Steal: Cleveland Browns trade Baker Mayfield to Carolina Panthers for conditional draft pick
The Cleveland Browns finally resolved their quarterback issues today by trading Baker Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers.
Mayfield will be shipped to Carolina for a 2024 conditional 5th-round pick. The Browns will still pay Baker $10.5 million this season, trimming over $8 million in cash and salary cap space. The Panthers will remain on the hook for roughly $5 million, with Mayfield agreeing to trim $3.5 million off his base salary.
Free at last from Baker Mayfield. Congratulations to the Browns, who will never have to speak or talk about their quarterback situation ever again.
Welp, scratch that. Cleveland is still dealing with DeShaun Watson and there’s more reports coming out every day that he may not be able to play AT ALL this season, leaving the Brownies with Jacoby Brissett as their potential starter for Week 1 against the Panthers and their former quarterback in Mayfield.
Yes, I’m telling you right now that Baker will beat out Sam Darnold in Carolina. That should go without saying.
Honestly, I’m a Baker Mayfield guy. I always have been. I’m not sure how everyone forgot about the fact that he played with one arm last year and still threw for over 3,000 yards and 17 touchdowns with a 60.5 completion percentage. Sure, he had 13 interceptions as well, but the year prior is what I would expect from a healthy Baker Mayfield moving forward. In 2020, he threw for 3,563 yards, 26 touchdowns, and only eight interceptions, completing nearly 63% of his passes with a 95.9 QBR.
Baker Mayfield Stats
Side Note: The Philadelphia Eagles should bring home Temple legend PJ Walker now that the Panthers’ QB room just got a bit more crowded.
The trade looks like a steal for the Carolina Panthers. Mayfield has proven that he can be a viable starter in the NFL and the Browns now have one active quarterback on their roster in Jacoby Brissett.
When Baker wins the starting job in Carolina, the NFL needs to flex the game into primetime. Once he takes down his previous team, we may finally get another “plant the flag” celebration like we got from Baker during his college years when Oklahoma took down THE Ohio State University.
