Cleveland Browns mock draft: Baker Mayfield on the move in draft-day trade
By John Suchan
The Cleveland Browns will be trading Baker Mayfield during the upcoming NFL draft and there is one team that has had its eye on Mayfield from the start
Baker Mayfield loves the spotlight. This past week the outspoken, former Oklahoma Sooner quarterback sat down on a popular podcast and discussed how he “felt disrespected” by the Cleveland Browns after the team decided to trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson.
I, like many of you, was excited when Mayfield arrived in Cleveland in 2018 and added back a boost of energy and wins to a franchise that had been deep in a pool of lousiness. It’s somewhat sad to see the player move onto another team, though we don’t know where that is yet. It seems the nearly $19 million he is due in salary next season is holding up other NFL teams from doing cartwheels to bring him to their team.
He will be traded sooner than later, and I suspect that could happen during the upcoming NFL Draft starting in two short weeks in Las Vegas. Numerous teams could use a quarterback.
One of those teams is the Seattle Seahawks, who recently had their star quarterback Russell Wilson traded to the Denver Broncos. I’d thought Seattle might be a landing spot for Mayfield, but recent news has reported that veteran quarterback Geno Smith just signed a new deal with the Seahawks, so unless that’s an expensive $7 million smoke and mirrors I’d suspect the Seattle trade possibility is out.
But there still are teams with some draft picks that could be intriguing to the Browns to move up a bit on draft night. The New York Jets and Giants are two teams that are usually in the mix of trades. Can you imagine how Mayfield would handle the media frenzy of New York City? There’s also a team like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that still might be willing to trade for the former face of the Browns franchise.
But there’s one team and one former Cleveland general manager that might still believe in Mayfield. Let’s see who that team is and where that move might happen so that the Progressive Insurance commercials quarterback can have a new stadium to showcase his excellent acting skills.