Baker Mayfield TRADED to Panthers! Initial Grades & Reactions

 We have officially been in the dog days of the NFL off-season for some time now, but finally a huge move has gone down that has us even more excited for the upcoming season! Baker Mayfield, the long disgruntled Cleveland QB is finally on the move and to a good landing spot!

THE TRADE

Carolina Panthers receive:
-QB Baker Mayfield

Cleveland Browns receive:
-2023 *fifth round pick

*a conditional selection, could turn into a fourth based on how many snaps Mayfield plays in CAR

Panthers - A

Great job by Panther GM Scott Fitterer. He learned from trade-happy Seattle GM Jon Schneider during his time as an assistant in Seattle to be in on every deal and know when to buy low on plus talent. This was a PRIME example of this mantra. For just a fifth round pick, Carolina *potentially* (a very big POTENTIALLY) could have just gotten its franchise QB. Mayfield was not generating a lot of interest on the trade market but he is criminally underrated in my opinion and flat out deserves this second chance when other former top picks like Jameis Winston and Mitch Trubisky have gotten them. 

A big plus in this deal to go along with just moving a fifth was that Cleveland is paying more than half of Mayfield's nearly $20 million deal this season. The Panthers are straight up getting Mayfield for nothing with that clause of the deal being included. 

From the football side of this as well, I love it. The Panthers are in a weird spot, in between wanting to be competitive but also needing to rebuild their roster. HC Matt Rhule has said he wants to win and is a bit on the hot seat, so this move increases his chances of not being fired and winning games by a lot. While I think the team he had in Cleveland was a lot better, Carolina is a damn good landing spot. When healthy, he has arguably the best backfield-mate in the league in Christian McCaffrey along with an elite (or nearly elite) WR1 in DJ Moore who now should be set for a career year with Mayfield slinging it. The offensive line is terrible, but the team hopes it will begin to improve starting with rookie top pick OT Ikem Ekwonu in the fold. Mayfield also pretty much walks right in to the starting role with Sam Darnold a terrible option and rookie Matt Corral not really ready yet. I don't think by any stretch that the Panthers are a playoff team or close to one for that matter, but this move definitely won them some more games. Mayfield will have a big-time prove it year as he will enter FA after this season. If he can ball out or at least prove to be a top 15-16 QB in the league, the Panthers will have a very tough call to make next off-season. Great move for Carolina here! 

Browns - B-

The Browns did the best they could with how the situation went. I think they completely botched it earlier this offseason when they basically shunned Mayfield before even making the deal for Deshaun Watson. That was a mistake. Now with Watson likely facing suspension, the team could have used Mayfield to be there while Watson was gone, but that was no longer an option with how they had treated Mayfield. The whole league knew Mayfield would be traded or cut at some point, and it was finally done yesterday.

I think being able to salvage out any kind of draft compensation was nice for the Browns, especially if it turns into a 4th round pick due to how much Mayfield plays for the Panthers, but the eating his salary part hurts. I suppose if he was cut they would have had to eat the entire thing, but they still ate most of it in the trade which isn't great and shows how badly they wanted him off the roster.

I think with all of that said, I could have given them a worse grade but to have this entire situation finally behind them and out of sight is a plus and the team can finally begin to focus on strictly football once the Watson suspension is decided and training camp with other QB Jacoby Brissett arrives. 

Other Parties Effected:

Seahawks: Loser
The Hawks and Panthers felt like the only teams who could realistically make a move for Mayfield at this point in the off-season due to team needs. The Seahawks are definitely a loser if Pete Carroll truly 'wants to win' like he says. Mayfield is an obvious upgrade over Drew Lock or Geno Smith and with an above average QB on that roster, they could have won some games in a bad NFC this season. If they are trying to tank, this is a fine outcome, but Carroll and co. pride themselves on being in on everything, and this was a really cheap price to pay for good value.

Trey Lance (49ers): Loser
With Mayfield officially in Carolina, Jimmy Garopollo is looking really really unlikely to be traded anytime soon. With the Panthers and Seahawks the only two seemingly obvious landing spots for a QB in the trade market, that move eliminated one of them and a trade between rivals at the most important position in the sport seems even more unlikely. Garopollo looks like he is going to be a 49er in 2022 barring some injury somewhere else. With that, Lance likely won't have the job handed to him anymore. I've heard some reports raving about Lance in camp while others have said he's been terrible. It's hard to know for sure what is true, but either way, this trade makes Lance have to sweat it out come August.

Robby Anderson (Panthers): Loser
Just look this one up online, lol. ^