GM Andrew Berry and chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta have to convince owner Jimmy Haslam to eat a sizeable portion of Baker Mayfield's guaranteed salary to effectuate a trade. (TheLandOnDemand)
Browns must be proactive to trade Baker Mayfield and not ‘hope’ for a quarterback injury to solve their problem
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland.
More takeaways from Browns draft weekend …
The Browns are going to have to be a lot more proactive to bail out of this Baker Mayfield mess.
They can’t just rest their hopes on another quarterback blowing out an Achilles or tearing a meniscus in spring workouts or training camp and hope a team comes to them for a replacement. Hope is not a strategy.
Besides, it’s not as if Mayfield is the only quarterback available.
Over the weekend, the Chicago Bears released Nick Foles. He’s free to sign with any team. Foles is a Super Bowl MVP. Mayfield is not.
Soon, Jimmy Garoppolo will be cleared to begin throwing in the next phase of rehabbing his right shoulder after surgery in June. Garoppolo has taken one team to a Super Bowl and another to a conference championship game. Mayfield has not.
The Browns have always over-rated Mayfield. They seem to think other teams have an equally high opinion of him. That is not the case.
Further, who’s to say there won’t be other veteran quarterbacks who become available as teams reassess their rosters after the draft? What if Pittsburgh releases Mason Rudolph? Plus, there are still a few unsigned free agents “on the street,” such as Ryan Fitzpatrick, Mike Glennon and A.J. McCarron.
The point is, there will be competition in the event a market develops for a veteran quarterback. The Browns should not sit back and expect teams to line up for Mayfield. It’s not going to happen. He has unique issues.
Therefore, the Browns need to be proactive, creative and aggressive. They need to convince owner Jimmy Haslam to lift whatever restrictions he has imposed on a trade of Mayfield. They need to eat a huge chunk of his guaranteed $18.858 million salary to make Mayfield tradeable. I think $12 million would do it.
I sense the Browns now feel an urgency to get this done. They know time is running out.
Before the draft, GM Andrew Berry spoke of resolving the Mayfield quandary in “five, six, seven months.”
In his draft wrap-up on Saturday, Berry was asked for an update on Mayfield after trade talks with the Carolina Panthers fell apart because the Browns wouldn’t eat enough of his salary.
“It is a fluid situation,” Berry responded sullenly. “We will deal with it day by day.”
Five thoughts
1. I thought the Browns would draft one edge rusher to develop over time. Thus, Alex Wright in the third round was a good pick. But then they drafted a second, Oklahoma’s Isaiah Thomas in the seventh round. (By the way, Thomas, 23, is the oldest player Berry has selected in three drafts.) Coupled with the fact they also signed two veteran defensive ends, does this mean the Browns have given up hope of Jadeveon Clowney returning? I don’t think so. “We will continue to keep our thumb on the pulse of all of the veteran markets … we think highly of JD,” Berry said.
2. The selection of Cincinnati running back Jerome Ford, who has proven pass-catching ability, imperils the roster status of erstwhile mahi mahi fisherman D’Ernest Johnson. Berry’s tone on Johnson’s return changed slightly after he nabbed Ford in the fifth round. You had to listen closely because Berry tends to swallow his words when discussing anything semi-controversial. Johnson is not under contract. When I asked about what happens next, Berry said, ever so softly, “We still think very highly of D’Ernest. We would anticipate him being here moving forward, but we will see.”
3. The Browns drafted nine players. Instant guess on the number that will make the roster: six.
4. The highlight of the Browns’ draft was the fourth round to open the third day on Saturday. They started the day with three selections in the fourth round. They used the first on Oklahoma defensive tackle Perrion Winfrey – who would have been a legitimate candidate for their original pick in the second round, No. 44 overall. They traded the second fourth-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings to move down 38 notches into the fifth round, which they used on Ford, in addition to acquiring Minnesota’s fourth-round pick in 2023. Then they used their third fourth-round pick on LSU kicker Cade York, who just might be the most impactful rookie this season. The fourth round alone won the draft for the Browns.
5. Berry also acquired the Rams’ fifth-round pick in 2023 in a trade for nickel back Troy Hill, which was eased by the selection of cornerback Martin Emerson in the third round on Friday. So here’s the current scorecard of picks for Berry in 2023:
Round 1: Traded to Houston for Deshaun Watson.
Round 2: Own.
Round 3: Traded to Houston for Watson.
Round 3: Compensatory pick for losing Kwesi Adofo-Mensah to Minnesota.
Round 4: Own.
Round 4. Vikings pick.
Round 5: Own.
Round 5: Rams pick.
Round 6: Own.
Round 7: Own.
Did you hear?
The three new Browns taken in Round 3 on Friday night arrived in the media room shortly after the Browns traded Hill to the Rams, his former team.
Emerson had barely settled into his chair on the dais when he was asked for a reaction, and how the trade might open an opportunity for him to contribute early.
“I didn’t know that,” he said of the trade news. “But it doesn’t change anything for me. I’m going to compete, do whatever I can for the team.”
The Browns cited Emerson’s length, size and press-cover ability in making him the surprise first selection of their 2022 draft. He’d be an unusually tall (6-2) slot nickel back, if he were to train for that role.
“I practiced [nickel back] at State,” Emerson said. “A couples games I played the slot, but not really much.”
Ding dong Bell
Purdue receiver David Bell was dinged by a 4.65 40 time at the NFL Combine and a 4.71 at his pro day.
He slipped to 99th overall even though he was voted Big Ten receiver of the year ahead of Ohio State’s Garrett Wilson (taken 10th by the Jets), OSU’s Chris Olave (taken 11th by the Saints), and Penn State’s Jahan Dotson (taken 16th by the Commanders).
Still, Bell’s production on the field (93 receptions, 1,286 yards, 6 touchdowns) speaks to other qualities he brings.
“I think it definitely does, just the competitive nature that I have on the field playing in one of the best conferences in the league and for me to be named the best receiver in that conference,” Bell said. “The first round, you had Chris Olave, Jahan Dotson and Garrett Wilson go, so to be able to beat those guys out and to outperform them last season, it definitely is a huge accomplishment for me. It is something that I strived to do.”
