Will Browns wait another year to extend Baker Mayfield?
Getty Images  The Browns say theyre sold on quarterback Baker Mayfield. That doesnt necessarily mean theyre ready to pay his price. Of the three best quarterbacks from the five-man first-round class of 2018 (Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Mayfield), one has not yet played at the same level as the other two. Jackson won the league MVP award in 2019. Last year, Allen made a jump to MVP-caliber play. Mayfield showed steady growth in 2020 after a disappointing 2019 season, but he has yet to put together a wire-to-wire MVP-style season. The question (one that people in the league are openly asking) becomes whether thats enough to give Mayfield a massive, market-value-or-close-to-it contract now. In May, Browns G.M. Andrew Berry declined to characterize the contracts given by the Rams and Eagles to Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, respectively, after three seasons in the NFL as cautionary tales. While Wentzs regression in the second year after signing his second contract potentially falls into the sh-t happens folder, the Rams clearly shouldnt have paid Goff what they paid him when they paid him  and the extra first-round pick they tucked into the Matthew Stafford trade to get the Lions to assume the Goff deal confirms it. Our position on quarterback second contracts remains simple. If the team knows hes the long-term answer at the position, pay him as soon as he becomes eligible for that deal or, if that realization comes after the final game of the players third regular season (thats when he becomes eligible for a second deal), the moment the light bulb flickers on. For the Browns, thats the real question. Thats not for me, you, or anyone else not employed by the Browns to answer. Only the Browns (and/or any homeless guys from whom owner Jimmy Haslam still takes advice) know whether Mayfield is the guy, or whether maybe theres another guy with whom the Browns would do more. In making that assessment, one key ingredient becomes critical: What Mayfield wants. Mayfield lacks no confidence. Thats critical to succeeding in the NFL. His extreme confidence could cause him to want more from the Browns than theyre willing to pay, however. That could result in the Browns waiting another year. Theres risk to both sides in waiting. If Mayfield becomes an MVP candidate this year, the price goes way up next year. If Mayfield regresses this year, the price goes down or, if it doesnt, the Browns may start looking at their alternatives. With so many great young quarterbacks constantly emerging from college football, teams no longer must cling to a quarterback who has yet to become a clear top-10 guy. And (as the Rams and Eagles learned) paying a not-top-10 guy like a top-10 guy leads nowhere good.