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Baker Mayfield, like the rest of the NFL community, is waiting for the Cleveland Browns to make a move with him. However, with the free agency blitz and trade storm not in a holding pattern, the former starter of the team is now stuck in purgatory.
Many are listing Seattle Seahawks as a potential landing spot for the quarterback after they failed to draft one this year. One NFL analyst has a message for anyone expecting Mayfield to be wearing blue next season.
On The Herd with Colin Cowherd, the eponymous host outlined why the Browns quarterback won't fit the Seattle Seahawks' needs.
“And if you want to tank, you can tank. If you don't want to start people, you don't have to start people. We all know that teams can start who they want to start period, and so, if you want to get a good pick, you can get a good pick."
He continued, calling the quarterback a starting-caliber force under center.
"So a prime example of this is, Baker Mayfield is obviously one of the 32 best quarterbacks in football. He's probably about 25th, 26th, whatever. I don't like him as much as everybody else but Baker can play and got [the Browns] to a playoff win."
He went on, saying that Seattle won't suddenly find themselves in contention if they get the quarterback.
"He's not going to elevate you. He needs people around him but so does Dak [and] so does Kirk Cousins. Some guys can elevate. Some guys can elevate others. Some need to be elevated."
Next, he admitted that the Browns quarterback is "way" better than either current quarterback.
"But a prime example is sometimes in business, you need a write off if you own 10 businesses, and you know you're gonna have a big tax bill if everybody's rollin. Sometimes, a business is like struggling, let it tank and it saves you tax dollars. Right? We all know that. But a prime example is Baker is obviously way better than Geno Smith and way better than Drew Lock and it ain’t close."
The show host wrapped up his point, basically saying that the Seahawks are tanking and the quarterback's addition would get in the way of that.
"But why in the world would Seattle bring in Baker Mayfield? They don't want to win games now. They're not going to advertise it. But Pete Carroll has got a long contract. So does John Schneider, so if you fire him, you owe him a big check. You're not going to do that, especially if they're going through a potential ownership change.”
Baker Mayfield's up-and-down career
Baker Mayfield has been in the league for four seasons. Most would agree that the four seasons can be split down the middle in terms of quality of performances. In two of his four seasons, the quarterback met or exceeded expectations.
In 2018 and 2020, Mayfield threw for 53 touchdowns and 22 interceptions, all put together. In 2018, he elevated the Browns from a 1-31 skid to helping the team get six wins in games he started, according to Pro Football Reference. In 2020, the Browns made the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
However, 2019 and 2021 left the team wanting more. In 2019 and 2021, the quarterback threw for a combined 39 touchdowns and 34 interceptions. In those seasons, the team finished under .500 when it entered the season with playoff expectations.
