The Cleveland Browns will follow a familiar, tired script in late July when they open training camp in Berea.
Without a true starting quarterback on the roster, head coach Todd Monken has the unenviable task of choosing between:
- Veteran Deshaun Watson, who has only played in 19 games since joining the Browns in 2022, has twice suffered season-ending injuries in that time, and has not been consistently good since 2020.
- Second-year player Shedeur Sanders, who is coming off a rookie season that was statistically one of the worst the NFL has seen from a first-year quarterback in the past 25 years.
- Fellow second-year player Dillon Gabriel, who played as poorly as Sanders last season, or rookie Taylen Green, who might be in line for a “package of plays” but is nowhere near being ready to see the field as a starter.
For those who have been fans of the Browns for more than just the final seven games of the 2025 season, they know how this movie ends.
Cleveland has not made it through an entire season with just one starting quarterback since 2020, so whoever wins the starter’s job between
Watson and Sanders will not make it through the entire season either because of injury (most likely Watson) or continued poor play (both fit that category).
And ready or not, Green is practically a lock to start at least one game at the end of the season. As for Gabriel? He will most likely spend the fall in Atlanta, Miami, or somewhere else.
From there, the Browns can finally move on from Watson, keep Sanders as the most-popular backup quarterback the league has ever seen (or not), let Green continue as the developmental quarterback, and hope to strike it rich at the position in the 2027 NFL Draft.
But what if another option presents itself to general manager Andrew Berry? An option that is both familiar and would represent possibly the greatest comeback in franchise history?
We’re talking, of course, about Baker Mayfield.
The No. 1 overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft, Mayfield looked like the answer after leading the Browns to the playoffs in 2020 and getting off to a hot start in 2021 before a shoulder injury derailed the season in Week 2. Things spiraled from there as the Browns took the “big swing and a miss” on Watson in 2022 and subsequently traded Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers.
It took him a while to refind his mojo, but once Mayfield landed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023, he led the Buccaneers to the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, and only missed on making it three years in a row thanks to some late-game collapses by the defense down the stretch.
Mayfield is entering the final year of his contract with Tampa Bay, and the two sides are “not close” to reaching a new deal, as Mayfield said on Friday during an interview at his youth football camp:
“We love the community, we love being here, they’ve embraced us, and we enjoy being here and obviously gonna raise kids here. But yeah, contract stuff, it’s happening, it’s starting, the talks and whatnot, but not anywhere close to what we were thinking.
“So, we’d love to be here long-term, and as of right now, it’s not exactly the case. But as of now, I’m under contract for 2026, and the guys in that locker room, the staff know that I’m still gonna be me. I’m still gonna do everything that I can to help this team win the Super Bowl. To me, that’s the priority. Everything else will take care of itself. Obviously, yes, I would love to have a long-term deal, but they know my deadline is as soon as training camp starts, we’re not doing any contract stuff, it’s all ball. So, it’s not up to me when that gets done. So, hopefully before that. If not, we’re still gonna have a good year.”
So could Mayfield and the Browns have a reunion in 2027?
On Mayfield’s side, any beef he may have with head coach Kevin Stefanski resides in Atlanta now that Stefanski is head coach of the Falcons. And as long as Odell Beckham Jr. is nowhere to be seen in Cuyahoga County, everything should go well with the wide receivers.
But teams are starved for good quarterback play, so if Mayfield continues to play the way he has the past three years (an average of 4,079 passing yards, 32 touchdowns, and a 66.3 completion percentage), the Buccaneers will find a way to keep Mayfield in Tampa.
As for the Browns, they are not in a position to say “no” to any option when it comes to the quarterback position. And those numbers that Mayfield has put up in Tampa? They would put him at the top of Cleveland’s all-time single-season list.
Would it happen? Probably not, as Mayfield is unlikely to hit the open market. Could it happen? Until he signs a new contract and the Browns find an actual quarterback, every possibility is on the table.
If it did happen, and Mayfield actually took the Browns to the place where everyone believed they were heading after the 2020 playoff season? They would not be able to build a statue fast enough or print enough Return of the King T-shirts to meet the demand from a starving fan base that loses a little more patience every season.
So what do you say, Browns fans? If Mayfield were to be available in free agency next year, should the Browns welcome him back? Or has that ship truly sailed? Get the conversation going in the comments!
