5 QBs and whether or not the Browns should trade for them

These are four quarterbacks the Cleveland Browns should consider avoiding.

The Cleveland Browns had an utterly disappointing year in 2021, that’s not up for debate. Injuries, poor play, bad coaching, especially bad play-calling all helped to sink the team in 2021. That doesn’t even include the drama that came with the team this year, drama that was unavoidable knowing that Odell Beckham Jr. causes it wherever he goes. All that drama, poor performances, and an overall rotten year have led some to think about moving on from Baker Mayfield.

To be clear, I don’t disagree that Mayfield had a bad year. My current stance has been and still is that he was too banged up to be as effective as he could be, but that even banged up he was a better option over Case Keenum. Nothing I’ve seen has led me to sway from that opinion. I believe this team can win with Mayfield, that hasn’t changed either.

That doesn’t mean that Mayfield is perfect. He forces too much, and that’s partly due to the system. When you’re not allowed to sling, which was the one thing that made him such a vaunted prospect, it can be infuriating. So he forces things when he’s frustrated and that just doesn’t go well for anyone. Not just that, but his attitude can be grating at times, especially when he starts to get combative with the media. He doesn’t sound like a leader when he gets petty. It’s one thing to engage in a debate and prove your worth, it’s another thing to attack someone’s credibility entirely.

So while I’m still on the “Mayfield can get it done” side of the line, I don’t disagree that there are reasons to have issues with him. People seem to think that replacing him is an easy idea, however. It’s not. It’s going to cost the team over $18 million to release him, and if you’re looking to trade him, the market is very cold on him at the moment. You’d be lucky to get a fifth-round pick at this point.

Not only that but there’s no guarantee you’re going to be getting an upgrade. Even if the person you acquire has a better track record, you never know when a player will start to decline. So there really isn’t a lot of logical sense to move on from him in 2022. Yet we’re going to play a little devil’s advocate and look at some of the names people have thrown around, and explain they are or aren’t a good fit for this team.