Cleveland Browns: 5 reasons to pump the brakes on expectations

Baker Mayfield has not been signed yet. Why not?

It’s getting a bit late.

Should we be getting worried that Baker Mayfield has not been signed to a long-term deal, and is this going to blow up?

Browns fans are totally unfamiliar with the idea of signing a good quarterback to a long-term deal because it has not happened since the days of Bernie Kosar.

Is this something that the Browns are going to blow up for no reason?

The correct time to sign a new deal is before the fourth season begins, like Josh Allen.

Of course, there is an element within the Browns fan base that thinks Mayfield is no better than Mitchell Trubisky, and he should be treated that way. If you do treat him that way, eventually the team will notice and start to wonder why.

“We need to wait a few games and make sure he is for real and then sign,” has been suggested.  Or, “Let’s franchise tag him!”

These moves were patented by genius owners Daniel Snyder of the Washington Fouled-Up Team and Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys, resulted in the highest up-front cap charges in the NFL, and shifted more and more negotiating power to the quarterback and his agent the more time that goes on. I have heard some fans proclaim that this method protects the team in case of injury.

Really?

Say these names again slowly: Alex Smith. Dak Prescott. Washington maxed out the quarterback pay scale with Kirk Cousins two years in a row, then traded for Alex Smith and signed him to a huge deal only to have him suffer an injury.

Washington had huge quarterback payments and were devastated by injury. As for Dak Prescott, they paid the maximum up-front quarterback payment in the NFL last season and were beaten into submission by Dak and his agent this year despite Dak having a broken ankle. How well protected is Jerry Jones?

It may seem to the adoring public as if the get-tough strategy used by Jones and Snyder is going to benefit the team, but history shows that they are actually paying more for quarterbacks than t almost any team in the NFL. And no, they didn’t protect themselves from injury by waiting a year to sign the long-term deal.

If you are pointing out that Lamar Jackson has not signed with Baltimore yet as a counterexample, please don’t go there. The problem over there is that Jackson has no agent. You read that right, it is Lamar and his Mom negotiating an extension.

Certainly, Lamar and his Mom are intelligent people, but we are totally in uncharted territory here. Put it this way, on third down and long, we are not sending in an agent to throw a pass, so why are we using an athlete to negotiate a complicated multimillion-dollar legal agreement? That situation could be total chaos, and it might not be the fault of the Ravens.

Mad respect for Jackson as the greatest dual-threat athlete in NFL history, but he is a total rookie as a contract specialist. No, no, no. Please do not cite this situation as one that Baker Mayfield should emulate.

At least Baltimore has an excuse for having a fiasco in the making. What’s the Browns’ situation?

Hopefully, these concerns are groundless and negotiations are going smoothly and just taking time due to the size and complexity of quarterback contracts. This was the case with Patrick Mahomes last season.

Hopefully, it is all going to work out soon.

Hopefully, the Browns are not going to find the one way that they can blow this and lock-in.

Hopefully they are going to emulate Jerry Jones or Dan Snyder.

Hopefully, they are not going to emulate Lamar Jackson’s negotiating protocols for a new contract.

Hopefully, common sense will prevail and a new contract for Mayfield will pop out in the next several days before the season begins.