With the Rams set to play Thursday night against the Las Vegas Raiders, Mayfield is unlikely to see action right away, but his acquisition by the Rams suggests they have some interest in putting him on the field shortly thereafter. With Stafford sidelined for three of the past four games, Los Angeles has given starts to inexperienced backups John Wolford and Bryce Perkins with tepid results.
At a news conference Tuesday, Rams offensive coordinator Liam Coen said that the team’s goal with Mayfield was not just to get a chance to see what he had but also, Coen suggested, to use the quarterback’s relatively steady hand to help “evaluate the offense, the other players.” Major injuries to Los Angeles’s top two receivers, Cooper Kupp and Allen Robinson, have opened up playing time for younger, less tested wideouts such as Van Jefferson, Tutu Atwell and Brandon Powell.
The claim of Mayfield by the Rams, whose poor record placed them fourth this week in the NFL’s waiver order, prevented the division-rival San Francisco 49ers from possibly adding him. The 49ers lost starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on Sunday to a regular season-ending broken foot, and they are expected to start seventh-round rookie Brock Purdy in his place.
The Baltimore Ravens might have been another candidate to make a bid for Mayfield, in the wake of Lamar Jackson’s knee injury that Coach John Harbaugh described as week-to-week, although they have a promising backup in Tyler Huntley. Rams Coach Sean McVay said Monday that Wolford was day-to-day with neck soreness, possibly increasing the team’s sense of urgency about bolstering the position.
Stafford missed time last month while in the concussion protocol and was placed Saturday on injured reserve. McVay revealed Sunday that the 14th-year quarterback had a bruised spinal cord and opined that there was “a good chance” Stafford would not return in 2022.
As with Stafford, Mayfield is a former No. 1 overall pick, but their subsequent paths have taken very different turns. Whereas the former used a breakout third season to become a decade-long mainstay for the Detroit Lions, Mayfield followed a third season with the Cleveland Browns in which he led them to their first playoff win in 26 years with a fourth year marked by injuries, inconsistent play and a testy situation involving wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. that reportedly affected the Browns’ locker room.
In the wake of that 2021 campaign, which saw Cleveland go 8-9 and miss the postseason, the team made a blockbuster deal with the Houston Texans for quarterback Deshaun Watson, signaling that the Mayfield era there was over. Mayfield quickly asked for a trade and was eventually dealt to the Panthers in July for a conditional fifth-round selection in the 2024 draft.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for him,” Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris said Tuesday of Mayfield. “This guy was a very good football player. Brought Cleveland from pretty much the ashes. This game is sometimes thankless. When you get a chance to acquire a guy who’s got nothing to lose and something to prove, it’s always awesome.”
Over seven appearances and six starts with Carolina, Mayfield was a disappointment, completing just 57.8 percent of his passes for 1,313 yards, six touchdowns, six interceptions and a career-low 74.4 passer rating. By one advanced metric that combines expected points added per play and completion percentage above expected (per rbsdm.com), Mayfield has performed by far the worst this season of any qualified quarterback.
Nevertheless, the Rams appear to have little to lose themselves by giving him a shot. Los Angeles doesn’t have much incentive to tank, given that it owes its first-round pick next year to the Lions as the final payment in its 2021 trade for Stafford.
With the Browns having picked up the fifth-year option in Mayfield’s rookie contract, he will be a free agent after this season. Coen said Stafford remained “the future” for the Rams at quarterback, adding that with Mayfield, the team feels “obviously pretty good about somebody who can come in here and compete at a high level for us.”
“Only heard great things about him as a person, as a teammate and we know as a competitor, he’s the type of guy who’s going to go out and compete his tail off,” Coen said Tuesday of Mayfield. “Glad to have him in the [quarterback] room, for sure.”
