As the Browns wait for a serious contender (or, for leverage purposes, more than one serious contender) to emerge for Baker Mayfield‘s contract, there’s an angle to consider when it comes to whether or not some other franchise will develop interest in him. Could a team be looking at Mayfield, who has one year left on his rookie deal, as a multi-year play?
Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports recently kicked around the idea of teams such as the Titans and Buccaneers possibly exploring Mayfield as a guy who would serve as a backup in 2022 and take over in 2023.
It’s an intriguing thought. But it makes Mayfield’s willingness to embrace his next destination even more critical. Mayfield already has significant control over the situation; with a fully-guaranteed $18.8 million salary in 2022 and no commitment beyond this year, anyone considering the possibility of surrendering trade compensation for Mayfield would need to know that Mayfield wants to be there. If a team is looking at Mayfield as a multi-year option, he’d need to sign a contract that keeps him around.
It wouldn’t be easy to get him to do it. Apart from the money, he’s going to want to go a place where he can play. In Tennessee or Tampa, he’d most likely sit in 2022. And the contract he’d sign on the way through the door would send a clear message about the future. In Tennessee, it would send a potential message about the present — especially since the Titans acquired current starter Ryan Tannehill under similar circumstances in 2019.
While the two-year window is a smart way to consider the various options, it’s hard not to keep landing in the same mental space. With a fully-guaranteed fifth-year option and no commitment beyond this year (other than the possibility of the franchise tag), Mayfield has a de facto no-trade clause. And the only way to get him to waive it would be to present him with a trade he’ll embrace, one that will get him to a new city sooner than later.
That’s the key for Cleveland. With no immediate reason to move him, they can squat on his rights through April, May, June, July, and even August. The longer he’s under contract in Cleveland, the less time he has to get properly up to speed with a new team.
Here’s where it gets even more interesting, potentially. What if Mayfield decides to become vocal about his desire to have the situation resolved? What if he declines to go along with whatever plan the Browns may have for him in the offseason program, training camp, and the preseason, as the Browns wait for something to materialize that possibly never will?
Before the Deshaun Watson trade occurred, Mayfield reportedly was considering the possibility of holding out in order to force a trade. With Watson there, Mayfield could go the other way, insisting on being treated as a full-fledged member of the team, at a time when the Browns will want (above all else) to keep him healthy.
First, he has to get healthy. He had surgery on his left (non-throwing) shoulder immediately after the 2021 season ended. At some point, he will be. Given that the Browns already have decided to move on from him by acquiring Watson, Mayfield could decide to repeatedly and persistently agitate to be released. Unless a potential trade materializes that causes him to cooperate.
Whether it’s a one-, two-, three-, or four-year play by the team that wants him, it’s hard to imagine Mayfield willingly going along with anything the Browns propose at this point. He’s getting $18.8 million either way in 2022. He’ll undoubtedly be released at some point. Unless the Browns do an Osweiler-style deal in which they’re sending a draft pick to a new team that is simply taking on the cash and cap charge with no desire to have the player (and which would then cut him), it’s hard to imagine the Browns finding anyone to trade for Mayfield. Because it’s hard to imagine any team to which Mayfield would accept a trade.
Especially since, if he’s cut, he can go wherever he wants. Like to Pittsburgh.
Could the key to a Baker Mayfield trade be 2023, not 2022? originally appeared on Pro Football Talk