Predicting when the Seahawks will add Baker Mayfield to the team

I am going out on the proverbial limb and predicting that the Seattle Seahawks will add Baker Mayfield to the roster and when they will.

Since 2010, Seahawks general manager John Schneider has not been afraid of making moves just before the season in hopes of making the upcoming year better. Remember how Seattle traded for Jadeveon Clowney just before the 2019 season began. Duane Brown was acquired midseason in 2017.

Basically, when a season is about to begin or has already started, John Schneider doesn’t think his work is over to make the current year better. This season, he will add Baker Mayfield.

There have been rumors lately that one thing potentially holding up a trade for Mayfield right now is Seattle thinking of adding Mayfield and then working out a longer deal than the one year Mayfield currently has on his contract. The Seahawks, however, don’t have to do this. Mayfield is still under the terms of his rookie contract and has no veto power over a trade.

The Seahawks will add Baker Mayfield but when?

Ideally, Seattle would add Mayfield before training camp so he can get acclimated to offensive coordinator Shane Waldron’s system. But Cleveland also has to agree to a deal and most likely part of a trade is the Browns paying a chunk of the $18 million Mayfield is owed in 2022.

Plus, whether Deshaun Watson, who Cleveland recently acquired, gets suspended for all his legal issues or not, Mayfield is unlikely to play for Cleveland this season. The Browns have signed two other quarterbacks to back up Watson. One is Jacoby Brissett and he has lots of starting experience in the NFL. If Watson can’t play, Brissett would and not Mayfield.

So any trade power Cleveland has is gone. They either pay Mayfield his entire guaranteed $18,858,000, keep him and have him not play. Or they trade him and get something in return and still likely pay some of his salary. The last part would be a win for Cleveland the way they have set up the Mayfield situation. And they will probably try to hold on to Mayfield until the last possible minute in hopes of getting the best offer.

But the Seahawks will be the team that adds Mayfield. That won’t happen until after August 18th which is when the Seahawks play their second preseason game and before August 26th which is when Seattle’s last preseason game is.

Mayfield won’t play in the final preseason game but will be ready to start in Week 1 which happens on September 12th. Seattle will give Cleveland their 2023 sixth-round pick and pay $6 million of Mayfield’s contract.