Browns trade Baker Mayfield

     The Cleveland Browns finally reduced some of the drama around the team. While the DeShaun Watson saga is far from finished, the other side of the coin has been sent away from Northern Ohio as Baker Mayfield was traded to the Carolina Panthers where Mayfield will see the Browns in the opening game in Charlotte.

Cleveland will receive either the fourth or fifth-round draft pick in 2023 from Carolina, depending on if Mayfield plays seventy percent of the Panthers snaps this season, so the Browns will be rooting for Mayfield to at least stay in the lineup.

The Browns will pay ten million of Mayfield's 18.9 million dollar contract for this season, Carolina will pay five million, and Mayfield agreed to a reduction of his contract and gave back 3.5 million to allow the trade to be finalized.

Baker Mayfield leaves Cleveland as arguably the best quarterback for the Browns since their return in 1999, and while anyone who has watched them knows just how incredibly low the bar is for that claim, it still is a correct claim.

Even still, Baker Mayfield wasn't a great quarterback or even a very good quarterback and it's not unreasonable to have expected more from the first overall selection in the draft.

Baker Mayfield was pretty good for most of his rookie season and he was better than average in 2020 but he was really bad in both 2019 and 2021 and that means that Mayfield was never able to string back-to-back good seasons.

Mayfield's combative persona and energy made him a Cleveland favorite almost from the start but the same qualities that made him a favorite also made him a petulant and immature player who sometimes saw everyone blamed for his poor play but himself.

Mayfield defenders point to the playoff win in Pittsburgh, his playing through an injured shoulder, and that he was taking over a team that had won just one game over two seasons of play.

Mayfield detractors argue his below-average completion percentage for a quarterback that was lauded when drafted for his accuracy, his 29-30 overall record, and how defenses took away his moving pocket to the right, crippling his vision of the field and taking away downfield throws.

Baker Mayfield was reputed to be the ultimate locker room leader, yet problems such as the infamous issue with Odell Beckham occurred on his watch.

Baker Mayfield is only the third quarterback taken first overall that lasted less than five seasons with that club, joining Jeff George and JaMarcus Russell but this may have been a self-inflicted wound.

Yes, I know that Jimmy Haslem and Andrew Berry wanted DeShaun Watson. Still, they were resigned to finishing 2022 with Baker Mayfield when Watson eliminated the Browns from the four teams bidding for his services with Houston.

However, when Baker Mayfield couldn't help himself, professed being wronged, and asked for a trade, the Browns knew they would have to pay whatever it cost to bring Watson to Cleveland because they simply couldn't gamble another season on the mercurial Mayfield getting himself together enough to buy into the program.

I still believe that had Mayfield tried to release even the most rudimentary press release that didn't demand a trade Haslem and Berry may not have returned to Houston and given Watson everything but the water in Lake Erie.

Mayfield's childish tantrum forced the Browns into red alert, thinking that their quarterback position was suddenly without Watson, possibly without Mayfield and if they did have Mayfield, they would have the petulant version soiling the team, which they simply could not have and expect a playoff return.

I wrote when the Browns drafted Mayfield that they were the victims of an elaborate con game and I still feel that- to an extent.

Baker Mayfield had his good streaks and when he was playing well, he played a little beyond my expectations.

Still, when you pick a player first overall, you expect more than an occasional good streak and more than just an average quarterback.

In the end, that's why Baker Mayfield was an average quarterback and in today's AFC with a conference where for years the Browns will have to get past Mahomes, Allen, Burrow, Herbert, Wilson, etc to reach a Super Bowl- Baker Mayfield just wasn't going to be good enough to get that done.

The Browns need a great quarterback in these times, Baker Mayfield was always going to be a mouthy average one.  

TRS Boxing Ratings- Part One

   The TRS boxing ratings return for July and with several shakeups in the boxing world since our last rating period, there have been appropriate changes as a result.

