Seahawks coach Pete Carroll may have just ended Baker Mayfield rumors

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll was interviewed on 93.3 KJR in Seattle on Thursday and appeared to shut down any talk of current Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield coming to Seattle.

Of course, Carroll cannot comment specifically on players who are with another team because that would be tampering and the punishment would be bad for the Seahawks. That said, everyone knows Cleveland wants to get rid of Mayfield after the Browns traded for Deshaun Watson this offseason.

Carroll, while not saying anything about Mayfield, generally said Seattle isn’t looking to add another quarterback at this time. In fact, it was two important words that Carroll used when talking about the situation: “…at all.”

Baker Mayfield doesn’t seem to be coming to the Seahawks anytime soon

Carroll told KJR, “I don’t see us making a trade for anybody at all. I don’t see that happening.”

I do think Mayfield would give the Seahawks a better chance at exceeding expectations in 2022 over Drew Lock or Geno Smith (and Jacob Eason, of course!). Mayfield has four years of experience, a lot of it positive, and has won a playoff game. But he isn’t going to be playing for Cleveland this year.

Not only did Cleveland trade for Watson, but they also signed Jacoby Brissett and Joshua Dobbs to backup Watson. Cleveland has been pretty dumb in handling the quarterback situation this offseason when it comes to Mayfield.

Trading for Watson is one thing. Mayfield could always be the backup. He wouldn’t want to be, of course, but at least teams interested in trading for Mayfield would have to wonder if Cleveland still saw him as an option to be on the roster.

After adding Brissett and Dobbs, there is no chance Mayfield is part of the Browns’ plans. Therefore, why would any team offer Cleveland much in return for a player that the Browns clearly don’t want?

There is also the issue with Mayfield being owed $18.5 million this year. Cleveland has to pay him that whether Mayfield plays or doesn’t. Teams know this as well so unless the Browns are willing to keep paying Mayfield a portion of that then teams are going to be hesitant or unwilling to get Mayfield.

But based on what Carroll said on Thursday, the Seahawks have little-to-no interest in acquiring Mayfield and seem set moving forward with Lock and Smith. And to be fair, that is probably OK. If adding Mayfield means Seattle wins an extra game or two this coming season, that only hurts Seattle’s draft position in 2023. And the Seahawks are building for the future, not 2022.