As the Browns and Panthers’ salary viewpoints diverged considerably during the draft, the teams’ Baker Mayfield talks broke down. Carolina traded into the third round for Matt Corral. Matt Rhule is warming up to the idea a Corral-Sam Darnold competition will be enough for this year’s Panthers edition, Joe Person of The Athletic notes (subscription required).
But Mayfield is still generating support from some inside the NFC South squad’s building, Person adds. This has reached the point where the Panthers have resumed discussions with the Browns on a trade for the fifth-year quarterback, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports tweets.
Both teams begin minicamp Tuesday. Rhule said last week the Panthers would evaluate their quarterback position after minicamp but indicated a free agent at any position would not need to be acquired too long before training camp to pick up new OC Ben McAdoo‘s system. Days later, some semblance of urgency exists on the Panthers’ side on the Mayfield front, Jones adds (via Twitter). This stance would make sense, with Mayfield having a better chance to bounce back in Carolina with additional time to learn McAdoo’s offense ahead of training camp.
The Panthers having checked in on Russell Wilson and aggressively pursued Deshaun Watson — a year after making a strong offer for Matthew Stafford — makes the prospect of running it back with Darnold (31st in 2021 QBR) tough to buy. But Rhule has bolted on the team’s previous starter (Cam Newton, Teddy Bridgewater) in each of his first two offseasons. And the team did make upgrades along its offensive line, which would stand to aid Darnold in his second Panthers slate. But, through four seasons, Mayfield has been a far more viable starter than Darnold. For a coach on one of the NFL’s hottest seats, adding a quarterback at a much cheaper cost than it took to land Bridgewater or Darnold would seemingly check out.
The Browns have waited for the Panthers’ Darnold-Corral competition to induce them to return to the Mayfield table, but money still divides the teams sitting first and second in cap space. During the draft, the Browns were barely prepared to pay $3MM of Mayfield’s $18.9MM fully guaranteed salary. The Panthers wanted them to pick up at least $13MM. Cleveland appears to have moved closer to the latter figure, and the more the AFC North team pays, the better the draft compensation would be. Still, Carolina should not be expected to give up much for Mayfield.
The Browns would be stuck with nearly the full salary if they release Mayfield, which has long been a non-starter. The Seahawks have been monitoring this situation for months, but lately, the only Seattle-Mayfield connections pertain to a potential release. The latest reports of Panthers-Browns talks could motivate the Seahawks — amid a Geno Smith–Drew Lock QB competition — to reconsider their trade stance. For now, Carolina remains the frontrunner for Mayfield.
giving up more than a 5th and paying $8M is insanity on Carolinas part. Baker isn’t playing for the Browns again. So it’s a competition with Seattle only and they won’t take on that much money.
You’re not wrong, but if anyone has nearly as little leverage as Cleveland, it’s the lame duck head coach counting on Sam Darnold and Matt Corrall to save his job.
It’s not insane if they want to upgrade at QB and try to save Rhule’s job. And most, admittedly not all but most, people will tell you that Mayfield, for all his warts, is a clear upgrade over Darnold and, at least for now, Corral.
Browns, stop doing Baker dirty. Get the trade done and move forward.
And Baker, if you have to accept a pay cut in order to get out of Cleveland before training camp opens up, I would recommend doing so.
I’m not sure you can take a pay cut on fully guaranteed money (and it would be unwise to do so anyway, much as he’d love to be elsewhere).
He could negotiate an extension moving some of the 2022 guaranteed salary into a signing bonus spread across up to 5-years.
He could, but I’m not sure who’s giving him an extension that makes it worth his while to do that.
He will do the extension if he wants to play. He could sit out the whole season or end up being a backup and not play at all. Trubisky went that route and ended up with just a 7 million dollar contract. The ideal situation for Mayfield would be to end up in Tampa, sign a two year backloaded extension and sit behind Brady and take over next year. I know he’s not the head coach anymore but Arians loved Mayfield his rookie year
“He will do the extension if he wants to play.” That’s only true if you think the Browns are willing to pay all that money AND hold onto Baker. I doubt they are.
Exactly. The Browns have all but said that Baker will not be a Brown in 2022… Thereby destroying any and all leverage they have both with Baker and with the leagues other GMs.
Mayfield isn’t a “great QB” but certainly a guy who can not only play in the NFL but also compete for a starting job. Jimmy G is in the same category.
