Rid yourself of the fantasy that Baker Mayfield and the Browns will reconcile. It's pure imagination that the Browns will turn back to Mayfield to help them through however long the period of the expected Deshaun Watson punishment will be.

The Browns did the math in March. They knew getting Watson meant burning the bridge with Mayfield. It's over and done with.

But Mayfield is still under the Browns' employ, and even if there's an interested party in Carolina (and a somewhat interested party in Seattle), if both sides wanted the deal to be done, it'd be done by now.

The sticking point in Carolina is and has been the salary. Panthers owner David Tepper won't pay all of Mayfield's $18.85 million in guaranteed money this season. I'm not sure he'd even pay half, especially considering he's paying the same amount to Sam Darnold.

If Mayfield wants out — I mean really wants out — an option exists where he could take a pay cut.