Wednesday’s Baker Mayfield trade came after months of negotiating. It appears the mid-June ramp-up in Browns-Panthers talks led to an agreement fairly soon after, but the ball fell into the quarterback’s court. Mayfield agreeing to trim $3.5MM from his salary satisfied the Panthers.
The teams had this deal in place for nearly a month, according to CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones and former Browns GM Michael Lombardi (Twitter links). In pitching the slight pay cut to Mayfield, the Panthers pointed to the potential for the former No. 1 overall pick making up the difference by boosting his value for the 2023 free agent market, Jones adds. Mayfield, who was attached to an $18.9MM salary, can also earn back the money through 2022 incentives. Mayfield follows Odell Beckham Jr. in sacrificing some money to facilitate a Browns exit.
The interest in this interconference trade notwithstanding, David Newton of ESPN.com adds the deal will still precede a Mayfield-Darnold competition. Mayfield will be favored to win a training camp contest against incumbent Sam Darnold, who was chosen two picks after him in the 2018 draft. As for the conditional draft choice the Browns will receive, Mayfield’s former team will need to root for him to beat out Darnold. The pick will upgrade to a 2024 fourth-rounder if Mayfield plays at least 70% of the Panthers’ snaps, Joe Person of The Athletic tweets. Otherwise, it will become a fifth.
This battle’s winner will take the reins of a Panthers team that could feature a much better offensive line — one that added left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, center Bradley Bozeman and guard Austin Corbett, whom the Browns chose one round after Mayfield in 2018 — compared to its 2021 version and a receiving corps of D.J. Moore, Robbie Anderson and 2021 second-round pick Terrace Marshall Jr. The prospect of a healthy Christian McCaffrey has taunted the Panthers and their fanbase for two years now, but the former All-Pro running back is returning to his spot as well. Mayfield appears to be planning to gather Panthers skill players for a pre-camp workout, Newton tweets.
At the draft, the Browns were not prepared to pay much more than $3MM of Mayfield’s salary. They ended up moving to $10.5MM. The Panthers did not want to cough up more than $5MM for Mayfield, SI.com’s Albert Breer tweets, leading to the pay-cut request. But the Panthers managed to add a former No. 1 pick, resisting the temptation to reach for one of this year’s QB prospects with the No. 6 choice — which became Ekwonu.
While Mayfield’s pay cut and the Panthers agreeing to cover part of the cost saves the Browns upwards of $8MM in cap space, this still could mark a massive descent for Cleveland’s quarterback position — for 2022 at least. The Browns have gone from a 2022 reality of deploying a healthier Mayfield to trotting out Deshaun Watson — after a short suspension — to facing the prospect of Jacoby Brissett being needed for a full season of QB1 work. The Browns did not foresee a season-long Watson suspension — which has become the NFL’s preferred ban — when they traded for him, and neither they nor Mayfield appeared to make inroads toward repairing the relationship.
As previously noted, a Jimmy Garoppolo trade was not in play for the Panthers. They had expressed reservations about the 49ers QB’s injuries and, based on the extensive haggling over Mayfield’s contract, were not taking on Garoppolo’s $24.2MM salary. Carolina viewed Mayfield as a higher-floor option than Garoppolo, per Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com (on Twitter). Wednesday’s transaction cost Garoppolo, who has dealt with more injuries than Mayfield over the past four seasons, a prime landing spot. The 49ers may now need to wait on a training camp injury to unload Garoppolo in a trade. Certain NFL evaluators have expected San Francisco to simply release Garoppolo, whose base salary becomes guaranteed in Week 1.
Seattle would make sense as a Garoppolo destination, but chatter out of the Pacific Northwest continues to center around the ongoing Drew Lock–Geno Smith competition. The Seahawks had “lukewarm interest” in acquiring Mayfield, Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times notes. Although the Browns going from Mayfield to Brissett represents a downgrade, the Seahawks moving from Russell Wilson to either Lock or Smith would surpass that. The Broncos giving up their 2023 first- and second-round picks gives the Seahawks options next year — what is expected to be a better quarterback draft — but the team appears on the doorstep of giving Wilson’s old job to a highly scrutinized passer.
link to sports.yahoo.com
Great quote about Baker from a former HC, now his OC! Carolina is gonna be spectacular this year for comedy!
