Breaking: Baker Mayfield Traded to Carolina Panthers
Baker Mayfield, your time has come.
This trade is an absolute win for Mayfield, who gets to move to a team that desperately needs a starting quarterback as a centerpiece for a rebuilding process after an unsuccessful Sam Darnold experiment. But more importantly, it gets him away from the circus that is the Cleveland Browns.
It's also a steal for the Panthers. At any given point, there are maybe 30-35 guys in the country who are NFL starting quarterback material. Carolina just got one of those players for $5 mil and a 5th.
After the Deshaun Watson trade in March, Carolina was one of the first teams pinned as potential landing spots for the former Sooner. However, the Panthers seemed to be dragging their feet, wary of having to bear the weight of his hefty salary of $18 mil this season.
So for a time, there really were two starting caliber quarterbacks in Cleveland. It was clear that Watson was "The Guy" as far as the front office were concerned, and that certainly alienated Mayfield, who had just previously lead the team to its first playoff game in 18 years.
But now it seems that drama has passed, as Baker is going to be QB1 in Carolina.
Naturally, Twitter was completely calm about this:
Yeah, that's it. We'll see what happens as the season shakes out, but I'm happy for Baker. He deserves a shot. Now, he's got one.