"Finally starting to live in reality" - Redditors react to Browns' salary compromise to trade out-of-favor Baker Mayfield
Baker Mayfield has been angling for a move away from the Cleveland Browns for some time now, especially after the team signed Deshaun Watson as the starter, but that has not gone anywhere. One of the reasons for that has been Mayfield's salary of $18.858 million, which has put prospective teams off his trail, especially given his patchy form last year.
As per Albert Breer via MMQB, the latest development is as follows:
"The Browns have offered to take on 'a good chunk' of the guaranteed money remaining on QB Baker Mayfield’s contract in order to facilitate a trade."
The #Browns have offered to take on “a good chunk” of the guaranteed money remaining on QB Baker Mayfield’s contract in order to facilitate a trade. (Via MMQB/ Albert Breer)
NFL fans on Reddit reacted to the new stance, with the overwhelming few being that it was the only realistic option.
Some fans postulated that this would immediately get more teams interested in picking Baker Mayfield.
Other fans were even more specific with the amount of money the Browns should share so that they could get Mayfield off their roster. While some believe it to be as high as 65 percent, other fans believe that anything up to $10 million will make Mayfield a fair proposition as his value for the coming year becomes less than $10 million.
Other fans openly wondered which teams would be in contention to sign him because of this move by the Cleveland Browns.
A few fans, though, believe it will not make a difference as those teams that want a new quarterback already have one, and those that do not have a good quarterback are looking to build for the future and would not want to trade assets in the present.
Many commended the Browns for seeing the light on the Baker Mayfield situation, though they wondered why it took so long for them to get the idea.
Fans were also honestly surprised that when the sexual assault allegations are now front-and-center in NFL circles, and Deshaun Watson may get suspended, that is when they have decided to take the hit to get rid of Baker Mayfield. It points to an extremely low estimation of their previous starting quarterback by the Cleveland Browns.
Universally, the common consensus is that Mayfield will be tough to displace due to various causes. The only way the Browns can shift him is by being willing to take up part of his salary.
Carolina Panthers among teams interested in signing Baker Mayfield if Browns pay part of salary
When the Browns and Panthers negotiated a potential Baker Mayfield trade last month, the Panthers reportedly wanted the Browns to pay $13-14M of his $18.8M salary. wp.me/pbBqYq-chM5
No sooner had the news of the Browns offering to pay a good chunk of Mayfield's salary come to light, it came to light that the Carolina Panthers wanted the Browns to stump up to $13-14 million of that cash before taking him on.
While the Browns have not agreed to anything like that, they have softened their stance a bit about sharing salaries to move him off their payroll. They have realized that they can only move Baker Mayfield through this method, but even then, there might not be any takers.