Former 1st Overall Pick Traded to Carolina

CLEVELAND- The Browns have traded their former starting quarterback who won them their first playoff game in 26 years.

According to the Cleveland Browns front office Wednesday, Baker Mayfield has been traded to the Carolina Panthers from the Cleveland Browns for a conditional 2024 5th-round draft pick pending a physical.

Mayfield was the first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns. Mayfield was born in Austin, Texas and played high school football with Lake Travis.

Mayfield walked on at Texas Tech and became the first walk-on true freshman to start a season opener at quarterback. His time at Tech would be short lived as he walked on at Oklahoma and won an open quarterback competition against Trevor Knight.

Mayfield started 48 games for the Sooners winning 39 of those games and was the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner.

Once drafted, Mayfield did not start right away for the Browns but in Week 3 against the Jets, Mayfield took over for an injured Tyrod Taylor down 14-0. With Mayfield in the game, the Browns came back to win the game 21-17, ending the Browns 19 game winless streak at home. The Browns went 7-8-1 that season but it was their best finish since 2007.

On January 10, 2021, the Browns were in a Wild Card game against their division rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Browns jumped out to a 28-0 first quarter start and won the game 48-37.

The next game against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Browns would lose 22-17 on a gutsy 5-yard pass on 4thdown by the Chiefs. Mayfield went 204-1-1 for a rating on 74.6.

Now the Browns have moved on from Mayfield in favor of former Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. Watson has been in the media for all the wrong reasons as the signal-caller has 24 civil lawsuits for sexual and inappropriate behavior with massage therapists. Watson did have a disciplinary hearing last week to determine if he would be suspended.

The Panthers are getting a former number 1 pick for a late-round conditional pick. Mayfield has won in the NFL and will have an All-Pro running back in Christian McCaffrey running the ball and catching it out of the backfield. He will also have DJ Moore, Robby Anderson, and Terrace Marshall Jr., and a familiar face in former Brown Rashard Higgins out wide.