It seems like the league is going to wait until Baker Mayfield is released

The Cleveland Browns may have missed their window to trade Baker Mayfield.

The Cleveland Browns had a deal in place with the Carolina Panthers that would’ve sent Baker Mayfield to the Panthers for what is, alleged to be, a third-round pick. The hold-up was the Browns haggling over money. The team balked at the offer and it died, giving the Panthers a different path to take, one that saw them draft a quarterback.

Now it looks like the Browns may have missed their window for a trade. A new report by Dan Graziano of ESPN (Via USA Today) seems to indicate that the Browns won’t find any likely buyers for their product due to how long they waited.

Graziano and ESPN pulled a group of NFL executives, league officials, and NFL agents about what they feel will happen with both Mayfield and San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo, and the answer was overwhelming; they’re getting released.

"The majority of the people to whom I spoke for this story believe both players will likely end up being released. A couple of people thought Garoppolo might still draw trade interest, provided an acquiring team could work out something to knock down the salary or spread it out over a couple of years."

Now, things can always change. Yet, we’ve already done the data, team’s don’t trade for quarterbacks usually when injuries happen. If the New England Patriots didn’t make a trade to replace Tom Brady when he got hurt or left, why would anyone? It’s a very rare occurrence. More so, teams desperate for quarterback help rarely make trades late into the process. Only two high-priced talents in the last 20 years were moved past training; Carson Parson and Sam Bradford and neither performed well.

The window for trading Mayfield is as close to shutting as possible without it being shut completely. The Browns had a deal on the table and left it there, thinking they could do better. The Browns have no reason not to release Mayfield once the trade deadline passes either. They can’t move him, and they’ll be forced to eat his contract anyway. So the least they can do is free up an active roster spot that would be better used on a guy the team intends to play.

If Andrew Berry can’t move Baker Mayfield then it’ll be a huge indictment against him

Andrew Berry is already on the hot seat. The Deshaun Watson trade has been a monumental mess that Jimmy Haslam is all too ready to throw Berry under the bus for. His draft classes are average, at best, some of his biggest free-agent signings have not gone their way, he was unable to trade Odell Beckham, and then he moved on from a few players who would be very useful in 2022, namely JC Tretter and M.J. Stewart.

It’s too early to call Berry a bad GM, as it’s still pretty 50/50 with how this plays out. He’s managing the money better than I thought he was, so that’s no longer an issue with $40 million in cap space this year. That money will be gone next season, so better use it while you can, but managing the cap hasn’t been his issue.

Compiling the team and getting back something for departing players is. It’s not as much of a focus in football as opposed to baseball or basketball, the notion of getting back something for a departing asset, but it should be.

The idea they couldn’t trade Tretter or find anything for Beckham is perplexing.

There may not have been a market for either guy, granted, but there was for Mayfield. If the Browns end up releasing Mayfield or, worse yet, waste a roster spot on him all year long just for him to leave in free agency, then that will be a damning indictment on Berry, as a deal was on the table. He just didn’t like it enough.

Mayfield leaving the team will also grant the Browns nothing in compensation either. No third-rounder is coming for a guy who didn’t play in 2022. It’s either trade him now or watch him walk later.

What will Berry do?