The Cleveland Browns have been the talk of the NFL world following their decision to trade for star quarterback Deshaun Watson in the biggest blockbuster trade of the offseason.
This trade served as a domino effect for the rest of the league, with many other teams making moves to shore up their quarterback situation heading into 2022. The Indianapolis Colts traded for Matt Ryan, the New Orleans Saints re-signed Jameis Winston, and the Atlanta Falcons signed free agent quarterback Marcus Mariota.
This has left Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield in a precarious situation, with fewer and fewer destinations to be traded to this offseason if he wants to be a starting quarterback.
With all of the uncertainty surrounding Mayfield, ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky tweeted out a possible destination that certainly confused a lot of NFL folks.
“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers should trade for Baker Mayfield,” Orlovsky tweeted on Tuesday.
This tweet was met with some harsh reactions by the NFL world, to say the least…
https://t.co/aQxFUXX6kw pic.twitter.com/ERqeYhrdsX
— JC Allen (@JCAllenNFL) March 22, 2022
— Will Blackmon (@WillBlackmon) March 22, 2022
While the tweet was mostly met with criticism, there are some out there that think that Orlovsky’s idea is actually a good one.
I mentioned that to @ShelbyHarris93 on this week’s episode of @ShelShockedPod which we taped earlier this morning. And I texted @HiMyNameIsSeton the same thing during the show today as well!#GreatMinds https://t.co/5DfsdFDTgb
— Brandon Krisztal (@BKDenverSports) March 22, 2022
While, on the surface, this does sound insane considering that Tom Brady is officially back with the team, Brady could seemingly decide that he wants to retire at any time. It could be plausible that Mayfield would do something like Jameis Winston did in 2020 with the New Orleans Saints, where he used the season to learn under Drew Brees.
It remains to be seen if Mayfield would want to suck up his pride to be a backup for a season like Winston did, but realistically he may not have a choice with so few starting quarterback positions available at this point.