Baker Mayfield viewed as fit for Green Bay Packers should Rodgers leave
ESPN looked at potential replacements for Aaron Rodgers should the Packers move on, and the name of Cleveland Browns QB Baker Mayfield made the list.
The four-letter network did say, however, that this is a “long shot.”
The list of replacements wasn’t exactly a tough one to make up. The names on the list (Jimmy G, Kirk Cousins, Marcus Mariota) have all been kicked around the interweb as potential Mayfield replacements here in Cleveland.
ESPN called it a long shot, and it is, but the reasons Mayfield made the list of potential options remains intriguing, though, via ESPN-Plus (subscription required).
"“Trading for him would give the Packers a legitimate contender to compete with Jordan Love and a quarterback who has played well when the pieces around him are right. If the Packers want to have their cake and wait it too, by trading Rodgers to the AFC, picking up multiple first-rounders and landing a quarterback who could. be their long-term starter without blocking Love, making a move for Mayfield might be the way to make that happen.”Mayfield wouldn’t be viewed as a threat to Love, and Rodgers would be shipped off to the AFC. The article noted that if Packers trade Rodgers to the Browns, Cleveland would still have to send multiple first rounders to procure Rodgers."
Right now, seems like Baker Mayfield will return
The more and more removed from the season we become, the more like it seems like Mayfield will return.
Yes, the Browns can’t actually make any transactions now, but Aaron Rodgers? To Cleveland? Ain’t going to happen.
On the other side of the spectrum, even free-agent Mitch Trubisky is capable of getting a nice deal from somewhere. Teams are so desperate for quarterbacks, and since the Bears have never been all that great at developing quarterbacks, some team out there may make a push to scoop up the Cleveland native.
And, for what it’s worth, I don’t know how you bring in Mitch to back-up Baker. On Mayfield’s first pick, the entire stadium will be calling for Trubisky to enter the game.
Plus, there’s a part of me that wants to see Mayfield healthy, with a first-round receiver in the huddle behind a healthy offensive line.