Inside Baker Mayfield's split with the Cleveland Browns

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The original story was published on May 5 and has been updated after the news of the trade between the Cleveland and Carolina teams.

Baker Mayfield was still a member of the Cleveland Browns even though he was taken in the first round of the National Football League draft.

According to multiple sources, the ClevelandBrowns couldn't swing a trade with the CarolinaPanthers. During the second round, sources said Carolina wanted Cleveland to pay a large portion of Mayfield's guaranteed salary. Carolina traded up into the third round to get Matt Corral, who was drafted by Ole Miss.

According to a source, the trade talks resumed this off-season and the deal was made on wednesday. The Carolinas will pay more than the Cleveland will pay. A physical is needed to sign the deal.

The city of Cleveland has been looking for a franchise quarterback since the 1980s, and in the last year has gotten a new one in the form of Baker Mayfield. His standing with the front office and locker room declined after he led the team to a playoff victory. The team's struggles on the field, a messy split with receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and a perceived slight from the Cleveland front office all contributed to the end of his time.

The Browns traded for a player. There have been 25 lawsuits filed against him since March 16. When the judge ruled her petition had to be amended, one of the 25 was dropped. Twenty of the civil suits have been settled. The four who are left will be tried after the next season. The league has been pushing for a suspension of at least a year after two grand juries in Texas declined to indict him. After three days last week, the hearing before Sue L. Robinson concluded. Robinson doesn't have a timetable for making his decision. He said he had planned to fight the lawsuits before most of them were settled.

In last season's opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, he looked like the passer who had finished the 2020 season ranked 10 in QBR. The first three possessions of the game were scored by the Browns with two of them ending in touchdown.

He had a torn labrum in his left shoulder in Week 2.

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He wasn't the same after that.

In his first two games of the season, he completed 82% of his passes. The completion rate fell to the second worst in the league while he was wearing a harness.

His QBR dropped to 27th, the biggest drop of any passer from the 2020 season.

Through his marketing agent, he didn't want to talk about his departure from Cleveland. He said the shoulder injury affected him mentally and physically.

"When it started affecting my play and going downhill, I was like, 'Oh s---,'" he said. I lost my self-confidence when that happened. The past year was difficult.

The season would get worse following the 15-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Behind the scenes, his future in Cleveland became tenuous as the Browns began looking for a replacement.

On the eve of the trade deadline, Beckham's father posted a video on social media showing how much he disliked how the quarterback threw Beckham's way or missed him. Beckham's father trashed the player in the comments.

According to multiple sources, OBJ didn't call or text his teammate, even though they had played video games together and had vacationed in Big Sky, Montana.

The Los Angeles Rams were able to sign Beckham after he was released by the Cleveland Indians.

Beckham, a former star with the New York Giants before joining Cleveland in a blockbuster trade, became one of the most popular players in the locker room.

Beckham took Sheehy- Guiseppi under his wing during his first training camp. Beckham gave Sheehy-Guiseppi his cleats so he could return a punt 86 yards for a touchdown. He wrote a message about Beckham on social media after he was cut.

Beckham had a custom from New York where he sat with different groups of players at each meal.

Beckham said that you have to know who you are fighting with. We are the ones who are out there when the whistle blows. You'll never forget these guys.

The practice facility was limited over the next two seasons because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Beckham would invite his teammates over to his house to take whatever they wanted from his large closet.

Multiple players were lobbying to keep OBJ on the team after Beckham's father ripped the team.

John Johnson III said that most of the locker room would love to have him. "Get out of here"

One source said that Beckhampoisoned the well by leaving Cleveland.

When Beckham wouldn't be coming back, another starter was asked if he had seen the video that Beckham's father had posted. The player asked why he would watch the video, according to a source familiar with the remark. In practice, I see it.

At the time of Beckham's release, Cleveland was already looking into the player who didn't play in 2021. Andrew Berry was the general manager at the time.

"It was through this five-month odyssey, and information that we were able to amass and the reference work, and obviously working through due process and the legal process, that got us comfortable pursuing the trade for Deshaun."

Mayfield continued to struggle as the team began to consider other options.

On Christmas Day, after coming back from the reserve/COVID-19 list, he threw four picks in a loss to Green Bay that hurt Cleveland's playoff hopes. Johnson, who was back in Cleveland on the reserve/COVID-19 list, immediately wrote, "RUN THE DAMN BALL."

The Browns had a chance to win late in the fourth quarter despite the turnovers. The loss was sealed by another pick off. The Indians would be out of the playoffs before they played another game.

He said that he hurt the team. It was just misses. There isn't an excuse.

Even though the two had excelled the year before during Cleveland's unexpected playoff run, they had begun to lose faith in each other.

It got worse during a Monday Night Football game in Pittsburgh. He was sacked nine times in what was likely to be his last start. He called out the plan.

It's not going to be good for us if we don't give James Hudson a lot of help because we have T.J. Watt over there.

The Browns kept him in to the final offensive play as he labored through a lackluster performance.

According to multiple sources, those close to Mayfield wondered if the Browns were trying to make him look as hapless as possible in prime time, to possibly pave the way for the franchise to more easily explain why he was hurt.

A spokesman for the Browns wouldn't comment on those suspicions.

After the Pittsburgh loss, he told reporters that he was going to talk to his family and agent about whether he would play against Cincinnati.

He said that he was an extremely competitive person. It's time for me to look at what's best for me and my health.

He played for four different head coaches in his first three years in the league. Even though the team picked up the fifth-year option on Mayfield's contract, they didn't engage his camp on extension talks last year. The team didn't know if he was their long-term answer at quarterback. Berry has not commented on the contract status of the player.

The Browns were prepared to move forward with the young man.

Berry said in January that they expected Baker to be the starter.

The turmoil of 2021, however, didn't deter Mayfield from recommiting to the team.

Sources said his exit interview was productive and that his rehabilitation was ahead of schedule. On March 12th, after Cleveland traded for Cooper, Mayfield reached out to him to plan a throwing session.