Former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman Joe Thomas said on his podcast with Andrew Hawkins earlier this week that Baker Mayfield turned down a long-term contract extension with the franchise worth $30 million per year in 2021.
Citing a league source, Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com said that report is “100 percent false” and “totally erroneous.”
“The truth is, the Browns and Mayfield’s agent, Tom Mills, never engaged in substantive extensive talks for the 2018 No. 1 overall pick after the Browns exercised his fifth-year option last April worth $18.86 million,” Cabot wrote. “The plan was to possibly start talking extension in earnest around the trade deadline, but Mayfield was in the midst of the worst season of his career at that point, partly because of the torn labrum in his left non-throwing shoulder and the restrictive harness.”
At this point, it doesn’t matter. Mayfield and the Browns will soon divorce.
This offseason has been a difficult one for the former top overall pick. Mayfield underwent surgery on the shoulder injury that plagued much of the 2021 season. Cleveland’s front office reiterated hopes that he would bounce back, but then the QB and his agent found out the team was pursuing Watson.
After Watson reportedly informed the team that they were out of the race for his services, Mayfield demanded a trade. Without that demand, the Browns would’ve likely never reengaged talks with Watson, and Mayfield screwed himself over.
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Now, he has to sit and wait to see where he will be playing football in 2022, which will most likely end with him coming off the bench.
It has been a quick fall from grace for the 2018 No. 1 overall pick.
