![\"The](\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1936042554-e1705381175570.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=780\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Baker Mayfield led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a convincing 32-9 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, leaving many Cleveland Browns fans wondering, \u201cWhat if.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Browns\u00a0traded away Mayfield\u00a0in 2022 after acquiring\u00a0Deshaun Watson. The team was not convinced that the former No. 1 overall pick could be their quarterback of the future and went all in to acquire Watson. The Browns gave up a hefty haul of first-round draft picks and signed Watson \u2014 who was being investigated for multiple alleged instances of sexual misconduct \u2014 to an\u00a0unprecedented $230 million fully guaranteed deal.<\/p>\n
Now nearly 18 months later, Mayfield has more playoff wins than the Browns do since the deal went down. Watson has appeared in just 12 games with Cleveland due to a\u00a0combination of injuries\u00a0and a lengthy suspension.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo in the same Super Wild Card weekend, the Cleveland Browns: got eliminated by the team they traded their future to for Deshaun Watson (who didn\u2019t play and has been bad when he has); watched Baker Mayfield, who they tossed aside like trash after easily being the best QB in the franchise\u2019s history, and his Buccaneers absolutely dismantle the reigning NFC Super Bowl representatives en route to a playoff victory,\u201d\u00a0one fan wrote on X.<\/p>\n
Since Mayfield\u2019s departure, the Browns have started Watson,\u00a0Jacoby Brissett,\u00a0Dorian Thompson-Robinson,\u00a0PJ Walker,\u00a0Joe Flacco\u00a0and\u00a0Jeff Driskel.<\/p>\n
![\"Ex-Browns](\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/GettyImages-1936230992-e1705381205691.jpg?quality=65&strip=all&w=782\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nMayfield passed for 337 yards and three touchdowns in the win against the Eagles. The Browns relied on Flacco in their Wild Card matchup. Flacco had been a great fill-in for Cleveland but tossed a pair of pick-sixes in the 45-14 Wild Card loss to the Houston Texans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe Browns literally paid the Panthers $5 million to take Baker Mayfield off their hands. Sure as hell looks to me like we gave away a franchise QB,\u201d\u00a0another fan wrote. \u201cThe Watson deal looks even more ludicrous when you include Baker as a part of it. We traded a QB who has performed better this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayfield had his issues in Cleveland during an up-and-down tenure. But he still has\u00a0some fans in the locker room, including running back\u00a0Nick Chubb.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited for him. Baker, I came in here with Baker,\u201d\u00a0Chubb said at an August 22 press conference. \u201cHe\u2019s a great friend of mine. So, I\u2019m excited to see him go out there and do well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Browns selected Mayfield with the top pick in the 2018 draft. He broke the record for most touchdown passes by a rookie and was key in taking the team to the playoffs in 2020, where they won a game. But in 2021, a\u00a0shoulder injury\u00a0slowed him down and the team missed the postseason.<\/p>\n
Mayfield, 28, said he was \u201cconfused\u201d by how things\u00a0ended so suddenly\u00a0with the Browns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think towards the end there \u2014 and I played 2021 with a pretty much torn apart shoulder \u2014 I was excited to get the surgery, get healthy and get another shot to try and get back to that 2020 form,\u201d\u00a0Mayfield said\u00a0during an appearance on the\u00a0Pat McAfee Show\u00a0in October. \u201cBut that wasn\u2019t their plan. I\u2019m a firm believer everything happens for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mayfield was traded to the\u00a0Carolina Panthers, where things didn\u2019t go well. He ended up losing his starting gig and the Panthers\u00a0eventually let him go. However, Mayfield had a good run with the\u00a0Los Angeles Rams\u00a0at the end of 2022, which saved his career and gave him a chance to fight for a starting spot again. He landed with the Bucs and has revived his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something about being an underdog and having your backs against the wall. Knowing it\u2019s your team vs. everyone else,\u201d\u00a0Mayfield said\u00a0after beating the Eagles. \u201cI\u2019m comfortable in it but our team has embraced that all year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Browns will dig into their offseason plans this week while Baker Mayfield and the Bucs prepare to face the\u00a0Detroit Lions\u00a0in the divisional round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Baker Mayfield led the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a convincing 32-9 victory against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, leaving many Cleveland Browns fans wondering, \u201cWhat… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nfl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aweu.info\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}