The Carolina Panthers acquired Baker Mayfield on Wednesday afternoon from the Cleveland Browns.
After a lot of back and forth, the move only cost a 2024 conditional draft pick. The real heavy lifting to get this done was figuring out the finances. Carolina will apparently pay $4.85 million of Mayfield’s salary, while Cleveland will chip in $10.5 million.
Beyond that, Mayfield reportedly agreed to convert what was left of the $18.8 million owed to him into incentives to facilitate this thing getting done.
After the deal became official pending a physical, an old comment from Carolina receiver Robby Anderson went viral.
Understandably, now that Mayfield is a Panther, many wondered if Anderson is heartbroken over the development.
Robby Anderson watching the Panthers trade for Baker pic.twitter.com/inetBM7XcR
— uSTADIUM (@uSTADIUM) July 6, 2022
Robby Anderson after seeing his QB is either Sam Darnold or Baker Mayfield pic.twitter.com/eH9clyP0oF
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) July 6, 2022
Robby Anderson right now pic.twitter.com/VAXO3czyJr
— Annie Agar (@AnnieAgar) July 6, 2022
Baker Mayfield and Robbie Anderson meeting for the first time. pic.twitter.com/KopKoV851O
— Shooter McGavin (@ShooterMcGavin_) July 6, 2022
Happy Retirement Robbie Anderson pic.twitter.com/I02vSGrU9Y
— 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙙•𝙯𝙚𝙠𝙚✭ (@6Blackhawks) July 6, 2022
Now, to be clear, Anderson did come out late Wednesday and try to clear the air in regards to his feelings on Mayfield:
I don’t have an issue with Baker stop tryna paint that narrative. pic.twitter.com/52GhVHget4
— Robbie Anderson (@chosen1ra) July 6, 2022
But folks, understandably, were not buying it. This tweet pretty much sums it up:
Robbie looking for the people pushing that narrative pic.twitter.com/6n1gnE4eLH
— LETRAP JAMES (@the_real_6god) July 6, 2022
Anderson wasn’t the only members of the Panthers organization to be skeptical of Mayfield at some point. Offensive coordinator Bob McAdoo also wasn’t his biggest fan.
“I didn’t see a lot of pro-style football in his college tape,” McAdoo said at one point, per the New York Post. “And if you’re short you have to be able to make up for it some way, somehow, and personality doesn’t do that. I didn’t think he was a great athlete. This guy is kinda like a pocket quarterback that is short and with small hands, that’s what I worry about.”
It goes without saying that Mayfield has a certain number of notable flaws. And yes, his ugly ordeal from a little while back with a woman seemingly leaking his personal DMs wasn’t a great look.
All that being said – he is still a talented quarterback. And he is objectively better than Sam Darnold at this juncture.
— Game 7 (@game7__) July 6, 2022
Considering the Panthers gave up virtually nothing in this swap, Anderson and his teammates should consider themselves fortunate.
Will Mayfield lead Carolina to a Super Bowl? Probably not. But is the team better with him than it was without him? Absolutely.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
