Baker Mayfield could ultimately be cut by the Browns. A league source told Josina Anderson that while their team has expressed interest in a trade for the former first-overall pick, talks ultimately cooled because the team didn’t want to meet Cleveland’s asking price (Twitter link). Further, suitors believe this could be heading toward a release, so inquiring teams aren’t interested in breaking the bank for a player they could potentially sign outright.
“No one’s trying to do the Browns any favors in this situation,” the source told Anderson.
We previously heard that the terms of Mayfield’s $18.9MM 2022 option led to the Browns-Panthers trade talks fizzling. Carolina wanted Cleveland to pick up most of that fully guaranteed salary. The Browns have remained unwilling to cut Mayfield, but the organization may not have another choice as they look to avoid an awkward situation. The Panthers, Seahawks, and Texans have been among the teams most recently connected to the QB.
Mayfield attempting to play through a torn shoulder labrum undoubtedly hurt his standing, though the Browns were reluctant to engage in extension talks before the start of the 2021 campaign. Prior to Mayfield’s injury, reports emerged indicating he was fine with playing out his fourth season absent an extension. But Mayfield’s value cratered in 2021, with the former Heisman winner’s completion percentage plummeting from an NFL-best 82% before his September shoulder injury to 58% in the games following the setback. The latter portion comprised most of the season, leading the Browns to an 8-9 record and pushing this situation to its present state.
Mayfield underwent surgery in January but contacted Amari Cooper about a potential throwing session in March. However, the Browns’ entrance into the Deshaun Watson mix — and the “adult in the room” comment — proved to be enough for Mayfield to request a trade. The 27-year-old passer requested to be dealt nearly two months ago, but the standoff persists.
If the Watson thing had gone down earlier, I bet Mayfield would have been traded somewhere he’d have the inside track on a starting job. Now this seems most likely. Rough beat for him.
Not sure the browns could have handled this worse. It shows why they haven’t won crap in forever.
They were not trading Mayfield until they had Watson or another better option. Watson didn’t become really available until the authorities decided not to press charges. The Browns entered the picture. Mayfield got upset and demanded a trade. I don’t know how the Browns could have played this any different. Ideally you’d like to keep all of this quiet but in today’s world, everything gets out
Even if that were how it played out, which is plausible, telling Mayfield at the very least would have helped his response and cost them nothing. Also, though it is a rumor officially, the “adult at quarterback” comments didn’t help.
they made a power move to acquire Watson
I believe it was worth the risk
Baker is a top 32 talent with a top 5 head. Just ask him, he will tell you. That’s his issue.
I always thought he was a decent QB but from an opponent standpoint, felt you could always count on him to make a bad decision. Whether it means he has “a top 5 head,” I dunno
Guess I have to laugh at the Browns front office. They apparently have an endless pool of cash but they’re like a child playing with dynamite. They have this mess and I won’t be surprised if the Watson era doesn’t start-or end-as they’d like
Ehhh I really don’t see how any of this is Baker’s fault. Other than being an easy target in general, which he is, I don’t really see how he did anything wrong on his end here.
So what this is saying is the Browns would rather absorb a massive cap penalty and forfeit a future draft pick just to avoid a potential awkward position? I think it’s more likely they just tell Baker to sit his butt at home.
What draft pick are they forfeiting in this scenario? The one someone else isn’t giving them? And they created a bad situation for him this offseason. Cutting him loose would be better for him and them.
I’m pretty sure they get a draft pick if someone signs him in next year’s free agency. Unless that’s not the case for some reason.
I highly doubt they’d carry a deeply unhappy guy they kinda screwed over just to get a comp pick in two years. They punted a lot more draft capital than that to make the change.
If he doesn’t play he wouldn’t get you a comp pick
Because of the CBA the browns can’t tell him to stay home because fines for missing mandatory work can no longer be waived and Baker isn’t gonna give up money from the browns at this point, browns were smart to upgrade quarterback but were insane to do that without a plan for their current qb(at the time)
They decided he was collateral damage. All the more reason they might release him. A bad cap hit with Baker and failing to get anything in return from him are pills they decided were worth swallowing to get Watson, just like the potential suspension, PR hit, and unprecedented cost. The Baker part is a mere detail, albeit a pricy one.
