The Browns seem to be ready to move on from Baker Mayfield. Presumably, they have an idea regarding where he’ll be traded, if they land Deshaun Watson. Or if they don’t.
So which teams may want the first pick in the 2018 draft?
The Colts are the first team to comes to mind. It’s unknown what they think of Mayfield as a player, or whether they want another quarterback who could be a bit of a pain in the butt. Also, what gets traded for a guy who is under contract for only one year, at $18.8 million?
The Saints and Panthers make sense; at least one of them won’t land Watson. it would be odd, to say the least, for the Panthers to have both Mayfield and Sam Darnold (the third pick in 2018) at identical fifth-year option salaries.
The Seahawks have a need at the position. The Lions would make a lot of sense, if they could abandon Jared Goff‘s $26.15 million compensation package for 2022. Mayfield has the tough, gritty mindset that the Lions currently crave.
Another intriguing possibility is the Raiders. New coach Josh McDaniels worked out Mayfield just before the 2018 draft, when McDaniels was with the Patriots. How does McDaniels feel about him now, especially in comparison to Derek Carr?
The Browns may have to pay some of the salary in order to facilitate a trade. Or maybe the Browns eventually will have to do the reverse of what they did five years ago, when they traded for quarterback Brock Osweiler’s $17 million guaranteed contract AND got a second-round pick from the Texans for absorbing the contract.
However it plays out, Mayfield’s days in Cleveland seem numbered. At this point, the only questions are where he ends up and how much it costs the Browns to unload him.
Which teams would want Baker Mayfield? originally appeared on Pro Football Talk