Will Browns make a Baker Mayfield deal at league…

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The NFL’s decision makers are descending on West Palm Beach, Florida. The Browns surely would like to leave town with a deal in place for quarterback Baker Mayfield.

The status of the first overall pick in the 2018 draft, supplanted by the recent trade for Deshaun Watson, remains uncertain and unresolved. As recently noted by Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Browns prefer not to squat on Mayfield’s rights until an injury to another quarterback creates a more robust market for Mayfield’s fully-guaranteed $18.8 million contract. Instead, they want to trade him sooner than later.

As noted by Cabot, the Browns would like to make a deal for Mayfield at the league meetings.

The problem is the lack of interest in Mayfield. The Seahawks are deemed by many to be the best fit. They’ve shown no interest. And maybe they’re doing that deliberately. Unless multiple teams are clamoring for Mayfield, the Browns are stuck.

We’ve recently addressed the various ways this can unfold. The Browns may have to pay part of the $18.8 million in order to make a deal. They may have to accept peanuts for Mayfield if the new team will be paying the full salary. They may have to package Mayfield’s option year with a draft pick.

Or they may have to just cut him, eating the difference between $18.8 million and the one-year, $1.035 million deal Mayfield likely would sign with another team, possibly the Steelers.

Mayfield has much more control over the outcome than anyone realizes. If he makes it known that he doesn’t want to play for the Seahawks, for example, why would they make the trade? He could take that position with anyone who is thinking about making a deal, eventually forcing the Browns to keep him or to cut him.

Either way, he’s making $18.8 million this year and becoming a free agent in 2023. To the extent the Browns want to start the Deshaun Watson era the right way, their best way to do that may be to cut Mayfield and move on.