Baker Mayfield to the Detroit Lions narrative just won’t go away

Another national writer has tried to tie the Detroit Lions to a trade for Baker Mayfield.

Sometimes where there’s smoke there’s fire, and based on one notable tie the Detroit Lions are easy to consider as a possible trade suitor for Baker Mayfield. Former Browns general manager John Dorsey, who drafted Mayfield No. 1 overall to Cleveland in 2018, is now working for the Lions.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk started it. Alex Kay of Bleacher Report listed the Lions as a trade suitor for Mayfield. Albert Breer of SI/MMQB mentioned the Lions as a team who may be an option for Mayfield this week. In some respects, the Lions and Mayfield are a match. But the bottom line is Mayfield is not a better quarterback that Jared Goff, and he comes with a lack of maturity that was easy to see during his college career.

On Wednesday, Cody Benjamin of CBS Sports listed 14 NFL players who could be traded next, in this wildest of offseasons. Mayfield of course made the list, and so did Goff. They’re back-to-back even.

The Baker Mayfield to the Lions narrative just won’t go away

"Browns QB Baker MayfieldLike Garoppolo, Mayfield is a fine, if unspectacular, starter whose market is almost nonexistent right now, even though his current team would love to get him off the books. The bet here is that he’s eventually released, or dealt in a swap of picks on draft weekend."

"Lions QB Jared GoffSomehow, Goff has escaped much speculation as a potential offseason casualty, probably more because of his contract than the fact he was so-so for a bad Lions team in 2021. It’s very possible, even if Detroit drafts a new QB, he’ll stick as the placeholder. But the Lions could save anywhere from $16 million to $26 million by dealing him prior to the start of the season. Those kinds of savings might be worth it even if Baker Mayfield is the immediate successor."

Yes, according to Over The Cap, the Lions can trade Goff between now and the start of the season and clear $16.15 million (before June 1) or $26.15 million (after June 1) in cap space. And Mayfield’s $18.8 million fifth-year option for this year would fit fairly fine into that space. But the Browns aren’t taking Goff back in a trade, and without an injury it’s hard to find an obvious team who would make a deal with the Lions for him. The mention of Mayfield at the end feels like a strained effort to get his name into a thought about Goff possibly being traded.

As we’ve suggested here, the Lions (or anyone else) would be doing the Browns a great and unnecessary favor by making a deal for Mayfield. But the list of national writers trying to push the Mayfield-to-the-Lions trade narrative continues to grow, with nothing to go on except very loose speculation and the false idea he’s better than Goff.