There’s no question the New Orleans Saints will be in the quarterback market next year. Jameis Winston has flamed out, they know who Andy Dalton is, and there aren’t any other realistic options on their roster — Taysom Hill’s days as a full-time quarterback are behind him. So you have to think there’s at least some passing interest when the Carolina Panthers waived Baker Mayfield on Monday.
As first reported by the Athletic’s Joe Person, Mayfield was granted his release after being demoted to the third-string unit this week, with the Panthers planning to start Sam Darnold and P.J. Walker tabbed as his backup. It’s been quite a fall from grace for the former No. 1 overall draft pick. He’s looking for a fresh start, but do the Saints make sense for him? Do they even have a shot at winning him from the waiver wire?
Let’s start with that first question. Beggars can’t be choosers, and the Saints are so weak at quarterback now and moving forwards that they can’t afford to blithely pass up on other options. Neither Carolina nor Mayfield’s old Cleveland Browns have been seen as offensive powerhouses in recent years while experiencing a lot of coaching turnover, but Mayfield’s hands are dirty there too. He hasn’t played well enough to elevate either franchise. Things could go differently for him in New Orleans’ established system, but odds are he is who he is after 69 games in the NFL (including the playoffs). It’s worth a shot to see if he offers more than Dalton and Winston. Just don’t bet the farm on him fixing every problem.
Now for the second question. Waiver wire priority this time of year is determined by winning percentage, and that’s at least a silver lining for the Saints after their 4-8 start to the season. They’re currently at No. 7, but they’ll be slotting in somewhere inside the top-11 with a win on Monday night against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and they move into the top-5 with a loss.
Either way, there aren’t many quarterback-needy teams ahead of them between Justin Fields’ Chicago Bears (at No. 2), Russell Wilson’s Denver Broncos (No. 3), and Trevor Lawrence’s Jacksonville Jaguars (No. 6). Maybe the directionless Houston Texans or Matthew Stafford-less Los Angeles Rams roll the dice. Everyone is looking at the San Francisco 49ers here after Jimmy Garoppolo’s season-ending foot injury, but they won’t have a shot until No. 24.
What about the salary cap? Any team claiming Mayfield off of waivers will be on the hook for less than $2 million in salary over the last stretch of the regular season (specifically $1,349,444), which is affordable even for a team at its limit like New Orleans (who are currently under the cap by roughly $2.4 million). They can fit his contract on the books if they want to.
We’ll find out if the Saints took action here soon, once the daily NFL transactions wire updates on Tuesday (at around 3 p.m. CT). Odds are some team will claim Mayfield, if nothing else off the confidence of their pre-draft evaluation coming out of Oklahoma. New Orleans lacks options, and this could be one path they choose to explore. It wouldn’t hurt anything.
