49ers would love to see Baker Mayfield join Seahawks

Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield wants a trade, and the 49ers would have to be overjoyed if that trade somehow involved their NFC West rivals, the Seahawks.

If the 2022 NFL offseason hasn’t been weird enough, the dissolution of the relationship between the Cleveland Browns and quarterback Baker Mayfield has only served to make things weirder.

Perhaps it’s been a long time coming, as Mayfield is prepared to play the final fifth-year option year of his rookie contract, but things sure turned sour when the Browns suddenly turned towards trying to acquire quarterback Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans, ultimately convincing Mayfield he wanted out from the franchise that drafted him No. 1 overall back in 2018.

Watson ultimately chose Cleveland, of course, prompting Mayfield to request a trade. And even though the Browns reportedly refused the request at first before Watson made his decision, the situation has obviously changed since. According to additional reports, Mayfield prefers the Indianapolis Colts as a destination.

There are still plenty of other quarterback-needy teams out there, however, and FanSided suggested one San Francisco 49ers rival as a potential landing spot.

The Seattle Seahawks.

Oh.

Seahawks reportedly entertain adding Baker Mayfield

The Hawks already dealt star quarterback Russell Wilson to the Denver Broncos, getting Denver’s flameout quarterback Drew Lock back in return.

Lock isn’t a long-term answer, so it made some sense to see CBS Sports’ Josina Anderson report on Seattle’s interest in trying to acquire Mayfield, a move that’d certainly be easier with the capital recouped from the Wilson deal:

In a way, it would make sense. The Seahawks are in a post-Wilson rebuild phase, yet Mayfield would still have two prolific wide receivers to target, Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf, and Seattle could also have a full year to decide whether or not Mayfield would be worth keeping around beyond 2022 without having to commit to a massive contract extension.

All of that would be of interest within the NFC West, of course, and especially to the Niners, who no longer have to watch Wilson torment them after having done so for nearly 10 years.

But there’s another reason why San Francisco would be thrilled to see Mayfield join the Hawks.

Nick Bosa, 49ers would love to make life hell on a Seahawks’ Baker Mayfield

Mayfield is no Wilson. That much is true. And even though Seattle would be upgrading by going from Lock to Mayfield, assuming this all happens, the stage would be set for the 49ers to turn the table on what’s been a decade-long stretch of being dominated by the Seahawks in the rivalry.

The Niners have only faced Mayfield once over his still-brief NFL career, a 2019 game in which he went 8-of-22 for 100 yards, throwing two interceptions and being sacked four times in a lopsided 31-3 San Francisco victory.

Yet that game added another chapter to another rivalry, one between Mayfield and 49ers EDGE Nick Bosa, two players who knew each other well enough from their time against each other at Oklahoma and Ohio State.

Mayfield’s flag-planting on the Ohio State “O” prompted Bosa to mimic the quarterback following one of his two sacks that game.

Sure, yes. Bosa would love to see Mayfield opposite him twice a year.

While the sample size of Mayfield’s games against the Niners is far too small to suggest any kind of domination whatsoever, at least there’s the Bosa element San Francisco could enjoy and look forward to, should Cleveland give in and grant Mayfield a trade to Seattle.

It sure would make the 49ers-Seahawks rivalry a bit more spicy in the wake of Wilson’s departure.