After asking for his release from the Panthers, Mayfield Baker is about waivers. There’s more than $1 million left on the former No. 1 overall pick’s contract, complicating a potential late-season claim. But the 49ers certainly make sense as a team considering such a move.
The competing team lost its second quarterback to a serious injury; Jimmy Garoppolo will be closed for the third time in his five-plus season tenure in San Francisco. Kyle Shanahan addressed Mayfield’s availability on Monday, but the 49ers’ sixth-year HC doesn’t expect the team to add the former Browns and Panthers starter.
“We’re reviewing everything, but it would surprise me right now“Shanahan said, via ESPN.com’s Nick Wagoner (on Twitter). “We need to discuss more this afternoon. I’ve always been a fan of him, but I feel really good with our players. We’ll look into everything but I feel pretty good with where we are.”
With Garoppolo set to land on IR, 49ers will only have 2022 Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy and extraordinary companion Josh Johnson — set to begin his fourth stint with the team after spending the season on Denver’s practice squad — as available quarterbacks. Mayfield, 27, would make sense as an addition here, given his pedigree. But it would be a lot to ask for the brawling QB to digest Shanahan’s complex attack and be positioned to make an impact quickly. That said, Purdy is obviously ready for a massive increase in responsibilities. If Mayfield lingers in free agency, the 49ers would have an attractive option.
While Mayfield played a major role in solving the Browns’ nearly 20-year playoff drought two years ago, he hasn’t often replicated that form since. The four-year-old Browns starter played in a Shanahan-style offense in Cleveland, and the Panthers were impressed with how quickly he picked up Ben McAdoothe offence. But no turnaround from an injury-plagued 2021 has begun. QBR ranks Mayfield as by far the worst starter this season. Mayfield’s 18.2 figure would rank as the second worst figure of the QBR era; only jimmy clauseThe 2010 rookie season – also with Carolina – produced the worst result (13.8).
Purdy showed somewhat surprising efficiency in the 49ers’ win over the Dolphins, completing 25 of 37 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns. Purdy threw 1,467 varsity passes as a four-year starter at Iowa State, and while those pitches didn’t generate much draft interest, his debut went better than Trey Lancethe first big outing of last season. Purdy’s performance also spurred the 49ers out Nate Sudfeld this off-season; the team then retained the No. 262 overall pick as the third string entering the season. That said, teams now having time to prepare for Purdy could change the equation — even with the 49ers fielding an All-Pro four-man offense.
For now, the Purdy-Johnson duo will be San Francisco’s way of trying to get the Garoppolo pieces back. It will be interesting if Mayfield lands with a team before the end of the season.