Jul 8, 2022 5 min read

Try as they might, the Cleveland Browns just couldn’t drum up any interest in a trade for Baker Mayfield.

So, they finally had to take whatever they could get this week from the Carolina Panthers, the only team to show any real interest in acquiring the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft.

What they got was a conditional fifth-round pick in 2024, with Cleveland picking up $10.5 million of Mayfield’s salary.

What the world gets is the relief of no longer being bombarded with Mayfield on their televisions in those ridiculous insurance commercials that made the quarterback more recognizable than anything he ever did on the football field.

• With Mayfield now on their roster, the Panthers have two of the top three picks from the 2018 draft. Mayfield went first overall and Sam Darnold was the third pick in that draft.

Josh Rosen, the 10th pick that year by the Cardinals, has already gone through five teams and is currently a free agent.

It just shows what a crapshoot taking a quarterback in the first round can be. Two of the five quarterbacks selected in that draft – Josh Allen by the Bills and Lamar Jackson by the Ravens – have been hits. But both went to well-established teams. Remember, the Bills traded up to acquire Allen seventh, while Jackson went 32nd after Baltimore traded for a second first-round pick.

Where a quarterback lands in the draft means as much if not more than the pick with which he was taken.

• The NFL knew what it was doing when it put together Week 1 of the league’s schedule.

Browns at Panthers at 1 p.m.

Shouldn’t be too many fireworks for that one, right?

• Just how volatile has the quarterback position been in recent drafts?

From 2015 through 2019, there were 16 quarterbacks selected in the first round. Of those, only five are still with the team that selected them. Those guys are Jackson, Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Daniel Jones and Kyler Murray.

And Jones might be on his last stand in New York with the Giants.

That’s why the Steelers are going to be willing to take their time with Kenny Pickett. Many of those young quarterbacks were forced to start too soon, ruining any chance they had for success.

Among those was current Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky in Chicago.

• New Steelers linebackers/senior defensive assistant Brian Flores has been given a lot of credit for “solving” Jackson with his blitz-heavy scheme against the Ravens quarterback last season. But really, it was the Steelers who came up with the blueprint for solving Jackson.

They’ve always been blitz-heavy against him. Flores just did it last year with smaller bodies – safeties and cornerbacks – as opposed to linebackers. But the Steelers have used a three-outside-linebacker defensive scheme against Jackson with success the past two seasons.

In five career games against the Steelers, Jackson has a 67.4 passer rating, his lowest against any team. He’s thrown six interceptions and been sacked 16 times with only four touchdown passes. Still, Jackson couldn’t have been happy to see Flores join the Steelers’ coaching staff as linebackers coach.

• There was a social media post this week that the Steelers’ 8-2-1 record in one-score games last season was fluky and that they’re due for a major regression. But the Steelers have had at least a .500 record in one-score games in every season since 2014. They went 2-5 in one-possession games in 2013.

Knowing how to win close games is an art form. And some teams know how to do it, while others do not.

There’s also this, in his career as a starter, Trubisky is 16-11 in games decided by seven points or less. So, he’s been pretty good in that respect, as well.

Remember, the Steelers went 6-5 in 2019 in one-score games with Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges at quarterback. Here’s guessing they’ll be OK this year in that regard.

• Expect the speculation that this or that team will be interested in acquiring Bryan Reynolds from the Pirates as the trade deadline approaches in Major League Baseball.

But don’t get too worked up over it all.

Of course teams will be interested in acquiring Reynolds, who has overcome a slow start to lift his batting average above .250. He’s got a good glove, power and would be a welcome addition to most outfields.

But the Pirates aren’t going to give Reynolds away. Not with a couple of more years of control over his contract.

They would be silly to not at least listen to offers, though. Just because you listen, however, doesn’t mean you have to make a trade.

It has to be the right deal. And it would have to be for something well above the market price.