Why The Seattle Seahawks Should Avoid A Baker Mayfield Trade
The Seahawks should avoid a trade for Brown’s QB Baker Mayfield. (Photo by Norm Hall/Getty Images)
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The Seattle Seahawks have been in headlines as of late and it’s all due to their interest in Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield.
The disgruntled quarterback is currently being shopped around by the Browns following their blockbuster acquisition of three-time Pro Bowl quarterback Deshaun Watson.
And while the Seahawks’ prospects at quarterback do not look too hot at the moment — they’ll enter the season with Drew Lock as the projected starter — Seattle should avoid any trade involving Mayfield.
It literally serves the Seahawks zero advantage to acquire a quarterback that no team covets.
For one, it’s telling how every NFL team — with the exception of the Seahawks — have passed on the idea of adding a 26-year-old quarterback in his prime to their roster.
The Houston Texans chose to avoid including Mayfield in their deal with the Browns and decided to go with Davis Mills as their starter for the 2022 season. The Indianapolis Colts — Mayfield’s preferred destination — passed on the young quarterback for a 36-year-old Matt Ryan who has suffered three consecutive losing seasons.
That’s not even mentioning the Carolina Panthers, a rebuilding franchise that could build around a young QB such as Mayfield, decided to pass on the idea in favor of Sam Darnold, a first-round bust from the 2018 NFL draft.
Former Seahawks QB and current radio show host for 710 AM Seattle said it best earlier this week— if the team wanted Mayfield, they would have a deal done by now.
“You could go and get him, but do you have conviction?” Heaps asked. “If this is a quarterback that you want, the deal would have already been done by now.”
Secondly, the Seahawks aren’t contending this season. While Seattle keeps avoiding the idea that they’re in a rebuild, that’s exactly where they’re at — whether they have Lock or Mayfield starting at quarterback.
By acquiring Mayfield instead of going for a full-scale tank with Lock at QB — one of the worst starting QB’s in the league during his last full season in 2020 — you’re risking possibly suffering the worst record in the league for a couple of extra wins.
That’s bad news because if you’re aiming for a true franchise quarterback — one that could be had in the 2023 NFL draft when the QB class is stronger with CJ Stroud and Bryce Young — you could lose the top overall pick.
And for what kind of payoff exactly? To be a serviceable team in 2022? To hope that Mayfield becomes something more than a slightly above-average quarterback?
Mayfield has started four full seasons in the league. And while he certainly deserves credit for his grit and toughness — he labored through a torn labrum during the entire 2021 season — he has never proven to be a top-level quarterback.
He’s still the same 6-foot quarterback with an average arm and slightly above-average athletic ability. Mayfield is not going to develop the mobility of a Lamar Jackson, the arm of Patrick Mahomes or the anticipation of a Tom Brady overnight.
Heaps explains why the Seahawks should avoid trading for Mayfield.
“But to trade for Baker Mayfield, I believe, would be the wrong decision if you don’t have conviction and you don’t believe that this guy is going to be the answer for you now, and (in the future) give you a dramatically different outlook for your franchise,” Heaps said
The four-year veteran is due nearly $19 million during the 2022 season, which the Seahawks would be inheriting in a trade with the Browns. That’s actually the 13th-highest cap hit of any QB in 2022.
While Cleveland has since budgeted on its stance of wanting a first-round draft pick in exchange for Mayfield, there’s still very little benefit for the Seahawks in acquiring the former top overall pick.
Following the trade of Russell Wilson, the Seahawks are desperately searching for its next franchise quarterback.
But it’s not Mayfield.
Sorry Seattle