BEREA, Ohio – The Cleveland Browns have agreed to change quarterback Baker Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for a conditional draft pick, a source confirmed to ESPN.
The Panthers will pay $ 4.85 million from Mayfield’s salary while the Browns will pay $ 10.5 million, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Mayfield has agreed to give up the rest of his $ 18.8 million salary to facilitate the deal, which is pending a physical examination, the source said.
The Browns will receive a fourth- or fifth-round pick in 2024, depending on Mayfield’s playing time in Carolina.
The news was first reported by NFL Network.
Mayfield, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, joins a Panthers team that already has Sam Darnold, the No. 3 overall pick in 2018, in his quarterback depth chart. The Panthers also selected Matt Corral in the third round of this year’s draft.
Now Mayfield and Darnold, who competed with each other to become the No. 1 pick in 2018, will once again compete on the training ground to compete for the right to headline the Panthers this season.
Mayfield’s exchange comes after Cleveland’s big deal with the Houston Texans that quarterback Deshaun Watson got. The Browns gave Watson a new five-year deal worth $ 230 million fully guaranteed, the richest money-guaranteed deal in NFL history by a margin of $ 80 million. Cleveland also ceded three first-round picks to the deal, the first team to do so by a single player since the Minnesota Vikings traded three first-round picks to the Dallas Cowboys for runner-up Herschel Walker in 1989.
With Mayfield gone, the Browns now have starter Watson along with Jacoby Brissett and Josh Dobbs as quarterback. However, Watson may not be available for the Browns this season. She has been charged in civil lawsuits by 25 women for actions ranging from sexual assault to inappropriate behavior during massage sessions. His hearing before the disciplinary officer jointly appointed by the NFL and the NFL Players Association, Sue L. Robinson, ended three days Thursday.
The NFL has been pushing for a suspension for at least a year, according to ESPN’s Dan Graziano, who reported that both sides participated in multiple attempts to reach an agreement while the hearing was still taking place, but still they cannot agree. There is no timetable for Robinson’s decision.
If Watson is suspended, the Browns are expected to start Brissett as quarterback.
The Watson trade effectively ended the Mayfield era in Cleveland. The Browns selected the former No. 1 Heisman Trophy winner in 2018 and debuted in Week 3 that season from the bench and got their first win in 635 days. He finished second in the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year vote as he broke the NFL debutant record with 27 touchdowns. That record was broken later in 2020 by Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers, who finished with 31 touchdown passes.
Mayfield’s tenure in general, however, was marred by inconsistency, drama and a left shoulder injury that affected him during the 2021 season.
During his four years in Cleveland, Mayfield, according to various sources, had become increasingly frustrated with a franchise that had made him the fourth quarterback in NFL history to play for four different head coaches in the United States. his first three seasons. Even after Mayfield led the Browns to their first playoff victory in 26 years during the 2020 season, the team refused to compromise Mayfield’s camp on a possible contract extension once he was eligible for to one, a signal for Mayfield that he may not be in the length of the team. -Term plans.
Mayfield then suffered a labrum rupture in his left shoulder without throwing week 2 of the 2021. Season. Instead of sitting or undergoing end-of-season surgery, Mayfield played through the injury and struggled for much of the season. A season after finishing in the top 10 in QBR in 2020, it dropped to 27th place in 2021, the biggest QBR drop (-30.4) of any league passenger, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Yet over the past two months, both Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry have repeatedly stated publicly that Mayfield would continue to be his quarterback.
In the February combination, Berry told Mayfield agent the Browns could chase an elite quarterback, such as Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers, according to a source familiar with the conversation. Mayfield Camp was also aware that the short list could include Watson, even with 22 civil cases pending for alleged misconduct and sexual assault during massage sessions.
On March 12, when a Texas grand jury refused to file criminal charges against Watson, the Browns made their move and got a meeting with Watson in Houston.
Several sources told ESPN that Mayfield was angry because the Browns did not directly inform him that they would meet with Watson; instead, he found out about it through social media. Mayfield responded with a statement that night thanking the city of Cleveland and its fans “who really embraced who I am,” while Browns officials flew back from Houston.
Mayfield’s breaking point with the Browns, however, came the next day.
On March 16, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that a Browns source had told him the team wanted to replace Mayfield with “an adult in that position.”
Mayfield requested a change the next day. The Browns initially told him they “did not comply with his request.” But after Cleveland landed Watson, this made Mayfield dispensable.
As a result, Mayfield becomes only the third quarterback in NFL history to be No. 1 overall in the draft and the last four seasons or so with the team that selected him, according to ESPN Stats & Information, joining to JaMarcus Russell (Raiders) and Jeff. George (Colts).