The report is that the Panthers cut off negotiations with the Browns to acquire Baker Mayfield. The reason being that the Browns don't want to pay the majority of Mayfield's contract.
A few things should be explained to the Browns's front office.
The problem isn't that there's no team in the NFL who would be willing to pay Mayfield $18.9 million for a year. The problem is that every team knows that they don't have to.
Like, I might be willing to spend $500 on a TV; but, if I know that my neighbor just upgraded to a 4K projector and he's looking to unload his TV, even if it's worth $500, I'm not paying that price for it when I know my neighbor is just gonna put it out on the curb for trash in a couple of days.
Maybe the Browns are hoping for a Teddy Bridgewater situation in which a team will be in emergency mode to get a quarterback; but, that doesn't happen often. Even if a quarterback does get injured before the season, it would probably have to be something severe enough to knock the guy out for the whole season for a team to desperately make a move for Mayfield.
Unless that rare case of a quarterback tearing his ACL on training camp happens, teams are just going to wait until the Browns inevitably dump Mayfield.
I know that no team particularly likes the idea of paying a player to play for another team; but, that's not what they should worry about. His money for this year is fully guaranteed. What you're paying for isn't so much to give the Panthers a quarterback but to get the Panthers to take a problem off your hands. If you cut him you're still paying him and you can't control where he goes. You make a move to trade him to the Panthers for anything that they'll give you and you'll be sure that you won't face him next season unless both teams make the Super Bowl and you'll at least get something. What's more, you can just think of Mayfield's salary as part of the total money that you're paying for the position. Deshaun Watson is only a $10 million cap hit this year; so, the total money paid to both Mayfield and Watson this year is less than any top quarterbacks make.