Baker Mayfield Has High Ankle Sprain & Will Miss Time

According to Ian Rapoport, Panthers QB Baker Mayfield has a high ankle sprain and is slated to miss some time. 

How much is yet to be determined, as the Panthers are still doing tests. A source told Adam Schefter the injury is expected to sideline Mayfield “at least a couple weeks.”

Backup QB P.J. Walker will be in line to start as long as Mayfield is out, with QB Sam Darnold still on injured reserve with his own high ankle sprain. 

Mayfield was stepped on sometime during the Week 5 loss to the 49ers and was in a walking boot after the game. Walker played in the fourth quarter in what former HC Matt Rhule characterized after the game as just “mop up duty.”

Mayfield, 27, was drafted with the No. 1 overall pick out of Oklahoma in 2018. He just finished the fourth year of a four-year, $32.68 million rookie deal that included a $21.85 million signing bonus. 

The Browns exercised Mayfield’s fifth-year option which would have cost Cleveland $18.858 million fully guaranteed in 2022. However, Cleveland traded Mayfield to Carolina in exchange for a conditional 2024 fourth-round draft pick. 

Cleveland agreed to cover $10.5 million of Mayfield’s salary with the Panthers paying out the rest. 

In 2022, Mayfield has appeared in five games for the Panthers and completed 54.9 percent of his passes for 962 yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions. He has also rushed for 40 yards and a touchdown.