Hard to fathom that neither could lead Carolina, Seattle, Houston or even perhaps New Orleans and Atlanta, if not more
Guess it speaks to insane salaries
I think it speaks more to team building incentives and competitive reality. There’s only a small number of teams that need a QB plan, have strong enough rosters to potentially make the playoffs with a mid-tier at best QB, and are too good to realistically be in line for one of the elite QB prospects in the next draft. Washington, Indy, and maybe Carolina fit that category, and two of them already settled at QB (though Wentz strikes me as a worse option). Same with New Orleans choosing to ride with Jameis. Houston, Seattle, and Atlanta all have realistic shots to be in range for an elite QB prospect this year and no real shots at contending this year with a Baker or Jimmy. So why add a couple wins and fall out of Young/Stroud/whoever range? And in Houston’s case, might as well see what you’ve got in Mills. Either he’s bad and he helps you land a top QB or he shows enough to at least be a good backup or trade chip, if not the plan himself.
I wouldn’t touch an Ohio State quarterback with in the first round. Too many busts. Actually they’re all busts
Judging a player by his school is silly, especially when the current offensive system has only been in place a few years. Teams doubted Rodgers because of his college program, too. And it’s not like Stroud is the only potential top QB in the coming draft.
“especially when the current offensive system has only been in place a few years”
Except Day was under Meyer and everyone of his QB’s have been bust. System hasn’t changed dramatically.
Day has been there since 2017. That’s a few years. Haskins was a bust. That’s all.
Panthers should take on Mayfield’s salary and then swap a 6th for the Browns 4th or something along those lines.
Unless a team hits 2016 Vikings desperation (Bridgewater goes down for season end of pre-season, overpay for Sam Bradford) the less of Mayfield’s salary the Browns will pick up, the lower the trade compensation they’ll get. Even if they take it all which is the equivalent of cutting him but getting compensation, I doubt they’d see higher than a 3rd round pick.
The Browns negatively impacted his value with their dumb “we’re going to get an adult at QB” quip.
#FreeBaker
The Browns appear as if they want to cut off their nose to spite their own face. At this point quibbling over how much of Baker’s salary they will cover is senseless. Absolutely no one held them down and told them to guarantee Baker’s 5th year salary, but then go out and replace him with Watson. It would never have made much sense to keep Baker as a backup in this scenario even if the Browns hadn’t completely (and intentionally?) alienated Baker: Mayfield is too good and too expensive to be sitting in the bench for Cleveland.
So work something out, take what you can get, and move on. Do a pick swap if you have to. No matter what anyone thinks if Mayfield’s skills or personality, it remains true that he’s been screwed over by the Browns and mostly not through anything he did to cause it. The optics for the Browns as a franchise, combined with guaranteeing Watson’s entire contract and then acting surprised that doing so is causing issues, are mind-blowingly bad. Just move in already.
Unless a Goodell decision on Watson hasn’t been leaked, Cleveland must be blindly confident about Jacoby Brissett starting at QB
Meaning? Baker will never ever take the field for the Browns again. They are excusing him from mandatory camp even though they’re installing a different offense. That’s why they got Brissett and traded Keenum. They actually didn’t do Mayfield badly. They told his camp that they would explore options. They did. He got mad and said he’d never play for them again putting the Browns in a situation without a starter. They had to offer Watson the contract he got. I like Mayfield but just in football terms, Watson is clearly the better quarterback.
“Unless a Goodell decision on Watson hasn’t been leaked…”
The Browns know that Baker would probably rather retire than play another snap for them, so that’s why they got Brissett. They must have some confidence in him since it’s obvious that he’ll have to start at least a big chunk of their games this year.
The Panthers will be lucky to win 6 or 7 games regardless of who they have at QB, so why waste a pick on a one year rental? Go ahead and pick up some of the salary if that gets a deal done, but I wouldn’t even do much in that regard as Mayfield is certain to go shopping for another team in 2023.
I say this as a Browns fan, but I think you might be surprised. Baker probably isn’t ever going to be the long term guy anywhere, but he can still be a good quarterback. As long as he’s healthy, he’s shown he can be a decent starter and he’s won a playoff game. But you also have to weigh that with the risk of his struggles last year being because of more than just injuries.
I love how all of this is a slow motion explosion in the Browns’ faces. Baker will leave. Watson’s situation will get worse and there will be pressure on the NFL to suspend him until all of his legal woes are resolved, which will take a looooonnggg while.