Thanks as always to Ramon Malpica, Vince Samano, John Herndon, and C.J. Burney as always for their time and participation.

Heavyweight 

1: Tyson Fury WBC Champion 25 Pts

2: Oleksandr Usyk WBA/IBF/WBO Champion 20 Pts

3: Anthony Joshua 12 Pts

4: Deontay Wilder 11 Pts

5: Joe Joyce 5 Pts

Also Received Votes: Andy Ruiz, Luis Ortiz 

Cruiserweights

1: Jai Opietaia IBF Champion 23 Pts (Unranked)

2: Mairis Briedis 18 Pts (Down One)

3: Yuniel Dorticos 15 Pts (Down One) 

4: Lawrence Okolie WBO Champion 12 Pts ( Down One)

5: Kevin Lerena 4 Pts (Down One)

Also Received Votes: Illunga Makubu WBC Champion, Thabiso Mchunu

Light Heavyweights

1: Artur Beterbiev WBC/IBF/WBO Champion 25 Pts

2: Dmitry Bivol WBA Champion 20 Pts

3: Gilberto Ramirez 15 Pts (Up One)

4: Joe Smith 7 Pts (Down One)

5: Anthony Yarde 5 Pts (Unranked)

Also Received Votes: Callum Smith, Joshua Buatasi

Super Middleweights

World Champion: Canelo Alvarez

1: David Benavidez 25 Pts

2: Caleb Plant 15 Pts

3: John Ryder 10 Pts

    Billy Joe Saunders (Up One)

5: David Morrell 7 Pts (Unranked)

Also Received Votes: Zack Parker, Christian M'Billi, Anthony Dirrell

Middleweights

1: Gennady Golovkin WBA/IBF Champion 21 Pts

2: Demetrius Andrade WBO Champion 18 Pts (Up One)

    Jermall Charlo WBC Champion

4: Jaime Munguia 8 Pts

5: Janibek Alimkhanuly 3 Pts (Unranked)

    Ryota Murata

Also Received Votes: Chris Eubank Jr, Erislandy Lara

Junior Middleweights 

World Champion: Jermell Charlo

1: Sebastian Fundora 25 Pts (Up Four)

2: Tim Tszyu 17 Pts (Up Two)

3: Brian Castano 16 Pts (Down One)

4: Erickson Lubin 6 Pts (Down One)

5; Magomed Kurbanov 5 Pts (Unranked)

Also Received Votes: Israil Madrimov, Tony Harrison, Liam Smith

Welterweights

1: Terence Crawford WBO Champion 23 Pts

2: Errol Spence WBA/WBC/IBF Champion 22 Pts

3: Jaron Ennis 15 Pts

4: Vergil Ortiz 7 Pts (Up One)

5: Yordanis Ugas 4 Pts (Down One)

Also Received Votes: Conor Benn, Keith Thurman

Junior Welterweights

1: Josh Taylor IBF/WBO Champion 22 Pts (Down from World Champion,Vacated WBA & WBC Titles)

2: Jack Catterall 21 Pts (Down One)

3: Regis Prograis 13 Pts

4: Jose Ramirez 8 Pts (Down Two)

5: Arnold Barboza 3 Pts

    Teofimo Lopez (Unranked)

    Gary Antuanne Russell (Unranked)

Also Received Votes: Jose Zepeda

Cavaliers sign Darius Garland to max extension

 The Cleveland Cavaliers may not have made a decision on the future of Collin Sexton but they have decided on their commitment to Darius Garland as the Cavaliers gave their young point guard the maximum contract extension to keep Garland in Cleveland for the next five seasons.

Garland's contract is worth 193 million and with various escalators and bonuses involved, may be valued at 231 million dollars for the term of the contract, which is the largest in Cavalier franchise history.

The largest escalator for Garland is that should he make any of the three All-NBA teams twice during the term of the contract, Garland would then be eligible for a "Super Max" contract and additional dollars would be added to the agreement.