Both 1st round QB’s will start and both will fail. Good thing Carolina continues to trade draft picks for unreliable QB’s.
Meanwhile, Cleveland looks to have no reliable QBs this year.
Oh yes, because surrendering a 5th rounder is really breaking the bank.
Why not see if Baker can turn it around after struggling through a shoulder injury last season? After all, he ranked 10th in QBR just a year earlier.
What else should they do? Roll with Darnold, who hasn’t experienced any success throughout his career? Maybe a washed Cam? Or what about a third round rookie in Matt Corral?
Great idea! Since Baker has done very little except it cut in the worst public way in recent history.
Both Darnold and Mayfield will last in the league for a decade, but just as backups. Many riffs on 1st round QB’s. Not only those 2.
So we’re going to ignore 2020, when he led the Browns to their first playoff appearance in my lifetime and ranked 10th in QBR?
Maybe the Baker trade doesn’t pan out. Maybe it does. But chalking it up as a guaranteed failure is foolish
Wow 1 out of 4 years is awesome? So to answer your question, I do ignore 2020 and that great running game Cleveland had.
It’s clear you have some rift with Baker that’s clouding your judgment. You can’t cherry pick by exaggerating some outcomes and overlooking others; rather, you need to look at the whole picture.
The reality is that Baker had a promising rookie year, helping Cleveland to improve from zero to seven wins and posting admirable stats for a rookie. 2019 was a setback; no doubt about it. He needed to make the necessary adjustments and did so, with the help of better coaching. Even when considering the top tier running game at his aid, he was still in the top ten in QBR and incontrovertibly led his team to the playoffs. 2021 was another rough spot. However, the shoulder injury he slaved through hindered his play. Was this the only factor? Perhaps not, but it is certain noteworthy and to look the other way would be oblivious.
I see a rather inconsistent career, but one with definite promise. Certainly better than anything Darnold had shown thus far and almost guaranteed to outweigh the return of a measley 5th round pick.
As a Steelers fan, I don’t even like the Browns. But I further dislike when one cannot realize the biases distorting their perspective
I have never met Baker. I could careless about their feelings on being dumped. I comment on stories.
Baker is an average pro QB. that’s it. Both him and Sam Darnold will be FA’s next offseason.
RG3, Tim Tebow, K Murray, and plenty of other Hiesman winning QB’s haven’t panned out in the pros. Why is that such a hangup?
Excluding injuries, both Darnold and Mayfield will play this year. The owner is impatient and the HC is brushing up his resume. Those QB’s will be in & out by week 3-4 max.
@arty
I don’t think you understand what “average” means based on your grim anticipation and having lumped Darnold into the same category. Also lol to Kyler not having panned out.
@Brownsbacker9
I agree with that assessment
Then draft Baker in your fantasy league then. He sucks & Cleveland spending a quarter billion on Watson with charges to fire him says it all.
Enjoy OBJ’s dad ‘high lights’ of Baker. Only 11 minutes long. Short clip
link to youtube.com
Your argument has no premise. This is a waste of time. Goodbye
Stay off my threads then. Enjoy watching Baker play this season. As TO said ‘Get your popcorn ready.’ except TO could play!
Yeah, it’s no use with this guy. No worth feeding the troll.
Darnold and Mayfield shouldn’t be mentioned like they are alike..they aren’t. Mayfield is head and shoulders above Darnold.
I agree with you about Mayfield. I think injuries played a factor last year. They couldn’t roll him out much because throwing on the run hurt his left shoulder more because of the torque. I do think he makes bad decisions though. He’s an average quarterback. A starter but average
Same can be said about Kirk Cousins. Is that a compliment?
I never meant it as a compliment. Mayfield is basically a Ryan Tannehill. Inconsistent. Average. That’s why they went after Watson. It may not work out for this year but it gives the Browns a much better chance for years to come.
Ok, Cousins, Tannehill and Baker suck. What’s your point be average? Blame the owners, GM’s and HC’s sticking with them not me.
