According to Ian Rapoport, the Panthers have finally worked out a trade for Browns QB Baker Mayfield.
The two sides have been in discussions for a potential deal for months and appear to have finally pushed it over the goal line.
Rapoport says a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick will go to Cleveland from Carolina. Mike Garafolo adds it can become a fourth-round pick based on playing time.
He also adds that the Browns will pay $10.5 million of Mayfield’s scheduled $18.898 million 2022 salary. The Panthers will pay about $5 million and Mayfield agreed to take a $3.5 million pay cut to push the deal over the line. However, he can earn that money back in the form of incentives.
The deal is pending a physical on Thursday before becoming officially official.
The former No. 1 pick in 2018, Mayfield will now be the odds-on favorite to be Carolina’s presumptive Week 1 starter when they face off against the Browns.
Mayfield, 26, 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 will cost Cleveland $18.858 million fully guaranteed in 2022.
In 2021, Mayfield appeared in 14 games and completed 60.5 percent of his passes for 3,010 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. He also rushed for 134 yards and a touchdown.
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