Cleveland Browns real timeline to extend Baker Mayfield
Baker’s contract can be extended after mid-March 2021
When the 2021 season begins, Baker Mayfield will be a four-year player and eligible for an extension. The contract does not have to be extended, but it is in the team’s best interest to extend him if they are sure that they are not interested in blowing a high draft pick or signing a major free agent to replace him in the near future.
The NFL calendar for 2021 has not been made official but probably would start on March 15 if it were a normal year. Let’s just say mid-March to allow for some possible COVID-related adjustment. That’s the earliest date that Mayfield can sign a piece of paper changing his financial status.
Cleveland could sign Mayfield to a four-or-five-year extension at the going rate for quarterbacks. As a wild guess, five years, for $150 million depending on whether he convinces the front office and coaching staff that he can take the team into the playoffs.
As for the salary cap impact, remember that NFL contracts have reduced salary cap charges in the first year. So, 2021 (Mayfield’s fourth year) is still paid via the rookie contract; 2022 is the discounted first year of the new contract; and higher cap charges start in 2023.
The amount of guaranteed money is very important for two reasons. First, it is better for Mayfield to have a significant amount of guaranteed money in order to know how much his family can count on in the future. Yes, he already has plenty of money, but more is better. This is America.
Second, although the team will play him up front, the salary cap charges are deferred more heavily to years three, four and five. That benefits the team in the short-run (that is, typically lowers the cap charges a lot in year one and also in year two, depending on how they structure the deal). This might matter if you subscribe to the theory that the team needs to win in the next two years, while the team is getting his services at a partial discount.
There is no shut-off date for contract extensions, so it is possible that the negotiations could reach an impasse and drag on through the 2021 season. That’s a negative vibe from management, however, because Mayfield is, in effect, asked to continue to assume injury risk under his rookie agreement, and if worse comes to worse, he would just not get paid anything additional. Not cool. Teams seem less like to rally behind a team in which the star is getting shafted by management. Dak Prescott now and Kirk Cousins while with Washington come to mind.
That’s why the Haslams wanted to take care of Myles Garrett right away in the 2020 off-season. Even though he is not a quarterback, he is the same type of star, and it was important to show that they respected him as the superstar he is. They were not going to jerk him around. That won the Haslams tons of street cred with the players, you can be sure. They would likely want to treat their quarterback the same way if at all possible.
In other words, if the team is serious about Mayfield, and if Mayfield is serious about the Browns, the sides need to get together earlier rather than later, preferably before training camp. If the two sides are close, they can smooth things over to an extent if they can explain. Sometimes big deals are very complicated and just take time. They may have to let people know that “hey, we are working on it, but these things take time,” if they are close.
If the two sides cannot agree, there are fallback options, including the fifth-year option that comes with the rookie contract of players who were drafted in the first round.