Wednesday’s Baker Mayfield deal came after months of negotiations. It appeared that an increase in negotiations between the Browns and Panthers in mid-June led to an agreement fairly soon after, but the ball landed in the quarterback’s court. Mayfield agreed to take a $3.5 million pay cut, satisfying the Panthers.
The teams have been negotiating this deal for nearly a month, according to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports and former Browns GM Michael Lombardi ( Twitter links ). In offering Mayfield a slight pay cut, the Panthers pointed to the former No. 1 overall pick’s potential to make up the difference by increasing his value for the 2023 free agent market, Jones added. Mayfield, who was attached to an $18.9 million salary, can also get his money back through incentives for 2022. Mayfield follows Odell Beckham Jr. in sacrificing some money to facilitate an exit from the Browns.
Regardless of the interest in this interconference trade, ESPN.com’s David Newton adds that the deal will still precede the Mayfield-Darnold competition. Mayfield will be favored to win a competition in training camp against incumbent Sam Darnold, who was selected twice behind him in the 2018 draft. As for the conditional draft pick the Browns will receive, Mayfield’s former team will have to backs to beat Darnold. The pick will upgrade to a 2024 fourth-rounder if Mayfield plays at least 70 percent of the Panthers’ snaps, The Athletic’s Joe Person tweeted. Otherwise it will be fifth.
The winner of that battle will take over a Panthers team that could have a much better offensive line — one that added left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, center Bradley Bozeman and guard Austin Corbett, whom the Browns drafted one round after Mayfield in 2018 , compared to his 2021 Version and a receiving corps of DJ Moore, Robbie Anderson and 2021 second-round pick Terrace Marshall Jr. The prospect of a healthy Christian McCaffrey has tantalized the Panthers and their fanbase for two years now, but the former All-Pro running back is also back in action. Mayfield appears to be planning to bring the Panthers’ skill players together for a pre-camp workout, Newton wrote on Twitter.
At the draft, the Browns weren’t willing to pay much more than $3 million of Mayfield’s salary. They eventually went to $10.5 million. The Panthers didn’t want to pay more than $5 million for Mayfield, SI.com’s Albert Breer tweets, leading to the pay cut request. But the Panthers were able to add a former No. 1 pick, resisting the temptation to reach for one of this year’s QB prospects with the No. 6 pick — which became Ekwonu.
While taking Mayfield’s salary and the Panthers agreeing to cover some of the cost saves the Browns more than $8 million in cap space, it could still mark a massive drop for Cleveland’s quarterback position — at least through 2022. The Browns moved from the reality in 2022 of deploying a healthier Mayfield to dumping Deshaun Watson — after a brief suspension — to facing the prospect of Jacoby Brissett being needed for a full season of the QB1 job. The Browns didn’t impose a season-long suspension on Watson — which has become the NFL’s preferred suspension — when they traded for him, and neither they nor Mayfield appear to have made any moves to restore the relationship.
As noted earlier, a trade for Jimmy Garoppolo was out of the question for the Panthers. They had expressed reservations about injuries to the 49ers QB and, based on Mayfield’s extensive contract haggling, did not take on Garoppolo’s $24.2 million salary. According to Yahoo.com’s Charles Robinson (on Twitter ), Carolina viewed Mayfield as a higher floor than Garoppolo. Wednesday’s trade cost Garoppolo, who has dealt with more injuries than Mayfield over the past four seasons, a premium landing spot. Now, the 49ers may have to wait out an injury in training camp to unload Garoppolo in a trade. Some NFL evaluators expected San Francisco to simply release Garoppolo, whose base salary becomes guaranteed in Week 1.
Seattle would make sense as a destination for Garoppolo, but talk from the Pacific Northwest continues to center around the ongoing Drew Lock – Geno Smith competition. The Seahawks had “tepid interest” in acquiring Mayfield, notes Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. While the Browns’ move from Mayfield to Brissett is a downgrade, the Seahawks’ move from Russell Wilson to Locke or Smith would surpass that. The Broncos are giving up their 2023 first- and second-round picks, giving the Seahawks options next year — in what is expected to be a better quarterback draft — but the team appears on the verge of giving Wilson his old job to a very careful feeder.
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