If the Browns choose to keep Baker Mayfield, Mayfield may not have many options

With little, if any, viable trade possibilities, and with Braun You may need to start an entire season if Deshaun WatsonThe suspension may end up being held for much longer than anticipated, and Cleveland may actually continue Baker Mayfield.

Some insisted that Mayfield would never agree to this. Well, he has 18.8 million reasons to do so.

He is contracted. If he does not attend a mandatory mini camp or training camp, he will be fined. Under the fifth-year option rules, a pause that could cause pre-season games to be missed will result in a regular-season game check being forfeited (for Mayfield, that’s $1.04 million) for each missed pre-season game. So if he doesn’t turn up, he’s going to lose a lot of money.

Mayfield also needs to act. His salary is guaranteed for skill, injury and cover. If Mayfield engages in “personal conduct adversely affecting the reasonable judgment of the club . . . the club,” the Browns could cut him off for that reason and try not to pay him a penny, Like the crows did Goodbye Earl Thomas.

So if Mayfield wants to take $18.8 million, he should play alongside Brown, should they choose to keep him.

There is another important reason to do so. Other teams will be watching him closely. Even if he played this year and played well, teams wouldn’t be inclined to pay big money for a guy who could be a pain in the ass going forward.

And so, between protecting his 2022 paycheck and preparing himself for cash in 2023, Mayfield needs to keep up with Brown – if they really decide to keep him on the roster in training camp, pre-season and the regular season.