Browns: 3 reasons to wait on signing Baker Mayfield to a new deal
By Chad Porto
Not every good quarterback has warranted a big deal
Jared Goff, Carson Wentz, Matthew Stafford, Joe Flacco, and Kirk Cousins. What do they all have in common? A vocal fanbase who at one time decried how overpaid their quarterbacks were (are). They are or were all starters at one point and all had massive contracts. Contracts that they never really lived up to and handcuffed their teams.
What seems to be the biggest issue in the NFL, is the overvaluing of quarterbacks. These guys are paid like they’re Tom Brady but play like they’re Kordell Stewart. Sure, the ones mentioned previously have done some good, heck, two of them have Super Bowl rings, while a third was in one. Yet, if you were building a team from scratch, and could pick any quarterback in the NFL to start with, none of them would be among the first five, or even 10 options at the position.
Yet, they’re paid like they are.
If you’re going to give $100 million+ to Baker Mayfield, you better well believe he needs to play like he’s actually worth that much money. If the 2020-version of Mayfield is the real deal and that’s who we get every year, then sure, give him that much money because this team nearly got to the AFC Championship with him at quarterback.
If 2021 shows a 2018 or even a 2019 version of Mayfield, let alone a brand new and potentially even more horrifying version, then no, don’t give him a massive contract.
We’ve seen far too many quarterbacks prove they aren’t worth $20 million+ a year, let alone $30 million. There’s no crime in asking Mayfield to prove he’s consistently at this Top 10 quarterback level.