The only time those 3 QB’s have been considered decent is when they had a strong running game. Nothing to do with their game.
Well they got rid of average. What do you want? They did what you want them to do. As for Mayfield, they drafted him 1, he had a good rookie year, bad 2nd year, decent 3rd year and a bad 4th year. You weren’t going to get rid of him until now anyway. You don’t give up on a #1 pick after the 2nd season, especially after a record setting rookie year.
Cards did with Rosen.
I have no idea on why owners sign off on multi million dollars and year contracts for average play. Tannehill and Cousins aren’t worth the money. We all know that.
Nor is Baker or Darnold next offseason. Yet both will be signed and articles of how a ‘change of environment’ will benefit them will be written. That’s guaranteed.
Geno Smith is 31 and still collects his NFL checks. Does that make him good? He’s penciled in as the starter for the Hawks this season.
Let’s be honest, Mayfield is better than Rosen. Why would you trade the guy that set the rookie touchdown mark after his first year? You must be a Buckeye fan
arty has no real leg to stand on here; he clearly just has a vendetta against Mayfield, who will likely be a decent stopgap in Carolina.
$100 says Carolina is sub 500 this season. That easy to predict.
But keep thinking I hate a guy I’ve never met. I judge players on performance. And Baker is not a good QB. Maybe decent; that’s about it.
And yes, next offseason Carolina will have a completely revamped QB room.
I’ve never seen anybody pontificate about a player they consider “decent” as much as you have in this thread. It’s highly bizarre behavior.
Carolina is sub 500 this season with or without Mayfield. They aren’t a good team.
The NFC South is a shadow of its former self.
I actually like this trade for both teams.
Carolina adds to QB competition the assumed starter
Browns save a couple bucks and land a day 3 pick
You putting Cousins in the same class as mayfield is flat out ignorant guy.
ignorant for who?
Cousins is actually way better than Baker
arty! We get it already, you hate Baker Mayfield, we know.
Carolina is a better fit for Mayfield than Mayfield is a fit for Carolina
Panthers have a pretty good roster and had to do something at QB, so they went out and got the top guy available.. key word available
Maybe Seattle would like a nice used Mason Rudolph from the Steelers? Would only cost them…a third rounder?
Mason is worth a 5th at best.
He’s not even worth that. This is a guy that lost his job to a guy named Duck.
He was better than Duck, to be fair, and the Steelers reversed that decision later. Even then, Rudolph is probably worth a Day Three pick of some type at the moment, not that I see anyone trying to make that trade.
Rudolph, like many other Steelers players has a very important season ahead of him.
for better or for worse, this will be a defining season for the likes of Mason Rudolph, Lionel Dotson, Devin Bush, Chase Claypool, Dionte Johnson, Mitch Trubisky, and Chuks Okorafor
some of those guys on the list could be pro bowlers or impact starters , others will fold , and there’s not much in between
He won’t even be on the team. Trubisky is the starter. Pickett is the backup. They’re not keeping Rudolph as the 3rd QB and make him inactive every week. If Pickett is the 3rd QB, that’s not a good sign for him
i disagree.
ideally Pickett is the #3 all year.. I don’t want to see him on the field until week 17 or 18 at the earliest. Never want to use a rookie QB if u don’t have to. Mason and Mitch will be given every opportunity to start
I think they keep the QB room intact this season and develop Kenny behind the scenes
Nobody has the 1st round quarterback as a #3. Even if you have an established starter like Rodgers. Mayfield, Jackson were both #2. Burrow, Herbert and Allen were starters right away I believe. If Pickett is 3, then Pittsburgh reached badly if they feel like this guy is that unprepared
I disagree.
Trey Lance sat on the bench most of last season , and had Jimmy G gone down early, I still don’t think Lance would’ve been used.
as seen with Rodgers, Mahomes, etc it’s better to learn at practice first for QBs.
rookie seasons of Burrow, Goff & Trevor Lawrence have all proven pointless.
rookie QBs aren’t going to get you in the playoffs
Lance was 2nd quarterback. Herbert played right away. Roethlisberger played his rookie year too I believe. There is no team that has ever taken a quarterback that high and made him 3rd quarterback, which basically makes him inactive every week
Roethlisberger only played because Maddox got hurt.
