Seattle Seahawks Haven’t Ruled Out Acquiring Baker Mayfield Just Yet

The Seattle Seahawks might not be totally out of the Baker Mayfield sweepstakes simply but.

Following the discharge of undrafted free agent rookie quarterback Levi Lewis, the Seahawks at the moment are left with simply three quarterbacks on its roster — Geno Smith, Drew Lock and Jacob Eason.

Seattle’s goal coming into coaching camp was to all the time characteristic 4 quarterbacks on its roster, as head coach Pete Carroll said throughout league conferences again in March.

“We’re completely in that mentality that the fourth man could also be essential to us,” Carroll mentioned. “We’re undoubtedly nonetheless within the quarterback enterprise.”

With Lewis out of the equation, the opportunity of the Seahawks including a veteran quarterback is again on the desk.

In line with a report from The Athletic’s Jeff Howe, the Seahawks — together with the Carolina Panthers — are nonetheless concerned in commerce discussions for Mayfield.

“The Panthers and Seahawks nonetheless haven’t dominated out buying Mayfield, however they’ll want the Browns to tackle a a lot larger portion of his contract than they’ve provided to date,” mentioned Howe. “It’s unclear how far aside the perimeters have been, however the Browns need their contractual consumption to be commensurate with the asset they obtain in return.”

It’s clear that the Seahawks nonetheless have an curiosity in buying the 27-year-old quarterback, who is only one yr faraway from main the Cleveland Browns to their first playoff victory in 26 years.

The 2 sides stay in a “holding sample” as Howe describes it. That is partially because of the Browns’ unwillingness to eat a larger portion of Mayfield’s cap hit of $18.9 million mixed with the Seahawks’ perception that Cleveland is keen to commerce their former franchise quarterback because of the acquisition of Deshaun Watson.

After the Seahawks declined to draft a single quarterback in the course of the 2022 NFL draft, Carroll harassed that Seattle was pleased with its present quarterback scenario — whereas ensuring to go away the door open on a doable extra acquisition.

“I take a look at all the things that’s doable,” mentioned Carroll. “Proper now, I’m actually enthusiastic about seeing these guys for the primary time and we’ll see what occurs within the time to come back. We’re all the time competing, we’re all the time wanting.”

“Nothing’s going to vary that fast,” he mentioned in regards to the Seahawks’ QB scenario. “We’re actually pleased with the fellows we’ve received, to see them battle and we’ll see what occurs. “You by no means know what’s occurring down the highway. We’re all the time wanting.”

Two issues are very clear primarily based upon how the Seahawks have approached this offseason with their present quarterback scenario.

For one — in a worst-case state of affairs — Seattle is completely content material with coming into the season with both holdover Smith or newcomer Lock as its beginning quarterback for 2022. That may seemingly imply a rebuilding yr that immediately result in the Seahawks drafting its future franchise QB in the course of the 2023 NFL draft, when prospects akin to Bryce Younger and C.J. Stroud shall be within the combine.

Secondly, as Carroll famous, the Seahawks are nonetheless open to including one other quarterback. Primarily based upon Howe’s report, it’s clear Seattle is at the least mildly excited about including Mayfield. Nevertheless, as CBS Sports activities’ Josina Anderson reported previous to the draft in April, the Seahawks aren’t wild over the concept of including Mayfield.

With Mayfield nonetheless recovering from his surgically repaired left shoulder, it has led to each the Seahawks and Panthers being in no rush to make a deal for the previous No. 1 total decide.

Whether or not or not a deal for Mayfield will get executed will come down as to if or not the Browns are prepared to budge on consuming a fantastic portion of Mayfield’s wage. As famous by Howe, the minimal wage of a fifth-year participant akin to Mayfield is $1.035 million. That may be the quantity that any NFL group may signal Mayfield for if he have been to be launched.

With that being mentioned, it’s unlikely Cleveland unloads Mayfield simply to clear up a roster spot. The concept additionally turns into worse contemplating the Pittsburgh Steelers — the Browns’ division rival — lurks as a doable vacation spot for the embattled quarterback.

It’s apparent the Seahawks are content material with coming into a rebuilding scenario for the 2022 season with the intention to arrange properly for the 2023 NFL draft.

One other query is, are the Panthers as equally content material coming into one other rebuilding yr following two consecutive five-win campaigns by head coach Matt Rhule? Moreover, have they got sufficient confidence in third-round decide Matt Corral to ultimately take over the beginning job?

One may very effectively argue that the Panthers are extra keen to accumulate Mayfield than the Seahawks are. Whereas the Seahawks are actually welcome to the concept of buying and selling for Mayfield, it has to come back on the absolute proper worth.

If Carolina does find yourself because the extra keen group to accumulate Mayfield, the Seahawks will seemingly cross on the concept of buying and selling for the previous franchise quarterback.

Nevertheless, the opportunity of Mayfield ending up because the Seahawks’ beginning quarterback for the 2022 season continues to be very sensible.

We’ll see which one among these groups concerned with Mayfield finally ends up budging first.