The NBA salary cap specifies what a max extension can be for a particular draft class, which is why Cleveland will be paying Garland, who was selected fifth overall in the 2019 draft, will be receiving the same amount of money as the second overall pick in the same draft Ja Morant will earn from the Memphis Grizzlies.

What I really like about the max contract agreement between the league and the union is this- players know the maximum that they can make, have no complaint about being cheated out of money by the teams, have a certain amount of guarantee against injury, and yet the player is still motivated by even larger money in their next contract.

Garland broke out as a star for Cleveland last season when he averaged over twenty-one points and over eight assists per game to lead the team in both categories.

It's Garland that is the go-to player in clutch situations and it will be key to see how Garland handles being the alpha dog in the lineup with his paycheck backing that status up.

Late in the season with the Cavaliers struggling and injury-wracked, Garland grabbed hold of the reigns and began to be the number one option late in games, often singlehandedly keeping the Cavaliers in games.

While I liked Garland's willingness to take that role and take the big shots, I did (and do) wonder if that was a player doing what it took for his team to stay in games or is Garland transitioning into a player that is relying on isolation plays for him, which can result into teams doing a lot of watching the action rather than moving with or without the ball.

I tend to think that it was the former but I've seen stranger things than the latter happen to younger players.

Cleveland's commitment to Darius Garland shows that the team has faith in Garland's future and although there is always a certain percentage of risk involved with five-year contracts, players such as Darius Garland have proven as much as they could prove in three years as a pro and teams need to show that they have faith in the player's ability to continue to progress by putting their money where their mouth is.

At 22, Darius Garland is being counted as the foundation (along with Evan Mobley) of the Cavaliers future as contenders.

By the end of this contract, the Cavaliers will either be championship contenders or huge disappointments.

The countdown starts now.

Boxing Challenge: Opietaia Upsets Briedis

    In what can only be described as a bruising battle, Jai Opietaia survived a broken jaw and a furious late-round rally from Mairis Briedis to win a unanimous decision and take away the IBF cruiserweight championship in Broadbeach Australia.

Opietaia dominated the early rounds by outboxing Briedis from the outside and busted the aging champion up early, breaking his nose in the fourth round and winning six of the first seven rounds on my card.

But Briedis was far from finished as he began to break Opietaia down, breaking his jaw (which left him unable to speak after the bout) and badly hurting him in rounds ten and twelve to pull closer on the cards.

I saw some people on social media that thought the late-round stretch allowed Briedis to salvage a close win but my scorecard of 115-113 for Opietaia agreed with one official score with the remaining two tabbing Opietaia the winner at 116-112.

Briedis asked for a rematch, which I think he deserves after his late-round rally, and with the blood and guts action from the fight, it should be an easy sell especially if Briedis returns to Australia for the rematch.

A very good fight that is a notch below fight of the year level but a fight that will have no problem gaining interest for a potential second match between the two

In London, WBO number one heavyweight contender Joe Joyce lost the first two rounds to journeyman Christian Hammer but walked through the best hammers thrown to score a fourth-round knockout.

Joyce scored a knockdown in the third and two more in the fourth to pull the curtain down on the fight.

Hammer was a semi-late replacement and he gambled on taking Joyce out early because he didn't have the conditioning to go into the late rounds and he had success for two rounds.

Joe Joyce has a world-class chin and he can punch but I wonder what happens when he faces the best of the division.

Joyce takes a lot of punches and wings his shots a bit but he is going to come forward until his opponent stops him and even if you beat him, Joyce is going to make you pay for your victory.

In the other London fight, former junior bantamweight and bantamweight champion Zolani Tete scored a spectacular fourth-round KO of Jason Cunningham to perhaps placing his name in contention for a 122-pound title shot.

Tete knocked Cunningham down in the fourth and when the action resumed, landed a few punches that saw Cunningham go down and hit his head after falling which was quite scary.