Herbert only played because Tyrod got hurt.
but ya most teams don’t have the luxury of having 2 experienced QBs and yet still take one as a luxory
Maybe Pickett does get thrown into action since both QBs have high volatility,,, but ideally the kid stays benched his rookie season
I see him in by the 10th-12th game, unless Trubisky is playing well and the Steelers are thick in the playoff hunt. Makes no sense to delay his playing. Unless you’re Mahomes, most quarterbacks will learn by playing.
If a quarterback just doesn’t know how to run the system at all, then yes, it benefits him to sit and learn for a while. Adapting to a college style offense might work for a couple of years, but all successful passers eventually adapt to a pro style, pocket based system, in whatever form that takes.
Pickett is not a primarily mobile quarterback (he has the ability to run, but does not do so for a large percentage of his plays) like Jackson or Murray, so a college style offense would just involve simpler routes and heavier reliance on out-talenting an opponent. Obviously, that doesn’t work in the NFL, certainly not long term. So Pickett has to learn the offense and get somewhat comfortable before getting some on-field experience-much like Mahomes did.
I do agree that nobody makes a first rounder the third quarterback on the depth chart (even Green Bay didn’t with the obviously unready Jordan Love-though they solved that issue by simply carrying two quarterbacks), but I also agree that third string would be a good place for Pickett for at least the beginning quarter of the year, until he learns the offense (and just as importantly, how to prepare as a pro).
You can get a 3rd string quarterback in the 7th round. If your 20th pick in the draft is that unprepared then you reached. The NFL draft is not like MLB’s draft where the picks are definitely not ready.
Agreed, but it’s also true that draft status doesn’t automatically impart readiness to the player. This is a reason that most of us were skeptical regarding any of these quarterbacks being taken in the first. But now, the Steelers have one-so they’ve got to plan for the future moreso than the present.
I’m not saying to start him but you don’t keep Rudolph. He’s had his chance and blew it. I mean if you’re gonna draft a guy that high, you had to have seen something that impressed you
That would make sense. I suppose that Pittsburgh would like to see a QB competition to keep Trubisky’s mindset sharp-and if Rudolph comes in and surprises people, the better for them. In any case, Rudolph is certainly on his last deal as a Steeler. The best case for Pittsburgh is that he loses to Trubisky, but shows such improvement that some other team decides that he’s worth trading for.
He’ll definitely get picked up. Nothing is left but Jimmy G
Sarcasm is very difficult for some to see.
Baker paying the browns 3.5 million to get out of Cleveland is priceless.
Well, technically they’re paying him 10 million instead of nearly 14 million, but at this point, what Brown’s player wouldn’t pay to get off that team?
Do you know any that wanted out other than Mayfield? Mayfield didn’t want out until he got his feelings hurt.
It makes sense. Baker’s a hell of a State Farm agent and he’ll get along well with Darnold.
The Garoppolooza is not going to end in Seattle. Guys, it’s the same division. This talk is just to sell ads. Odds are he ends up in NY or some other in 6-to-12 month team that doesn’t work out. SF isn’t in that much of a rush.
Besides, the Seahawks don’t have a roster worth going all in on a major QB trade. Minshew…Minshew Minshew Minshew.
Bueller…
Does Baker wear Khakis?
LOL! Nice…
Yes! Yes! Yes! Minshew! Minshew! Minshew!
actually I believe they have to cut Jimmy G before week 1 or he’s due significant salary increase.
I pretty much doubt he’s traded at this point
Well, I could see Jimmy G ending up in Seattle if he is cut. I don’t think that he’ll turn down that opportunity due to the team it’s with, and there isn’t a clear path to starting with another team batting injury. If the Colts or Titans lose their starter, I could see him ending up there, or obviously the Browns for the year, but Seattle is the only team right now with a definitive need and no rookie contract quarterback.