Thank you Parx for an actual useful comment explaining why the Browns would consider cutting him. I swear not a single article has mentioned this and it’s literally the only reason the Browns wouldn’t hold on to Baker (I don’t buy most teams would eat 18m just to make a guy happy). What you said should be in every article written about this subject because articles should be looking to give reasons why and why not instead of just saying “well they might cut him”.
They were crazy to do it to get Watson IMHO.Goodell could put him on the exempt list until all the suits are handled. Browns would sue to get him off which means he could be exempt all season maybe more. Then when stuff is finally done get an 8 or 9 day suspension. That means two and a half years of no football.
Can’t be in meetings work out with the team or anything. Not sure if they can give him the playbook. Eatson was stupid should have taken each girl into his lawyers office paid them off then made them sign a non disclosure paper. Most of this would have been silenced not as many would have come out and he would be playing right now. I know a couple girls said they would not take hush money. You stack a bunch of $10k stacks in front of people and minds change. Use $20s stacks are higher.
This is both Browns FO being incompetent and Baker being arrogant fault.
So you’re saying Baker is somehow at fault here and the problem is not enough hush money? Yikes.
Not sure how you got he was totally at fault. I did put the FO was incompetent first then Mayfield playing through the injury it was his arrogance that he thought he was good enough to play through it. The fault also falls on the FO/coaching staff for not sitting him when they saw how bad he was.
Not sure how you tied Baker and the money Watson should have paid to the women together that was a whole different team and situation. Reach for those straws that have little to do with each other.
Actually you’re wrong. Players on their rookie contracts can be reduced or waived by their respective teams. I just looked it up. Cleveland writers have been saying all along that the Browns will waive Mayfield’s fine for not showing up. As for the draft pick as compensation for Mayfield signing somewhere next year is that since the Browns will most likely sign a FA, they won’t get compensation
Why would Seattle or Carolina give up an asset when they can sign him outright in a couple of weeks?
To prevent the other from signing him outright? *shrug*
A team can sign him to a league min salary because nobody is going to sign him for over $18 mill. The league min comes off what the Browns owe they then pay the rest.
I can see Seattle doing that give him a multiple year deal then if he has a good year trade him and bundle that pick with whatever they need to get the QB they want.
Be funny if Seattle signs him for league min then turns around and gets a second for him next year. They could send a box of Washington apples to the Browns front office so they could say they got something out of it. Maybe a McGuire signed football back when we had a horrible FO.
Baker will not sign a multi year deal now…..unless someone is going to sign him for 25 plus million per year. Mayfield wants to go somewhere and prove that he’s worth big money
They could focus on signing players who’ve been cut or acquiring players by trade to help juke the comp system. That’s a pretty normal practice for analytics-forward front offices.
If he thinks he is getting $25 mill from a team he is more arrogant than I thought. A one year show me deal probably won’t get him to $18 mill again at least not for me if I was GM. I would want to see him play for at least 2 years of great ball and hear nothing but harps and rainbows from the locker room. Yes ooof I know I am not a GM.
I figured this was inevitably what was going to happen. If the Browns can convince him to just stay home, while they pay him, which they have to regardless, and wait for a situation where he could possible start, that is their best option. If they release him, they have to pay him, so if he is willing to stay home, wait, and see if a starter on a playoff caliber team gets hurt before the trade deadline, and then they might actually get something valuable for trading him, and only have to eat 1/2 his salary. That looks like their best option.
They can keep him on the team and just leave him off the gametime roster but with keeping him on the team do you sacrifice the roster spot? That is the only way to do it, but how willing is a team to do a trade for a qb during the season that has not played and coming off shoulder surgery and paying a significant amount of dollars or some draft capital?
He would do nothing but cause unneeded problems if he was kept on the team.
