Getty Images Browns QB Baker Mayfield.
A lot has changed for Baker Mayfield this offseason and the Cleveland Browns announced yet another shift relating to his breakup with the team that took him No. 1 overall in 2018.
Mayfield will be moving his youth football camp from Northeast Ohio to Norman, Oklahoma, where he started in college as a Sooner. The former Browns starting QB announced the move via social media.
“If you haven’t already heard, my Youth Football @ProCamps is back in Norman this summer! I’m excited to hit the field with #SoonerNation,” Mayfield tweeted.
If you haven’t already heard, my Youth Football @ProCamps is back in Norman this summer! I’m excited to hit the field with #SoonerNation Reserve your spot at t.co/dNWlaDqgJ8 #Boomer
The change makes sense, considering the camp does not take place until June 28. Mayfield could be long gone by then, considering the Browns are doing their best to trade him following the acquisition of Deshaun Watson this offseason.
Mayfield Showed Love for ‘True’ Browns Fans
It’s been a messy and ugly divorce between Mayfield and the Browns. The former top pick sounded off during a podcast appearance on the April 13 episode of “YNK: you know what I mean?”
“The respect thing is all going to be a personal opinion. I feel disrespected, 100%. I was told one thing, and they completely did another.
“That’s what I’m in the middle of right now. And you know what? I got my taste of it because I’ve had four different head coaches in four years. 2021 was miserable – bunch of different coordinators. I’m just looking for stabilization right now.”
While Mayfield was occasionally booed in his final days as the Browns starter during a rough 2021 campaign, he had no ill will towards the Dawg Pound.
“I really, truly honesty have no regrets of my time in Cleveland of what I tried to give that place,” Mayfield said on the podcast. “True Clevelanders and true Browns fans know that, and that’s why I can walk away from the whole situation feeling like I did it.”
Teams Still Gauging Trade for Baker Mayfield
The market for Mayfield has been a tough one, mostly because of his $18.9 million salary for next season thanks to his fifth-year option. The Browns picked up his fifth-year option last offseason after he helped lead the team to the postseason and a Wild Card victory over the Steelers.
On top of his salary, the Browns have little to no leverage to make a deal, with teams around the league waiting and hoping they’ll eventually cut him or concede to eat a significant chunk of Mayfield’s salary.
The Seahawks and Panthers have been the two teams most heavily linked to Mayfield, but The Athletic’s Jeff Howe reported the two squads are in a holding pattern.
The Browns, meanwhile, could theoretically keep Mayfield through 2022 if a trade doesn’t materialize. If they do release him — absorbing the full $18.858 million and really only netting a roster spot — they’ve got to believe the Panthers or Seahawks would have to pay him more than $1.035 million, which is part of their leverage play.
The Browns are also daring the Seahawks (Drew Lock and Geno Smith) and Panthers (Sam Darnold and Corral) to roll with their current QBs. With Mayfield still rehabbing his surgically repaired left shoulder, his inability to currently practice has probably tempered the urgency to acquire him to foster a quarterback competition.
We’ll see what happens with Mayfield but his recent moves indicate he has no plans to stick around Cleveland very long.