Browns reportedly 'highly motivated' to trade Baker Mayfield 'before or around draft time'

The Cleveland Browns continue to have a problem worth $18.858 million of fully guaranteed salary for the 2022 NFL season attached to their roster following their acquisition of star quarterback Deshaun Watson last month. 2018 first overall draft pick Baker Mayfield is still on the depth chart, and there is currently zero indication any team will offer Cleveland anything of note for the 27-year-old before the draft gets underway this coming Thursday night. 

According to Erin Walsh of Bleacher Report, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler explained during a Friday appearance on "SportsCenter" the Browns want to jettison Mayfield sooner rather than later. 

"The Browns are highly motivated to get this done, preferably before or around draft time," Fowler said. "They've got six days to create that urgency; they want that $19 million guaranteed money off their salary-cap books. The best way to do that is to trade him. If they cut him, they still have to eat a lot or all of that money. Teams know that, so they're sort of waiting in the weeds here. There just really hasn't been a strong market."

Perhaps the biggest problem for Cleveland less than a full week before the draft opens is that teams previously linked with Mayfield — the Seattle Seahawks, Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers and even the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, among others — know he's surplus to requirements in Northeast Ohio and, thus, don't have to be in any rush to land his services. Every day Mayfield is with the Browns makes it more likely he'll be cut, especially since they have veteran journeyman Jacoby Brissett ready to start if Watson is suspended regarding the many allegations of sexual misconduct that have hovered over his status since last year. 

The truth remains Cleveland may have to package Mayfield with a draft pick to get him off the books this spring or summer.