The Panthers will pay $4.85 million of Mayfield’s salary while the Browns will pay $10.5 million, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Mayfield agreed to waive the remainder of his $18.8 million salary to facilitate the deal, which is pending a physical, the source said. The Browns will receive a fourth- or fifth-round pick in 2024, depending on Mayfield’s playing time in Carolina. The news was first reported by NFL Network. Mayfield, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft, joins a Panthers team that already has Sam Darnold, the No. 3 overall pick in 2018, on the quarterback depth chart. The Panthers also selected Matt Corral in the third round of this year’s draft. Now Mayfield and Darnold, who battled each other to become the No. 1 pick in 2018, will once again battle it out in training camp for the right to be the Panthers’ starter this season.
The Mayfield trade comes on the heels of Cleveland’s blockbuster deal with the Houston Texans that acquired quarterback Deshaun Watson. The Browns gave Watson a new five-year contract worth $230 million fully guaranteed, the richest contract in NFL history by $80 million. Cleveland also surrendered three first-round picks in the deal, the first team to do so for a single player since the Minnesota Vikings traded three first-rounders to the Dallas Cowboys for Herschel Walker in 1989. With Mayfield gone, the Browns now have Watson as their starter along with Jacoby Brissett and Josh Dobbs at quarterback. Watson, however, may not be available to the Browns at all this season. He has been accused in civil lawsuits by 25 women of acts ranging from sexual assault to inappropriate behavior during massage sessions. His hearing before NFL and NFL Players Association joint disciplinary officer Sue L. Robinson ended after three days last Thursday. The NFL is pushing for at least a one-year suspension, according to Graziano, who said both sides have been involved in multiple attempts to reach a settlement while the hearing was still underway, but have been unable to agree. There is no timetable for Robinson’s decision. If Watson is ruled out, the Browns are expected to start Brissett at quarterback. The Watson trade effectively ended the Mayfield era in Cleveland. The Browns drafted the former Heisman Trophy winner No. 1 in 2018 and he made his Week 3 debut that season off the bench and led the Browns to their first win in 635 days. He finished second in NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year voting while breaking the NFL rookie record with 27 touchdowns. That record was later broken in 2020 by Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers, who finished with 31 touchdown passes. Mayfield’s overall tenure, however, was marred by inconsistency, drama and a left shoulder injury that plagued him throughout the 2021 season. And during his four years in Cleveland, Mayfield, according to multiple sources, had grown increasingly disillusioned with a franchise that had made him the fourth quarterback in NFL history to play for four different coaches in his first three seasons. Even after Mayfield led the Browns to their first playoff win in 26 years during the 2020 season, the team refused to engage Mayfield’s camp about a possible contract extension once he becomes eligible for a, a sign to Mayfield that he might not be in the team’s big season. -term plans. Mayfield then suffered a torn labrum in his left non-throwing shoulder in Week 2. Rather than sit out or undergo season-ending surgery, Mayfield played through the injury and competed for much of the season. A season after finishing in the top 10 in QBR in 2020, he fell all the way to 27th in 2021, the biggest drop in QBR (-30.4) of any passer in the league, according to ESPN Stats & Information. However, over the past two months, both Browns coach Kevin Stefanski and general manager Andrew Berry have repeatedly confirmed publicly that Mayfield will remain their quarterback. At the combine in February, Berry told Mayfield’s agent that the Browns might pursue an elite-level quarterback like Russell Wilson or Aaron Rodgers, according to a source familiar with the discussion. Mayfield’s camp also knew the short list could eventually include Watson, even with 22 civil cases pending for misconduct and sexual assault during massage sessions. On March 12, when a Texas grand jury declined to bring criminal charges against Watson, the Browns made their move, securing a meeting with Watson in Houston. Multiple sources told ESPN that Mayfield was angry that the Browns did not directly inform him that they would be meeting with Watson. Instead, he found out about it through social media. Mayfield responded with a statement that night thanking the city of Cleveland and its fans “for really embracing who I am,” while Browns officials were returning from Houston. But the turning point for Mayfield with the Browns came the next day. On March 16, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that a Browns source told him the team wanted to replace Mayfield with “an adult at that position.” Mayfield requested a trade the next day. The Browns initially told him they “were not honoring his request.” But after Cleveland landed Watson, that made Mayfield expendable. As a result, Mayfield becomes just the third quarterback in NFL history to be drafted No. 1 and spend four or fewer seasons with the team that drafted him, according to ESPN Stats & Information, joining JaMarcus Russell (Raiders ) and Jeff. George (Colts).
