Baker Mayfield thanks Cleveland, hinting at departure

[*Nately120*]

(03-17-2022, 01:01 PM)StrictlyBiz Wrote: Wanted to address this separately. 

Good point. The QB market is absolutely insane lately. Although I do think Baker is probably way up on that list, ability wise. He's not that terrible. 
But $30M/year? Yikes. That is a TON of cap space. I think Baltimore is having the same issues with Lamar too, otherwise they would've extended him now. 

It's almost as if teams would be better off if 1st round picks just flamed out and they could outright release them, rather than go through the problem of what to pay on that second contract. Missing on that 2nd contract is worse and can do more damage than missing on a high 1st round pick. 

I think of now as the post-Goff contract era, where a team is better off with a bridge to nowhere QB like Tyrod Taylor or a lame duck rookie contract like Daniel Jones than a team that locks up a decent starting QB they drafted.  

If Baker stays with the Browns this year I can see him playing well enough to get at least $30 million per year and then the Browns are probably SOL.