The Seahawks will have gotten rid of their former franchise quarterback Russell Wilson one month ago on Friday. Now begins the journey to replace him, which could take years. Some teams even take decades.
One of them went way out of their way and sold their souls to finally get a star this offseason. The Browns gave up a huge haul to the Texans for Deshaun Watson and then signed him to a fully-guaranteed contract. That upset Cleveland’s old QB1, who now wants out. Baker Mayfield has requested a trade and reports indicate they’re trying to work one out for him.
The Seahawks have been linked with Mayfield by a few reports and some analysts believe that he will eventually wind up in Seattle. That includes NBC commentator and PFF owner Cris Collinsworth. Here’s what he said about Mayfield on his most recent podcast.
“I still think he ends up in Seattle. It makes too much sense for him to land in Seattle, them draft a quarterback, sit behind Baker, give it a go. If Baker is good, great—we’ll be able to do it. But it’s so similar to the style of play that Russell Wilson has that you’re not going to have to change everything on the offensive side of the ball.”
Mayfield’s production has been erratic over his first four seasons in the NFL. However, he’s still only 26 years old and during those stretches when he’s been on-point on his game has been above average.
Truth is at this point the Seahawks don’t have many options. Pete Carroll doesn’t seem willing to grant Colin Kaepernick the opportunity he says he deserves, Cam Newton’s shoulder is a scary variable and there are no other quality or borderline-solid starting free agent options left with Jameis Winston, Marcus Mariota and Andy Dalton all having been signed.
Unless they can somehow swing a deal for Gardner Minshew, Mayfield may be their best choice. However, there are some big obstacles to any potiential trade. The one that matters most is his contract – Baker’s cap number this year is $18.858 million and it’s fully guaranteed. No team will take that entire cap hit, especially not the Seahawks – who have less than $10 million in effective space to work with. The Browns don’t have any leverage and no team will agree to deal for Mayfield unless Cleveland agrees to pay a massive portion of his salary.
