On Wednesday, the Browns made a deal with the Carolina Panthers that sent Mayfield there in exchange for a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick. That could rise to a fourth-round pick based on Mayfield’s playing time. Why such a low return for the Browns? Well, the Panthers will take on $10.5 million of Mayfield’s $18,858 million salary in 2022, the Panthers will pay Mayfield $5 million, and Mayfield has agreed to eat the rest.
If you ever wondered how much Mayfield wanted out, there’s your answer. But Mayfield’s new home might not be as instantly hospitable as he would like.
Panthers offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, who will never be mistaken for Bill Walsh, had this to say about Mayfield in 2018, after Mayfield was drafted, and when McAdoo was between gigs after being fired as the Giants’ head coach.
“He’s got an edge to him, I like that,” McAdoo said in a New York Post article in which ranked Mayfield sixth among draftable quarterback prospects. “He’s gonna lead, they’re gonna follow him. I didn’t see a lot of pro-style football in his college tape. And if you’re short you have to be able to make up for it some way, somehow, and personality doesn’t do that. I didn’t think he was a great athlete. This guy is kinda like a pocket quarterback that is short and with small hands, that’s what I worry about.’’
(As the Post pointed out, McAdoo “took it upon himself” to evaluate these quarterback prospects).
In this case, McAdoo’s analysis can be considered specious at best, and bizarre at worst. Mayfield has never been a limited-to-the-pocket quarterback per se, and his athleticism is actually one of his more positive attributes. Even in his injury-plagued 2021 season, Mayfield was pretty explosive outside the pocket, completing 26 of 61 passes for 319 yards, 218 air yards, five touchdowns, and two interceptions. In 2020, when healthy and on the rise as a quarterback, Mayfield completed 70 of 126 passes outside the pocket for 970 yards, 666 air yards, seven touchdowns, and two interceptions.
So, maybe McAdoo will have to update his priors.