He could just settle, take his 4-8 games suspension and move on. Next year this will be all over. And just so you know, the Browns can walk away from the deal
They can’t get their draft picks back. That part of the deal is sealed.
That’s not what the Cleveland writers are saying. I think the Browns have seen the evidence or lack of and stand behind Watson. We will find out
Writers in Cleveland are saying that they can undo the trade with the Texans and get back their draft picks??? I would love to see that link. I don’t think that is what the writers in Houston are saying! I would stand behind Watson too. You want to keep that dude in front of you so he isn’t out of your sight!. I agree that the Browns have seen the evidence. I have seen it too. The Browns and Watson are gross.
No you have heard from the women. You need to go to the authorities with the evidence you’ve seen.
No link on the undoing the Watson trade or response to what the Texans GM had to say? Just more where is the criminal charge posts? Don’t worry just because one Grand Jury in Texas declined to press charges doesn’t mean the next one in Ohio will too. Why are you such an apologist?
Next year there will be another set of women accusing this guy because guys like you keep excusing his behavior.
“Any trade — forget about this particular one — any trade that takes place, so there’s a process that you have to go through,” Caserio said, via Pro Football Talk. “Teams agree on that and then once you agree on that, it gets submitted to the league. The transaction gets processed and it goes on file with the league. Unless there’s somebody that’s gonna go in there, you know, overnight in a mask and try to get on a computer, and may have a cyberattack like that, I’m not sure anything that can be done there.”
Basically, hacking the league office is the only way this trade is getting undone.
The Texans general manager then explained that the Watson trade was just like any other trade as far as league protocols go.
Why are you such a hater? It’s not like Watson committed a crime. He was never charged so he has a clean record
Ok. He has a “clean record”. Let Mr. Clean record hire your daughter for a message. Like I’ve told you four thousand times, I am not trying to take his freedom away. I believe what the women said is true. I didn’t call him a criminal. That is for a judge. I said that he is a gross human and your team is gross for dealing with him. I have all the evidence required to declare him a creepy, gross human and so it is declared. Take your clean record and message this story anyway you want! I am a “hater” because I hate sexual predators.
He said he didn’t force anyone. How do you really know he did? You don’t. I believe he exposed himself and asked for sexual favors.I admit that those women are professional massage therapists but having a guy ask for sex isn’t the most terrible thing they’re going to face in life. Should he have done that? No. Did he physically force any woman? I don’t think so or they would have gone to the police especially a few anyway. Does that not make you wonder why? Does the fact that 9 of these same women he supposedly assaulted continued to see him? You keep saying that you know he did this, how do you know that? I would think that you should be talking to the cops with your proof. Apparently they don’t have enough
Still can’t figure out the difference between truth and “provable in criminal court”? I know it’s hard but just because something wasn’t provable under what are very strict burden of beyond a reasonable doubt, doesn’t mean that there wasn’t a crime that was committed. By that standard, if a murder is unsolved no one is guilty of the murder. Heck the person might not even be dead since nobody was charged with a crime. I don’t have that burden and neither does the civil court that is about to hear the evidence. I can read. What I have read is more likely than not to have occurred and Watson is a slime ball.
He wasn’t even indicted. You don’t have to have proof beyond a reasonable doubt to indict someone but you do have to enough evidence that the Grand Juries feel that you can have a trial
Apologist
It’s called justice. We don’t convict on accusations in the United States. Maybe you do
For the 50th time, we are not in court. This is where sports super nerd fans give their nerd opinions. I’m not “convicting” him. I’m giving my opinion based on the sworn testimony given by 24 accusers. Not only that, but I believe him too. He said he “doesn’t know why the women left crying”. In my non convicting opinion, he is broken. He has no clue what he did wrong and what all this fuss is about! 100 percent chance it happens again because he doesn’t even know that it is inappropriate to behave that way. You will say it wasn’t a crime, and I will say just because it isn’t provable in court doesn’t mean it didn’t happen and we will go round again.
You believe it happened based on the information that their lawyer is putting out there. Watson will get his day in civil court. Whether you’re in court or not, when someone accuses you of something, it’s up to them to be able to back it up. It’s kinda funny that most of these women or actually all of them never thought that what Watson did was that horrible behavior because they never called the cops and reported it. In fact quite a few saw him again. Why? Like I said earlier, Watson did something wrong but it doesn’t rise to him missing a full season.