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Baker Mayfield’s career in Carolina didn’t even last until the end of the year as the former #1 overall NFL draft pick is being released by the Panthers. As a result, Mayfield will hit waivers and can be claimed by any team before he becomes a free agent.
Sources: The #Panthers are expected to release QB Baker Mayfield. He'll hit waivers when it's finalized later today.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) December 5, 2022
During the 2022 regular season, Mayfield — who was taken with the #1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft out of the University of Oklahoma — completed 57% of his passes for 1,313 yards, six touchdowns, and six interceptions.
Mayfield, who was drafted by the Browns, was shipped out of Cleveland after the franchise traded for embattled and controversial signal-caller Deshaun Watson, who coincidentally made his first start in close to two years over the weekend. Given the season-ending injury to quarterback Jimmy Garroppolo on Sunday, some NFL fans think Mayfield might pop up in San Francisco, who are facing a dire situation as their only healthy signal-caller is third-stringer Brock Purdy.
The Mayfield experiment in Carolina will undoubtedly be deemed a failure, as the team was not only the first in the league to fire their head coach this season, but they also desperately turned to both PJ Walker and Sam Darnold in order to get Baker off the field. Given how it ended for him in both Cleveland and Carolina, it’s hard to imagine that Mayfield serves as anything other than a career backup from here on out.
To close out the somewhat disastrous 2022 season, the Baker Mayfield-less Carolina Panthers will take on the Seattle Seahawks, Pittsburgh Steelers, Detroit Lions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New Orleans Saints. Despite their 4-8 record, the Panthers aren’t yet out of playoff contention as they will trail the first-place Tampa Bay Bucs by just one game should they get beaten by the Saints tonight.