They can’t tell him to stay home because of the CBA, fines for missing mandatory work can no longer be waived, they took the bad PR for watson, may as well eat the 18.9 million cause there is no other way out than just to waive him
They can rehab him on a field they have to drive to. Higher a couple ex NFL WRs and a coach. I would higher a kid just out of college so you don’t waste a coach they need.
Do you think he wants to be there? He already didn’t show for voluntary workouts.
The fines can be waived or reduced for players on their rookie contracts which Baker is still on
No I don’t think he wants to be there. Cleveland could keep him on the roster until cutdown day and have him do rehab and have no contact with the rest of the team. They could fine him if he didn’t show and cut a tiny bit of what they owe him. I think that would be crappy to do and would give players pause to sign or resign with the team. They don’t need to be in a hurry to cut him though.
Baker is seriously a serviceable QB1 if not a better mid/ upper level QB. Obviously talent around ALMOST any QB helps that stock. He screwed himself playing hurt, and then the browns screwed him double! He put the browns somewhat back on the map with his play and some of that is his confidence in himself. I’d love to have a guy that will lay it all on the line. #BrownsSuck
If they are going to release him and eat the salary, why wouldn’t they trade him to another team while agreeing to pay his salary? At least they’d get an asset back.
Apparently not.
Why trade anything for him? You might miss out but if he was all that important to you probably you would have traded for him.
Carolina was willing to, apparently. It was the Browns, who are going to pay his salary anyway, who for some reason backed off.
Josina Anderson is very unreliable. She’s not an actual reporter and this is not actual news. I wish I could stop reading this nonsense. I might be addicted.
These rumors are rather harmless compared to most addictions though so you won’t want to miss the next installment of this saga where it’s revealed that the XFL is pursuing Mayfield.
It could be worse. You could be reading whatever Mike Florio conjured up.
Baker has proven to be a pretty good QB. Even while the Browns organization failed him over and over. He never should have played hurt for them..but that’s part of what makes him a solid player and leader. Browns certainly don’t get enough credit for being such a trash organization. Partly Bcs he made them relevant.
As a Browns fan, and one who believes Mayfield is a better than average, not elite QB, we will regret this, and we will regret the money spent on Watson.
Unbelievable..
So when they start winning with Watson, will you still say you wish Baker was here?
I guess nothings better than something
I don’t know what the asking price for him is but it better not be two first the Lions got for Stafford last year. Stafford is way better. Most teams were only offering one first for him.. but still Mayfield is a decent QB. Teams know Cleveland is desperate to unload his salary. If I was Baker I would build my value back up the first 4-6 weeks of the season and more suiters will emerge around the trade deadline. Two teams I can see as fits are Tampa and the Giants.
My Lions better not even think about trading for Baker.Just wait til they release him.I’d be pissed if they do.
Right now, neither team is in no position to not wanna trade for Baker.Well, I would give Corral a shot @ the starting gig just to c what he got.He may pan out who knows.But for Seattle Baker would be an instant upgrade over Drew “Locked himself out the door” Lock.
$19 million is a lot to pay for a backup – particularly one that might be less than positive in the locker room. Pretty much every team in the league knows this – except perhaps the Bears given their recent history. The more interesting question is who wants to take a chance on him…
They should have never signed that 5th option.
Tampa, Buffalo, New Orleans, Dallas could be in the market for Baker once he is released. I just think they cap strapped teams aren’t tripping over themselves to move assets and cut players for Baker.
Baker brought some optimism and hope back to Cleveland. He’s got some size issues and some maturity issues but he helped make it so the Browns aren’t just a doormat anymore. I wish Cleveland would just cut him and let this whole scenario end. No one is going to trade for him, they know Cleveland will cut him. Just let it end.
FO better just hope this Watson thing doesn’t backfire in their faces.Its gonna get real ugly from here on out.I really feel bad for Baker.Just a teeny tiny bit of feel bad.
The Steelers would jump @ the chance to sign Baker.Its already been said thru Tomlin.I don’t think the Steelers care too much about the salary.