Cleveland Browns: 3 quarterback options if Baker Mayfield misses season

Cleveland Browns potential trade target: Marcus Mariota, Las Vegas Raiders

It’s not just here where you can hear about Marcus Mariota and the Browns being a potential match. In fact, Connor Kurpat of Just Blog Baby had three different trade ideas for the two teams to work out that would send their backup to Northeast Ohio.

Kurpat acknowledges the presence of Case Keenum who was effective on Thursday night, although not explosive. While Mariota has some warts, he can produce more big plays according to the JBB author.

"“Getting Mariota gets Cleveland through the games without Mayfield, as Mariota while likely play better and more explosively than Keenum. They can also use Mariota in certain packages, similar to what Las Vegas has tried to do with him in the first game of the season.”"

Of the three trade ideas from Kurpat, two should get an immediate no. One was the idea of sending safety Ronnie Harrison and a fifth-round pick to the Raiders for Mariota. While quarterback is a much more important position than safety, Harrison’s talent is too much to give up and they have had too many injuries in the secondary to deplete it further.

Another was defensive tackle Malik McDowell and a sixth-round pick. Sure, a sixth-rounder is fine but McDowell also plays at a thin spot for Cleveland and shouldn’t be a consideration.

Lastly, he had a third and sixth-round pick. Maybe if they changed that to a fourth and sixth it would work – especially since Mariota doesn’t exactly have a small cap hit. Either way, he’s a playmaker who can keep defenses honest which could help as Cleveland aims to get back in the playoffs in 2021.