The Browns have Deshaun Watson.
The Browns have Jacoby Brissett.
And the Browns have Baker Mayfield.
At least for now, it seems like that’s the way it’s going to stay. And the Browns say they’re OK with that.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski said on Monday that Cleveland would like some closure to its situation with Mayfield at some point. But on Tuesday, General Manager Andrew Berry told reporters at the annual league meeting that the Browns aren’t in a rush to offload the 2018 No. 1 overall pick.
“I wouldn’t say we have a specific timetable for the QB room,” Berry said, via Zac Jackson of TheAthletic.com. “Baker is a professional, he’s under contract, and we have the [cap] flexibility whether he’s on the roster or not. So we don’t really feel pressed to rush into anything that’s suboptimal.”
Cleveland is reportedly not looking for a first-round draft pick in exchange for Mayfield — which makes sense, because there’s little to no chance the club would receive one. Berry was asked about the Browns potentially paying some of Mayfield’s $18.8 million guaranteed salary or surrendering a draft pick as part of a deal for the QB. But Berry said he didn’t want to get into that kind of speculation.
“The reality of it is, quarterbacks are valuable,” Berry said. “Baker’s a good player and you can’t have enough good players on your roster. We’ve already planned to make it work and we’ll just see how the next few weeks ago, the next few months go.”
Eventually, the Browns will find a solution with Mayfield. Given all that transpired in the 2021 season and now the 2022 offseason, it doesn’t seem viable for him to remain on the roster with Watson and Brissett. But the Browns aren’t changing their public stance, even as the offseason demand for quarterbacks has come to a halt with the draft a month away.
“I think as we look at the QB room, we have three good players at the most important position in sports,” Berry said. “That’s not to say that there aren’t things that we’re going to work through over the course of the next several months, but I don’t view it as a bad situation at all. We feel like we have three good ones and a lot of teams are looking for one guy, so you don’t mind being deep there and we’ll take it as it goes.”