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When Baker Mayfield broke out around the turn of the decade, the face of the Cleveland Browns was making all sorts of commitments and deals. One of his most famous deals was with Progressive, which tasked the quarterback with starring in the insurance company's commercials.
In the commercials, Mayfield essentially lived in the Browns' stadium, leading to all sorts of comical situations. However, with the quarterback now potentially fighting for his career in Carolina, the basis of the commericials has been cut down at the knees. Of course, before leaving the Browns, Progressive had an opportunity to do one last commercial with the quarterback concluding the series of advertisements.
While speaking on the NFL Ringer Podcast, NFL analyst Roger Sherman claimed the marketing team behind Progressive may have considered doing one final advertisement. However, it would've been too sad. Here's how he put it:
"And he's not in - he's not going to be in the Progressive commercials anymore. If you watched any football games last year, you saw Baker Mayfield living in the Cleveland Browns stadium. They decided it was like too sad to do one about him getting traded."
He went on, giving hope to those who need it:
"I guess he could be in other commercials, but they officially announced they're discontinuing that one. I think that also could rev him up."
Baker Mayfield's career in Cleveland
In 2018, the quarterback was drafted by the Cleveland Browns with the first pick in the NFL Draft. Per Pro Football Reference, in his first season, he went 6-7, throwing for 27 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Considering the team had just wrapped up a 1-31 run in the preceding two seasons, Browns fans were ecstatic about the progress.
However, the quarterback took a step back in 2019, going 6-10 and throwing for 22 touchdowns and 21 interceptions. This placed pressure on him and many argued that it motivated him to his peak the following year. In 2020, he won a playoff game after an 11-5 regular season, throwing for 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
In 2021, the quarterback stumbled again, throwing for 17 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in an injury-plagued year in which he went 6-8. Put simply, with Deshaun Watson on the table, the team refused to sit by with Mayfield. Having acquired Watson, they eventually shipped their former shot-caller off to the Carolina Panthers.
