3 Winners and losers from Baker Mayfield trade
By Randy Gurzi
Winner: Baker Mayfield
Giving up $3.5 million might not sound like a win at first, but for Mayfield, it was.
When Cleveland added Deshaun Watson, it was evident he wasn’t coming back and while he could have fought tooth and nail for the entire $18.8 million, he understood he could have lost even more had he not gotten into a camp soon to be able to earn a starting job.
More: The #Browns will pay Baker Mayfield $10.5 million this season, which means they trimmed over $8 million in cash and salary-cap space. The #Panthers will pay Mayfield ~$5 million. Mayfield agreed to trim ~$3.5 million off his base salary.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) July 6, 2022
By playing in 2022, he has an opportunity to prove he deserves a big payday this coming offseason. Had he declined to take the cut in salary, he might have found himself without a team, thus hurting his stock in 2023 free agency.
As we have seen him do in the past, Mayfield is betting on himself by taking this cut and he’s often won when doing so.
Loser: Sam Darnold
Back in 2018, Darnold was supposed to be the No. 1 pick in the draft. But then, Mayfield came out firing and said he was the man to turn the Browns around.
Former general manager John Dorsey agreed, and the Oklahoma product was selected first overall. Sadly for Darnold, this wouldn’t be the last time he tasted defeat at the hands of the former walk-on-turned-Heisman winner.
In Week 3 of their rookie campaign, Mayfield came in and led the Browns to a Thursday Night Football win over Darnold and his Jets.
Now, it could happen again as it appears Darnold is going to lose his starting job to Mayfield. It has to be frustrating, but the former USC product has no one to blame but himself since he was unable to secure his job in two different cities now.