Baker Mayfield on Browns: 'We're ready to move on, I think'
The Cleveland Browns controversially traded for star quarterback Deshaun Watson in March but still have 2018 first-overall draft pick Baker Mayfield on their roster. Some believe Cleveland simply has not yet found a buyer willing to take on the fully guaranteed $18.858 million salary Mayfield is owed for 2022, but others have suggested the Browns may ask Mayfield to play for them later this season if Watson is suspended for most or all of the campaign regarding allegations of sexual misconduct during massage sessions.
Per Sooner Scoop and Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk, Mayfield was asked during a Tuesday appearance at a youth football camp in Norman, Oklahoma about possibly mending fences and returning to the Cleveland lineup even as a temporary QB1 this fall. The 27-year-old remarked that "it’s been pretty obvious the mutual decision on both sides is to move on" despite lingering questions remaining about Watson's status:
"No. I think for that to happen there would have to be some reaching out. But we are ready to move on, I think, on both sides," Mayfield explained during his comments.
The Browns signed journeyman Jacoby Brissett shortly after they acquired Watson and reportedly are having Brissett prepare to play in the event Watson is made ineligible. Watson, meanwhile, has an NFL disciplinary hearing scheduled to begin Tuesday, and it is widely believed the league will look to suspend the 26-year-old for a minimum of one entire season.
As for Mayfield, he is repeatedly been linked with a Seattle Seahawks club that is on track to have 2019 second-round pick Drew Lock compete with veteran Geno Smith for its starting job.
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