Baker Mayfield may still be in play for the Seahawks in 2022

Per a recent report, the Seattle Seahawks may still be entertaining the option of trading for Baker Mayfield this offseason.

According to The Athletic’s Jeff Howe (and The Athletic is a pay site so if you don’t have it already, you’d have to pay to read the full article), Seattle and the Carolina Panthers are still tinkering with the idea of having Mayfield be behind center this coming season. The issue is that Mayfield’s current team, the Cleveland Browns, seems to not want to pay a large portion of Mayfield’s guaranteed money.

This, of course, has been the problem all along and the Browns set themselves up in this mess. They traded for Deshaun Watson while Mayfield was still under contract and appear too stubborn to give Mayfield up for next to nothing while also giving Mayfield his money.

Seahawks still reportedly thinking of trading for Baker Mayfield

Cleveland basically has two choices. One is to eat most of Mayfield’s remaining $18.8 million and get some lower round draft pick in return or two, don’t trade Mayfield and eat all the money he is owed. Cleveland is in a lose-lose situation and just too proud to admit its mistake.

I still think Mayfield would give the Seahawks a better chance to win in 2022, more than Drew Lock and Geno Smith do anyway. Mayfield doesn’t make the Seahawks a Super Bowl-caliber team by any stretch of the imagination, but he has proven to be a decent starting quarterback in the NFL.

Plus, he is only under a one-year deal, just like Lock and Smith. If things go south this year for Seattle, and it could be a bad season no matter who the quarterback ends up being, then in 2023 there is nothing owed to Lock, Smith, or Mayfield.

So if Cleveland finally comes to its senses and trades Mayfield while paying a large portion of his contract and getting a fifth-round pick in return then the Seahawks should make the deal. Otherwise, the Brown can keep Mayfield and Seattle can move on with Smith or Lock.