3 possibilities on who the “mystery team” is in the Baker Mayfield trade talks

Baker Mayfield has a new mystery suitor but who could they be?

Earlier today, Nick Dudukovich wrote about how there is a new suitor for Baker Mayfield, at least according to ESPN personality Michael Balko. Balko claims that there was a deal in place for Mayfield that would see him get sent to the Seattle Seahawks, but a new team allegedly got involved and made the Cleveland Browns pause.

Allegedly.

It’s very possible this is the Browns leaking information to whoever will listen to try and create a fictitious bidding war. It’s what I would do if there was no real leverage in negotiations. It’s also very possible that a team that isn’t Seattle or the Carolina Panthers would want Mayfield as well.

He’s a good quarterback, and while you’re not trading him if you’re the Chargers, Chiefs, or Bengals, there are a lot of teams that have a quarterback that doesn’t actually have one. Teams like Miami, Washington, Philadelphia, and even Indianapolis don’t really know what they have at quarterback.

So Mayfield does make sense to a lot of teams. Most of these teams were just expected to be interested in Mayfield next season, not this one. So what teams could be interested in now? Let’s talk.

Three teams that could be interested in the Cleveland Browns’ Baker Mayfield.

Tennessee Titans

The Tennessee Titans could easily be the team that goes after Mayfield, and if the Browns eat a lot of his contract, they could use him. Ryan Tannehill can be traded now and they’ll save $29 million against the cap, and that may be the route they go. He’s 34 and has pretty much shown he can’t win a team a game. Mayfield would be a step up if they can somehow make the money work.

New York Giants

The New York Giants have already made it clear that they aren’t giving Daniel Jones his fifth-year option, so why wouldn’t they be a name that could go after and get Mayfield? They don’t have much money left to play with, but if they can maneuver some things, or get some guys to restructure their contracts, it could be doable.

Houston Texans

This makes the most sense but may be the hardest to pull off. They don’t have a lot of big contracts but somehow still only have $4 million to play with, and that’s due to the $52 million dead cap figure they have thanks to mostly Deshaun Watson and Zach Cunningham. They have a lame-duck quarterback in Davis Mills and could use a guy with playoff experience.