Opinion
After months of rumours and discussion, the worst kept secret in the NFL has been made official with Baker Mayfield becoming a Carolina Panther.
The Panthers parted ways with a conditional fifth round pick in 2024 to get the former number one pick, with Cleveland also paying $10.5 million of Mayfield’s $18.858 million salary this season.
Now that it has been done, what does this mean?
For my Carolina Panthers, it means they have a viable option to compete with Sam Darnold for the starting quarterback position when training camp options.
Carolina’s front office hasn’t been shy in admitting they are looking for an upgrade on Darnold and with the financial side of things finally agreed on they have an upgrade in Mayfield. As poor as Mayfield’s statistics were last season, he has proven he can contribute to winning football.
Let’s go back to 2020, the Browns finished the season 11-5 and wiped the floor with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoff wild card game. Baker had a very efficient year, finishing with 26 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
However, when looking at his stats post bye that season when making a playoff push, he had 11 touchdowns and 1 interception, going 6-2.
So, he has proven that he can be consistent and efficient for long periods of meaningful football at this level, something Darnold hasn’t done.
The elephant in the room is of course 2021, where his 17-13 touchdown to interception ratio was far less desirable, but there is a genuine excuse.
Mayfield played majority of the season with a torn rotator cuff in this left shoulder and despite not being his throwing arm, the injury threw off his throwing mechanics significantly.
On top of that, the fear of being sacked and causing further damage led to the poor season and eventual parting of ways between the Browns and Baker.
Putting my fandom aside, this is objectively a good move for the Carolina Panthers. Mayfield with one arm last season was still a better quarterback than Sam Darnold, so if he is fully healthy and can grasp the new system, the Panthers offence is significantly better.
They also have no contractual ties to either Mayfield or Darnold past this season, so if neither play well, they can let them both walk or if Mayfield can show he can be a franchise quarterback, they can sign him for a reasonable contract.
For the Browns, this was inevitable. The relationship was never going to be mended and considering they had already announced Jacoby Brissett as the starter in the absence of Deshaun Watson they had no need for Mayfield.
The fact they are paying him over half of his salary to play for another team isn’t ideal, but it was self-induced situation thanks to the Deshaun Watson fiasco.
Who knows if Baker Mayfield is going to be the future for the Carolina Panthers, but what I do know is that week 1 when Cleveland travel to Carolina to play is going to be nothing short of box office!
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