PITTSBURGH — Longtime Cleveland Browns beat writer Mary Kay Cabot, a Pro Football Hall of Fame voter, caused quite a stir this week on Cleveland.com's "Orange and Brown Talk" podcast.
"I had somebody tell me the Steelers will pounce on Baker Mayfield if he becomes available — like if they cut him and he's just out there as a street free agent, they would take him in a minute," she said.
Cabot expounded on her remarks Wednesday on 93.7 The Fan's Morning Show.
"That's the way it was put to me by an NFL personnel executive: Watch for the Steelers to become interested in the event he would get cut loose," she said. "The problem with that is, the Browns really don't have any intentions of doing that at this point. They're trying to trade him, and if they don't get a taker, if I were the Cleveland Browns — I don't think they really want to do this — I would wait and hang on to Baker Mayfield until a quarterback gets injured at some point in OTAs or minicamp or training camp or even a little beyond that. Trade him to someone who desperately needs a starting quarterback."
Let's set aside the delicious but preposterous notion of a bitter Mayfield hanging around the Browns all summer (and making one last "At Home With Baker Mayfield" commercial) and focus on Cabot's actual words as they pertain to the Steelers.
From this vantage point, all she did was relay somebody's opinion. She did not issue a hard news report. People have opinions. Some thought there was no way the Steelers would continue their free-agent spending binge to include Myles Jack, but they did — and they might not be done.
So there is apparently a personnel executive who believes the Steelers will "pounce" on Mayfield if he's cut. OK. That's not an unreasonable thought. The Steelers are widely perceived as having the worst quarterback situation in the AFC North and one of the worst in the AFC. What's so crazy about believing they would entertain the idea and maybe even jump at the chance to sign a 26-year-old quarterback who went 11-5 two years ago with 26 touchdowns against eight interceptions and led the Browns to their first playoff win (you might remember it) since Moby Dick was a minnow?
Having said that, I don't happen to share the personnel executive's opinion. I don't believe the Steelers would pounce on Mayfield even if he sold for $9.99. I don't think they'd be interested.
But should they be?
That's a different question.
My first thought is that this team apparently is going to camp with Mitchell Trubisky, Mason Rudolph and Dwayne Haskins while their divisional opponents are going with Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson and Deshaun Watson. Who are the Steelers to turn their nose up at anybody?
I would consider signing Mayfield on the cheap, and only on the cheap, parting ways with Rudolph and staging an epic Trubisky-Mayfield camp battle — and this is coming from a card-carrying member of the Trubisky Fan Club.
Think of the scenarios.
Mayfield's social media-savvy (or not so savvy) wife could rip Trubisky and Steelers fans via Instagram. Trubisky could do an "At Home with Mitch Trubisky" ad from Heinz Field, in which a Baker lookalike plays his paper boy. The possibilities are endless.
Here's why I would ultimately stay away from Mayfield: He's not markedly better than Trubisky, if better at all, and if you're going to get Trubisky up to speed and make him your guy, he needs the requisite attention and practice reps from the start. He doesn't need a high-profile camp battle.
I believe Trubisky's best football is ahead of him, while Mayfield's might be behind him. Plus, Mayfield brings a drama quotient that far outweighs his accomplishments.
Their careers are comparable. Trubisky was drafted to a talented team that soon became depleted. Mayfield was drafted to a deficient team that quickly was replenished. Both spent nearly a full season dealing with an injury to their non-throwing shoulders.
Here is what we have through four seasons of each:
Trubisky: 29-21 record, 64 touchdowns, 37 interceptions, 64% completions, 87.0 rating.
Mayfield: 29-30, 92 touchdowns, 56 interceptions, 61.6% completions, 87.8 rating.
Trubisky is a far superior runner (1,057 yards, eight touchdowns, 5.3 yards per attempt to Mayfield's 571 yards, five touchdowns, 3.6 yards per attempt).
I also believe Trubisky must have benefitted from a year in a solid organization (Buffalo), learning behind Josh Allen, a quarterback who was developed expertly by Brian Daboll and Sean McDermott.
As he put it when he arrived here, Trubisky now knows what a healthy quarterback room looks like. I'm not sure the Steelers would have one with Mayfield in there.
But that hardly makes it a crazy thought.
