Report: Seahawks have looked into trade for QB Mayfield

By Bob Condotta / The Seattle Times

During the news conference in which they announced the trading of Russell Wilson, Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider said they believed they had a potential replacement in Drew Lock.

But they also said they’d “continue to explore options,” as Schneider put it.

And suddenly, Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield might be one of those.

The 2018 first overall pick told ESPN that he wants to be traded, stating: “It’s in the mutual interest of both sides for us to move on. The relationship is too far gone to mend.”

That request to be dealt came a day after the Browns visited with Houston quarterback Deshaun Watson. Reports early Thursday stated Watson had ruled out Cleveland and is likely to pick between the Saints and Falcons.

And shortly after Mayfield’s request to be traded, a report from Josina Anderson of USA Today said “the Seahawks have discussed” potentially acquiring Mayfield.

One problem: Several reports stated that the Browns told Mayfield they will not accommodate his trade request.

And obviously, if the Browns aren’t getting Watson, they don’t have any reason to deal Mayfield unless they really think the relationship is not fixable.

But as Seattle fans watching the Wilson saga over the last year know, anything can happen in the NFL.

Thursday’s news was preceded by a report Wednesday indicating Mayfield would be fine playing for the Seahawks. Per Aaron Wilson of The Pro Football Network “league sources predict Seahawks would be attractive option welcomed by Browns quarterback (Mayfield) in addition to Colts as Browns, Mayfield work through expected divorce.”

In fact, the Colts, who just traded Carson Wentz, have been thought to be Mayfield’s preferred destination. The Browns, though, might prefer to get him out of the AFC.

Also a question — how serous is Mayfield about wanting out?

He has one year left on his contract due to make a guaranteed $18.85 million in 2022, a hefty raise from the roughly $8 million he made per year his first four seasons.

But the reports of his trade request came two days after Mayfield tweeted a thank you to the city of Cleveland that came after it was reported the Browns were pursing Watson. And while it wasn’t exactly a goodbye note, it read that way to many.

Mayfield’s salary would be a pretty hefty chunk of change for the Seahawks to take on since they are already on the hook for $26 million in dead money on Wilson’s contract.

But the Browns could agree to pay some of it. And a team acquiring Mayfield could restructure that deal to bring down the cap hit if it came to that. That would also mean tying themselves to Mayfield into future years.

Also a question is what the trade value would be for a player with one year remaining on his contract and who has been polarizing in his four-year NFL career.

He looked like he might fulfill all that No.-1-pick-in-the-draft hype in 2020 when he had a 26-to-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio and helped lead the Browns to the divisional round of the playoffs.

After suffering an injury to his non-throwing shoulder in the second game of 2021, he regressed with a 17-to-13 TD-to-INT ratio and the Browns were just 6-8 in his 14 starts.

Carroll might like the fact that Mayfield has operated an offense that has been among the more run-heavy in the NFL and also has cut down interceptions the last two seasons — he has a 2.3% interception rate over his last 30 games, which is among the top 22 all-time.

On Wednesday, Carroll gave an interesting assessment of what he wants in a quarterback.

“We need a point guard,” Carroll said. “Need a guy that plays the game and moves the football around to the guys that are open. Does all of the things that manages the game so that we can play great football, because we are going to win with defense, we are going to win with how we play on special teams, we are going to run the football to help the whole thing fit together. That’s never changed, it’s never been the philosophy that we’ve needed to alter other than continue to grow and make it dynamic and present and current. That’s what we are looking for.

“We need to take care of the football, and if the guy can do that, if we can teach him to do that — Russell was famous for (that) — he did an extraordinary job throughout all his early years when he was learning the NFL and gaining his understanding, he was terrific at taking care of the ball and we’ll need a guy that can do that.

“Right now, Geno (Smith, a free agent the team wants to re-sign) knows our offense the best. If he comes back to us, he has an opportunity to run the whole thing. We saw him do it during the season. We’ve got to bring Drew along to see how far he can take it. The competition is on, and it isn’t different from when Matt Flynn and Russell Wilson went at it. Same kind of deal to me. We’ll set up a schedule and we’ll figure out all of the guys and we’re going to give Jake Eason a shot as well. We want to see where he fits into it. It was a three-man competition if you remember back then, and we’ll see how it goes. We’ve already been through this before so it’s exciting to format it and see how it turns out. We’ll see where it takes us.”