Shortly after arriving at Bank of America Monday morning to start another week of work, Baker Mayfield learned he had received the title, which most believed to be accomplished since July 6, when the Browns agreed to pay him for it to play for Carolina:
The Panthers quarterback.
Mayfield called to break the news to his wife, Emily, who was packing up their Cleveland home.
“So now I’m in the kennel for not helping her,” Mayfield said, smiling. “God bless you.”
The Mayfields didn’t move to Charlotte so Baker could be a backup. Matt Rhule didn’t bring him in after Sam Darnold as a clipboard carrier either.
But Rhule insisted on not simply handing the job over to Mayfield, who agreed to take a pay cut to leave Cleveland, where he had been replaced by Deshaun Watson. So the Panthers engaged in a four-week “open competition” focused on maintaining harmony in the locker rooms.
But anyone who had seen Rhule cycle through Teddy Bridgewater and then Darnold in his first two seasons could have predicted where this was going.
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