Rewarding Mayfield

The hot topic surrounding the immediate future of the Browns has centered lately on when owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam will give a nod of approval to making Baker Mayfield an extremely filthy-rich quarterback.

They have already approved exercising Mayfield's fifth-year option. All that remains is negotiating the length of an extension and the money involved. They seem to be slow-playing the situation, though, centering on other members on the roster first.

Unless negotiations are being held in secret, this one figures to play out for a while, perhaps lingering  well after the regular season commences on Sept. 12.

Mayfield is playing his part nicely in this little scenario, declaring he is "not doing the negotiating, so quite frankly, I don't give a damn," he Rhett Butlered. Didn't know he was a Gone With the Wind fan. "I'm worried about winning. The rest will take care of itself."

He uttered those words the other day after the Buffalo Bills announced Josh Allen, their quarterback, was rewarded with six-year contract extension worth $258 million, of which $150 million is guaranteed. That's almost $10 million more guaranteed money Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes received in his 10-year, $450 (some say $503) million deal. 

The "rest" Mayfield spoke of was clearly a signal to the Haslams that opening the vault would be a wise move, whether now or in the future. If Allen, who was taken six picks after the Browns snagged Mayfield with the overall No. 1 pick in 2018, is so richly rewarded, no reason to think Mayfield will get short shrift.

Insane? Of course. The dough being thrown around is crazy.

Wouldn't be surprised if the Haslams sent Bills owners Terry and Kim Pegula a thank-you note, dripping with sarcasm, for putting a huge dent in their budget for the next half decade. The Pegulas have set the standard and probably angered numerous owners in doing so.

Allen is a nice quarterback with a strong arm and some success in the National Football League. The Pegulas are clearly gambling he can do in Buffalo what Jim Kelley did more than a generation ago when he led the Bills to four straight Super Bowls (and lost them all).

But he is no Mahomes, who has led the Chefs to the playoffs three straight seasons with a Super Bowl victory and loss on his resumé. One can understand why the Hunt family dipped into their vast resources with him. 

Allen's signing and the pending signing of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, who has turned  that franchise into one of the most dangerous in the NFL, has turned this into a race to see who is No, 2 after Mahomes.

Is Allen better than Mayfield? Jackson? Answer Left deliberately unanswered. That remains to be seen. All three are different. Allen is the gunslinger. Jackson is a running back playing quarterback. And Mayfield might be the best game manager of the trio. One is not that much better or worse than the other.

The ultimate winner, Mahomes notwithstanding, should be Mayfield if the Haslams play their cards right. All they need to do is wait until Jackson signs and then ink Mayfield for something like $100,000-$250,000 more than Allen or Jackson to make him No. 2 in this testosterone contest. 

It's hard to imagine someone eclipsing Mahomes' mega-deal because none of the candidates here are better than him or even as good as him. In fact, they are not worth the money with which they are being lavished. Unfortunately, that's life in the NFL these days. 

The Haslams have annually not come even close to exceeding salary caps because their rosters were never good enough to warrant paying excessively. For years, they almost always led the NFL in salary-cap space. Not anymore.

Now that the Browns have become good -- no, make that great -- and forced their owners to face a multitude of thorny contract negotiations with quality talent, the Haslams appear to be on the verge of moving into the NFL's elite neighborhood after all those years of misery.

They have come too far to mess this up. They will pay their franchise quarterback handsomely.