I don’t think that it’s ideal necessarily, and I think that Seattle is comfortable using this year to readjust and figure out their roster going forward at this point. Earlier in the offseason they may have felt differently, but right now they’ve a few players and haven’t made much of an effort to sign outside free agents to give them an edge. It seems that they’ll use this season to evaluate where they’re at and where they want to invest going forward.
Seattle made the right choice. Mayfield does not move the needle and could be a big problem in the locker room. We have a one year rebuild at best and must add a QB in 2023 to be a factor…
I watched Rich Gannon bounce around for over 10 years before he found the right situation. I’d never say someone’s done at 25-26 years old.
Gannon didn’t play in an era where QBs could secure $40 million a year contracts. Rookies are expected to show they can carry a team by their second year and though they don’t have to put up record setting numbers like Mahomes did, they still have to be making a strong positive impact. First rounders like Darnold, Trubisky and Haskins couldn’t do that, which is why they got dumped in short order by the teams that drafted them.
Gannon was also not immature and disliked so much as Mayfield has been by teammates. They don’t even want him in the locker room.
I’m not saying that you’re wrong, but do you have any quotes from current Browns players to back that assertion up? It may very well be true, but I’d like to see something from a current Browns player speaking to that.
They’re too professional to do that. From what I read from the Cleveland writers, it was a divided locker room with a lot of guys taking OBJ’s side. Of course when you’re not winning, things like that can happen.
Kerry Collins was, then he took the Giants to a Super Bowl. Had a nice second act with the Giants, Raiders, Titans. The history of the nfl is full of guys that made it later in the career. Warren Moon didn’t get a crack at the nfl till he was 28 and sucked off the bat. Same with Brad Johnson. Same with Trent Green and Kurt Warner. Hell, Doug Flutie was almost 40 before he got a shot.
OBJ was the locker room poison. OBJ was even poisoning the NYG locker room against Eli Manning. Diva wide receivers, a plague on them.
I agree about Beckham. I do think Baker has his problems too.
Per ESPN…””From the moment he was drafted, he gave his all for this organization and this city. With his fierce competitive spirit, he excited the fanbase and accomplished things that no player at his position had ….We are grateful for everything he did for this organization and wish him and Emily well in the future.”
Browns 7-10
7-10? Depends on who is the quarterback. If it’s Brissett, I agree.
That was ESPN today…..
This was ESPN on March 16th….
ESPN’s Chris Mortensen says Baker Mayfield and the Browns are breaking up because the Browns want an “adult” at QB
I think that was an error in translation and they really said that they wanted an adulterer
Since Watson isn’t married, they better keep looking
I guess we know who the adult QB is now.
Mayfield wins a Super Bowl before Watson.
As a backup to Brady?
The Browns are paying Mayfield $588k to beat them in week 1. Way to go Browns.
I dont think the author understands the actual meaning of the word “fallout”…
Maybe they just learned to love the bomb
Between Cam and Baker that’s a whole lot of jello under that helmet.
Not a big Mayfield fan, but Carolina paying $5 million and a conditional throwaway pick for some insurance doesn’t seem like a bad deal.
Carolina will likely still stink, as they have only one worthwhile receiver, but they got away without a) having to rework/take-on Mayfield’s contract beyond this year, and b) they get to let Corral learn how the NFL game is played before being thrown into the fire.
Can the panthers make the playoffs this year? Probably not. But let’s look at the significantly weaker NFC teams and see where they fall.
Teams definitely better than the panthers:
Buccaneers
Cowboys
Rams
Packers
Teams definitely worse than the panthers:
Falcons
Lions
Seahawks
Giants
Bears
Teams probably better than panthers:
Eagles
Saints
Vikings
Cardinals
49ers
Commanders
I just don’t think this moves the needle enough for the panthers. It’s a qb draft next year and the worst place to be is drafting between 10-18 and have all the good QBs gone before your pick
Falcons
Lions
Seahawks
Giants
Bears
All of these teams are better than the Panthers
Ironically , in regards to a higher ceiling, Jimmy got hurt in a playoff game when baker was on his ass @ home – Jimmy gets some hate but relative to mayfield… come on.. Jimmy is the better QB