5 reasons the Cleveland Browns will have to trade Baker Mayfield before the season
By Chad Porto
Playoff teams rarely trade for starting quarterbacks after training camp
Now we move into the “a team will trade for him if their starter gets hurt” argument. Again, historically, that’s a lie. While yes, quarterbacks do get moved mid-season every so often, you’re looking more at guys like Jimmy Garoppolo, who was a backup, going to a losing team who was building for the future.
The 49ers had just one win when they landed Garoppolo and he only cost $385,919 against the cap to acquire him. Baker Mayfield at full value would cost more than $18 million unless the Browns eat most of his contract. No team is trading for Mayfield for that much, mid-season. Period.
More so, very few teams ever trade for starting-caliber quarterbacks midseason in general and then go on to have a winning season. Bobby Layne is the only starting quarterback who was traded during the season, threw for more than 2,000 yards, and ended up helping his team to a winning record.
In more modern times, Carson Palmer and Sam Bradford were both moved before either had played a single down of regular season football, and the teams that acquired them did not have winning records to close the year. Another example is from 1989 when Dallas sent former starter Steve Walsh to New Orleans three games into the 1990 season, Walsh hadn’t played a down yet that season. He went 6-5 in New Orleans. For some reason, the Saints gave up three picks, including a first, for Walsh.
That was a mistake.
There’s a good reason why starting-caliber quarterbacks don’t get moved mid-season, it just takes too long to integrate into a team. If you’re a team looking to compete, it makes more sense to try and use a guy who’s already on your team to fill the role, even if they aren’t as good as another option. They know the system and what’s expected, while the newer player will take weeks to learn, thus putting you further behind the eightball. This isn’t the NBA or MLB where there’s only so much to learn. A quarterback has to know everything.
More than likely what ends up happening is a quarterback gets called up, or a cheap backup is traded for to fill out the depth. The Steelers didn’t go get a veteran when Ben Roethlisberger got hurt in 2019. The Colts didn’t replace Peyton Manning in 2011 with a mid-season trade. The Patriots ran with Matt Cassel when Tom Brady got hurt.
Arguably the biggest name to be traded to a new team midseason over the last few years was Jacoby Brissett, a backup. When a playoff team loses their quarterback, historically, they don’t make mid-season moves and take the season as it is.
So if you want to trot out the argument that a playoff-caliber team would trade for Mayfield mid-season, keep in mind it doesn’t happen. All of the major movement by free-agent quarterbacks or quarterbacks traded, usually happens in March, ahead of the draft because it takes time to learn a new system.
Why would a playoff team give up anything to get Mayfield at that point in a season? If they lose their starter, they’ll need an instant replacement and a mid-season acquisition could see Mayfield take two or more weeks to be ready to play with just the barest of offensive plays to work with.