Baker Mayfield has been a polarizing figure in his football career and now he waits, as we all do in seeing when, how and where he goes next
As a Cleveland Browns fan, you might feel like you’re in an episode of the old Twilight Zone show, where things have felt a bit off with the whole Baker Mayfield trade stories. The Browns, several other teams, and Baker Mayfield himself have all been involved in this story and with every day that passes, it seems that more questions and speculation arise.
Various opinions are being shared by many and while those thoughts can be okay it’s not making the final outcome in this whole saga any faster to get to. Many questions are swirling around in my head, as might be the case with many Browns fans pretty much done with this whole never-ending story.
While there’s an opinion by many that the Browns are willing to wait things out and maximize their return if they trade Mayfield — so they don’t have to pay the last year of his guaranteed salary — there is that other opinion that simply states that Mayfield will be released in the end because other NFL teams know that Cleveland is basically stuck with this quarterback sitting on their team roster. That means they don’t have to accommodate the Browns pursuit of a trade.
While I’ve tried trusting the process in which the Browns general manager Andrew Berry and his front office colleagues have always tried to show in their actions over the past two seasons, they pretty much blew all of that process up when they went and traded for and sold the farm to acquire quarterback Deshaun Watson a couple of months ago and guaranteed him $230 million. The Browns themselves abandoned the process and in doing so have gotten themselves in quite the pickle.
With that as a backdrop let’s go a bit deeper and look at a few more questions involving Baker Mayfield.
Question No. 4: Will Baker Mayfield be traded or released?
I’ve been sold on this idea that the Browns know more about all of this Baker Mayfield saga and will eventually trade him to help save themselves some money. But then you hear various speculation that teams are staying away from Mayfield because they are upset with the huge guaranteed money deal they gave their new quarterback Deshaun Watson.
Others are speculating that Mayfield isn’t a very good teammate and teams recognize that and don’t want to trade for a player that would potentially cause a divide in a locker room.
So, Cleveland waits and the public waits too and it’s become a daily talking point on most sports networks this spring.
There has been a feeling before the draft that some type of deal would get done around then — or shortly after. It’s been a week and still no news. The old saying “no news is good news” isn’t exactly accurate in this story.
Releasing Mayfield at any point in the future would certainly look like a win for Mayfield and a loss for the Browns.
I will say that if Mayfield had done more for the Browns over the length of his four years, then I don’t believe the Browns or Mayfield would be here today. The reason Cleveland chose to go get Deshaun Watson was that they saw that Mayfield, while able to get the team to a playoff spot in one season couldn’t in the other three.
Some supporters of Mayfield’s accomplishments will point to the injury-plagued season a year ago as the reason for all the negativity on the situation now. While the injuries certainly had some factor, they didn’t affect Mayfield’s poor decision-making on the field. In the end, the team saw that too and wanted to move on.
Question No. 3: How long are we going to have to wait?
As I mentioned earlier I don’t think we’ll have to wait much longer. At this point in the offseason, teams are working out in these voluntary programs. The official start of training camp isn’t for a couple more months. Other NFL teams, like the Browns, will be assessing their team’s needs, strengths and weaknesses.
The free-agent market is still open and there are dozens of players that are still looking for a new home. Once that market starts winding down then some teams will be more interested in picking Mayfield up either in a trade or release. Obviously, other teams are banking on a release of the former Oklahoma Sooner quarterback.
Question No. 2: What are the hang-ups with Baker Mayfield?
Where to start? The biggest problem is the $18.8 million guaranteed money due to Mayfield. If another team were to trade for him now, they’d have to pay that salary. A more likely trade scenario would involve the Browns and another team agreeing on some type of split in the money. The Browns would have to take on some of that salary and just move on.
There has been this idea out there that other teams are deliberately staying away from the former Heisman Trophy winner for a couple of reasons. The first is to show the Browns organization their disproval of the huge contract they gave Deshaun Warson. I don’t buy that reason at all. While some teams and their front offices might say they are bothered, it’s not preventing them from picking up the quarterback — no one would turn down a true franchise quarterback out of spite for someone else overpaying another.
The other reason circulating this week is that Mayfield has had a history of being a very frank and “wears his emotions on his sleeve” kind of player. When you start hearing his former teammates not go out of their way to stick up for their former quarterback, then you get a clearer picture that Mayfield may simply be a bad teammate, and teams in the league already know this and don’t what to disrupt their own chemistry.
Question No. 1: Where will Baker Mayfield go?
I discussed this in a previous article about Mayfield’s potential next landing spots. I believe five teams could be in the mix including the Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina Panthers, and Houston Texans.
I’ve made the case that if Mayfield wanted to compete for a starting job, then either the Seahawks or the Texans would be the best options. Neither of these teams had a quarterback that’s been a solid starter in their careers. Drew Lock is in Seattle and Davis Mills is in Houston.
There are two more teams that I’m adding to this list including the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints. In the case of the Cowboys, I think that their owner Jerry Jones likes to have his team in the news.
Mayfield could go there and be a backup to Dak Prescott and be able to fill in at a moment’s notice. Mayfield is a Texas kid and returning there to play for America’s team would seem logical. Old school Browns fans might recall another former Cleveland franchise quarterback who landed in Dallas in the early 1990s. Bernie Kosar was that player and he earned a Super Bowl ring with those old Cowboy teams.
The other team I’m adding is the Saints. They have a quarterback in Jameis Winston as their starter and while Mayfield would start out as the backup he might have a better shot at becoming the starter in time. Currently, the Saints have Andy Dalton on their team as the backup. While this scenario is a bit more unlikely, Dalton is about to be 35 years old. Mayfield is only 27 years old. The Saints didn’t draft any collegiate prospects either in this year’s NFL Draft.
Stay tuned Cleveland fans. while it may be feeling a bit bizarre that the former No. 1 draft pick can’t find a team to take him, things might be clearer by the time training camp comes around. If not it might be more like the movie “Ground Hog Day”.
For everyone’s sake let’s hope it doesn’t get to that point.