Baker Mayfield’s trade on Wednesday came after months of negotiations. It looks like the mid-June rise in talks between the Browns and Panthers led to a deal pretty soon after, but the ball fell on the quarterback’s court. Mayfield agreed to cut $ 3.5 million from his salary satisfied the Panthers.
The teams had that deal for nearly a month, according to Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports and former Browns general manager Michael Lombardi (Twitter links). By launching the slight pay cut in Mayfield, the Panthers noted the potential for the former No. 1 pick to make up the difference by increasing his value for the 2023 free agent market, Jones adds. Mayfield, who had a $ 18.9 million salary, can also recoup the money through incentives in 2022. Mayfield is following Odell Beckham Jr. sacrificing some money to facilitate the departure of the Browns.
Despite interest in this interconference trade, ESPN.com’s David Newton adds that the deal will still precede a Mayfield-Darnold competition. Mayfield will be favored to win a training camp contest against incumbent Sam Darnold, who was selected two picks after him in the 2018 draft. , Mayfield’s former team will have to fix it to beat Darnold. The pick will be updated to a fourth round in 2024 if Mayfield plays at least 70 percent of the Panthers ’snaps, tweeted Joe Person of The Athletic. Otherwise, it will become a fifth.
The winner of this battle will take the reins of 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, to whom the Browns went choose a round after Mayfield in 2018, compared to his The 2021 version and a receiving body of DJ Moore, Robbie Anderson and the second round selection of the 2021 Terrace Marshall Jr. The prospect of a healthy Christian McCaffrey has provoked the Panthers and their fan base for the past two years, but the former All-Pro runner is also returning to his place. It looks like Mayfield is planning to reunite the Panthers ’skill players for pre-field training, Newton tweeted.
In the draft, the Browns were unwilling to pay more than $ 3 million in Mayfield’s salary. They ended up going up to $ 10.5 million. The Panthers didn’t want to pull out more than $ 5 million for Mayfield, Albert Breer’s tweets from SI.com, which sparked the pay cut request. But the Panthers managed to add a former No. 1 pick, resisting the temptation to get one of this year’s QB prospects with No. 6 pick, who became Ekwonu.
While the Mayfield pay cut and the Panthers agreeing to cover part of the cost save the Browns more than $ 8 million in capped space, that could still mark a massive decline for Cleveland quarterback position, at least for 2022. The Browns have gone from a 2022 reality to deploying a healthier Mayfield to taking out Deshaun Watson, after a brief suspension, to facing the possibility that Jacoby Brissett will be needed for a full season of QB1 work. The Browns didn’t anticipate a Watson suspension all season, which has become the NFL’s favorite ban, when they switched to him, and neither they nor Mayfield seemed to make forays to repair the relationship.
As noted above, a change from Jimmy Garoppolo was not in play for the Panthers. They had expressed reservations about the 49ers ’QB injuries and, from the extensive haggling over Mayfield’s contract, were not assuming Garoppolo’s $ 24.2 million salary. Carolina saw Mayfield as a higher choice than Garoppolo, according to Charles Robinson of Yahoo.com (on Twitter). Wednesday’s transaction cost Garoppolo, who has suffered more injuries than Mayfield over the past four seasons, a privileged landing point. The 49ers may have to wait for an injury from the training camp to unload Garoppolo in a change. Some NFL evaluators have expected San Francisco to simply release Garoppolo, whose base salary is guaranteed in week 1.
Seattle would make sense as Garoppolo’s destination, but the Northwest Pacific talk remains centered around the ongoing Drew Lock-Geno Smith competition. The Seahawks had a “warm interest” in acquiring Mayfield, notes Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times. While the Browns going from Mayfield to Brissett represent a downgrade, the Seahawks going from Russell Wilson to Lock or Smith would outdo it. The Broncos giving up their 2023 first- and second-round picks offer options to the Seahawks next year, which is expected to be a better quarterback draft, but the team appears at the door to give the old Wilson’s work to a highly scrutinized passenger.