After his client went No. 1 overall to the Cleveland Browns in the 2018 NFL Draft, Baker Mayfield's agent made an eye-opening suggestion.
The New England Patriots, Jack Mills claimed, were intent on trading up to the No. 2 pick to draft Mayfield if the Browns passed on the quarterback at No. 1.
Cleveland obviously prevented that scenario from happening, but apparently Mayfield himself was prepared to join Tom Brady on the Patriots.
In a column published Wednesday, ESPN's Mina Kimes included this note:
Until the day of the draft, Mayfield wasn't sure the Browns would take him with the first overall pick. (For a while, he was convinced New England would trade up for him at No. 2.)
Mayfield-to-the-Patriots would have been a fascinating development, as the Heisman Trophy winner would have had to back up Brady while offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels groomed him as the heir apparent.
New England had significant interest in this plan -- NFL Network's Mike Giardi reported at the time that the Patriots viewed Mayfield as "the closest thing" to Jimmy Garoppolo in the 2018 draft -- but it sounds like Mayfield would have been less on board. According to Kimes, the 24-year-old was excited by the opportunity to reverse the fortunes of a long-struggling franchise in Cleveland.
"I wanted to come here and play and be the one to change it right away," Mayfield told Kimes.
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It appears the situation worked out for both parties: Mayfield has the chance to do just that on an up-and-coming Browns squad, while the 41-year-old Brady showed no signs of needing any help when he piloted the Patriots to their sixth Super Bowl title last season.
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