves the State of Ohio.
Exactly. Only adult like individuals.
And Flo.
And Jamie.
And that doctor whose patients have become their parents.
Saw that coming. Going after Watson and letting it go public….. what did the Browns expect.
He made the browns relevant again till he was injured. Browns =Trash plain and simple.
Who would want him?
Lots of teams would be interested in Baker Mayfield…. The Colts, Seahawks, Houston, Saints, Carolina, Giants and Detroit to name a few.
Lions have Goff for at least next season, this ain’t the year for another vet former first round QB who was/is shunned and dissed by his FO.
Only the Browns can mess up a playoff team! Trying to get another QB and not thinking it was affect your on QB? Come on man
Baker and the Browns deserve each other.
Nothing against Browns fans but man that front office is like watching “the Office.” I mean even if you don’t want Baker at quarterback how do you handle it like they did?
Browns: We would like an upgrade over Baker.
Baker: Ok, then trade me.
Browns: LOL, no.
The Browns had no chance of landing Watson and Mayfield has no desire to leave Cleveland but this is a fine example of the posturing that occurs before both sides get involved in contract extension negotiations.
This comment aged well