Baker Mayfield partially paid for his own trade

The Cleveland Browns and quarterback Baker Mayfield have finally reached the final destination as the latter was traded to the Carolina Panthers.

Good thing Progressive has auto insurance because Baker Mayfield is hitting the road.

Finally, after months of speculation, the Cleveland Browns have found a trade partner for their disgruntled quarterback in the Carolina Panthers.

The saga between the Browns and Mayfield has come to an end as it was reported on Tuesday afternoon by Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero that a deal was made with the Panthers, pending the results of a physical. In exchange for the former 2018 No. 1 overall pick, the Panthers are sending a 2024 conditional fifth-round pick.

One of the biggest issues surrounding the search for a trade partner was Mayfield’s fully guaranteed, $18.8 million fifth-year option. That’s not a lot of money when good-to-great quarterbacks are going for $35 million and up.

That should tell you all you need to know in regards to why there wasn’t a lot of teaming wanting to trade for Mayfield, but I digress.

In the deal, the Browns will pay $10.5 million with the Panthers taking on $5 million. Mayfield agreed to cut $3.5 million from his base salary, which benefits all involved parties — although it does mean he had to practically pay $3.5 million to simply be traded.

The best part of the entire ordeal, outside of the fact that has finally come to an end, is the fact that the Panthers host the Browns in Week 1 of the 2022 season.

That’s a perfectly scripted matchup for the first week of the new season. The chatter that week on the app with feathers will be quite the treat. I can almost guarantee you that there will still be Baker Bros defending their savior despite the fact he would be the opps that week.

This trade will also put the kibosh on any nonsensical talk of Mayfield ever playing another snap for the Browns. For those of you who were rooting for a lengthy suspension of Deshaun Watson and Cleveland deciding to mend the relationship with Mayfield, only for the latter to tell them to shove it, you were wrong about this situation, and that’s okay. The relationship between the quarterback, head coach, and general manager was deteriorating since last season, so it would never be salvaged.

Oh, remember when the NFL was mad at the Browns for the Watson trade and massive, fully-guaranteed contract, and Cleveland was just going to have to release Mayfield as they had no leverage? Yeah, those were exceptional times.

This trade allows Cleveland and Mayfield to both move on and start fresh. The Browns are all-in on Watson despite the wait-and-see approach to any upcoming punishment.

Mayfield gets a chance to continue to be a starter in the NFL in a new environment. He will also be reunited with wide receiver Rashard Higgins, so that’s a plus for him. That ever-growing chip on his shoulder will be astronomical come Week 1, so make sure you have some dip handy.

Myles Garrett and company should be salivating and licking their chops in anticipation to go against Mayfield in Week 1 of the season. There was a lot of disconnect between the offense and defense last year, and now the defense will get to square off with the leader of said offense.

When it comes to this saga, in the words of philosopher Porky Pig, that’s all, folks!