In the early hours of yesterday morning, Cleveland Brown spent three first-round picks to get quarterback Deshaun Watson from the Texans in Houston, but before that, their quarterback Baker Mayfield made a trade request to Brown, and it is worth noting that Brown was clearly at the bottom of the competition for Watson at the time.
"It's in our mutual interest to trade," Mayfield told ESPN reporters, "and there's no way to fix our relationship."
It was Mayfield's words that spurred Brown to finally come up with a $230 million fully guaranteed contract that prompted Watson to abandon the non-tradable clause. It is reported that after Brown's first round of bidding failed, they wanted to continue to work with Mayfield.
The Ponies are now interested in Mayfield, and after selling Carson-Wintz to commander, they are looking for a quarterback who can play the starting role.
Mayfield and his team only learned about Brown and Watson's contact through social media, which may be the reason for his chills about the team. Mayfield also posted a long post on social media that was almost equivalent to a farewell letter.
In fact, Mayfield's performance in Brown can not be said to be bad, the first three years of his career played under four managers, but even so, he still led Brown to the first playoff win in the history of the team in 26 years.
Last season, Mayfield suffered a shoulder injury the following week, played with injuries throughout the season, and missed the playoffs with only 8 wins and 9 losses, and Mayfield's own rating page fell to 27th in the league.
Since Brown previously activated Mayfield's rookie fifth-year contract, he will receive $19 million in 2022. In the case of Watson, it is estimated that Brown will not get much from Mayfield, and they will let go of a second-round or third-round pick.
(Text/Geng Haoyang)