The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have reworked quarterback Baker Mayfield’s contract to give him $30 million guaranteed in 2026 according to Adam Schefter. Mayfield has led the team to the players in each of his first two seasons with Tampa. From being a castoff and spot starter for the Rams on a late season Thursday night game to a Pro Bowler with the Bucs, Mayfield is living up to the expectations that come with being the first overall pick in the draft.
While I doubt he would publicly admit it his current success has to be even sweeter when compared to his former team the Cleveland Browns quarterback situation. At the time of writing it looks as if Joe Flacco heading into his 18th season at age 40 will be the starter when the Browns kickoff the 2025 season. Two seasons ago Flacco joined the Browns and went 4-1 to get them to the playoffs. Last season he started six games for the Indianapolis Colts going 2-4. It is clear that he is well past his prime but the Browns have no one else to turn to.
After a down season in 2021 the Browns parted ways with Mayfield who in 2020 gave the franchise their lone playoff win since returning to the league in 1999. They turned to Deshaun Watson fresh off of settling 21 lawsuits for sexual misconduct, harassment and assault. That didn’t scare Cleveland off though as they provided their new QB with a 5 year fully guaranteed contract worth $230 million. Watson would have to serve an 11 game suspension but then returned to the team in 2022. His tenure as a starter has been less than ideal, when you factor in the contract it is downright disastrous. He has started only 19 of a possible 43 games. Currently he is rehabbing his achilles tendon after re-reputuring it in January. He is expected to miss the entirety of 2025.
It’s clear that the Deshaun Watson experience is coming to an end, even though he will still be under contract until 2027 his play hasn’t earned him anything more than what he was owed when signing it. As such the Browns were free to explore their options in the draft. They did so with the selection of Dillion Gabriel out of Oregon in the third round. A QB with a lot of upside but if he doesn’t work out then they can easily move on from him. Though they wouldn’t be the Browns if they didn’t make an inexplicable move that did little more than create a media circus.
Schedeur Sanders was in the midst of one of the more surprising draft falls of all time. Worse than Aaron Rodgers or Brady Quinn, Sanders who was once considered a first round pick fell all the way to the 5th round where the Browns took a flyer on him. This wouldn’t be so bad, even with the prior selection of Gabriel, and the increased media presence that comes with Hall of Famer Deion Sanders’ son, as Schedeuer possesses a lot of upside that could make him a serviceable starter one day. However Browns owner Jimmy Haslam can’t help but make an awkward situation worse. On Tuesday he made sure that it was clear the Sanders pick was in the hands of General Manager Andrew Berry. He could have said that Sanders is a talented player with a lot of upside and that he was excited to see how he develops but he had to make sure that if this move doesn’t work out we all know to not blame him.
The new Cleveland Browns have been little more than a dumpster fire for the majority of the 26 years they’ve been around. With an owner like Haslam it’s unlikely that they’re going to ever be seen as more than that. However they had an opportunity to prove they were on the right track with Mayfield but they pushed him out. It makes you wonder if they see the success he’s having and ponder what if.
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