Boxing Challenge

TRS: 118 Pts (3)

Ramon Malpica: 99 Pts (0)

Vince Samano: 96 Pts (3) 

Rubio returns,Cavaliers add Robin Lopez

    The Cleveland Cavaliers didn't answer big questions with their roster but on the first day of NBA free agency, the Cavaliers did make three attempts to address their second unit at point guard and center.

The popular addition was the agreement to return Ricky Rubio to the team to back up Darius Garland at point guard.

Rubio agreed to a three-year contract worth more than eighteen million dollars to return him from Indiana, where he never played a game for the Pacers as the knee injury that ended his season had already occurred and his salary was needed to make the trade for Caris LeVert work under the cap.

Rubio averaged thirteen points and over six assists per game in his half-season in Cleveland and was playing some of the best basketball of his career in leading the second unit and sometimes playing with Darius Garland that gave a unique look to the offense with two ballhandlers on the floor.

Rubio would have unlikely to have been traded had he not been injured as his play was so key to the Cavaliers surprising start to the season and the rumors started almost from the day that he was traded that there were hopes that the Cavaliers would be able to get a deal signed to bring Rubio back.

The knee injury is the second one for Rubio, so it isn't a guarantee that he will return as the same player and it will likely take him some time to get back into playing shape as the team thinks that December would be the earliest that he could return to action and January could be the more realistic timeframe.

The contract is partially guaranteed and takes a bit of the risk away of a three-year contract but this makes sense for the team and Rubio and it should prove to be very popular with the fan base.

However, as I mentioned above, Rubio is going to miss the first few months of the season and Darius Garland will need someone to take up some slack with minutes while he rests, so the Cavaliers need another veteran point guard until Rubio returns.

Cleveland addressed that with the addition of veteran Raul Neto to a one-year deal.

The thirty-year-old Neto spent last season with Washington, averaging 7.5 points and three assists per game in seventy games for the Wizards, and seems to be perfect for the role as the caddy for Garland playing fifteen to twenty minutes a night until Rubio is back.

The Cavaliers other acquisition was veteran big man Robin Lopez as the backup of Jarrett Allen.

The well-traveled big man will be playing for his ninth team in his soon-to-be fifteen-year career and played in thirty-six games last season for the Orlando Magic, averaging seven points and three and a half rebounds per game in a season where Orlando was tanking and sitting many veteran players.

At thirty-four, Lopez should be able to fill the backup big man minutes, and even though I was hoping to see Moses Brown given a try at the position, Lopez is more than capable of helping Cleveland get by should Allen miss time due to injury.

Boxing Challenge

   The boxing challenge isn't very deep this week but there are a few interesting fights of note and that includes a championship defense from a fighter that is the best in his division.

That fighter is IBF cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis, who defends his IBF cruiserweight title in Broadbeach Australia against undefeated Australian Jai Opetaia on ESPN+ early Saturday morning.

Briedis won the second of the two cruiserweight World Boxing Super Series and lost in the first WBSS by majority decision to Oleksandr Usyk in what is the closest fight of Usyk's career to this day.

Briedis knocked out Artur Mann in October in his last fight and is hoping to fight WBO champion Lawrence Okolie in his next outing should he get by the undefeated former Olympian Opetaia, who has an excellent amateur background but has defeated no one of note to reach his mandatory contender status.

It'll be a hometown crowd for Opetaia but Briedis is used to fighting on the road as Australia will be the seventh different country that the Latvian has boxed in.

Still, Briedis is thirty-seven, and sometimes as fighters age, they can lose their skills all at once and unexpectedly.

Later in the day, another card on ESPN+ from with two fights of interest.

In the main event, British Commonwealth junior featherweight champion Jason Cunningham defends his title against former IBF junior bantamweight and WBO bantamweight champion Zolani Tete as Tete attempts a comeback from his November 2019 knockout title loss to John Riel Casimero.

Tete has fought only one round since losing to Casimero but a win over the veteran Cunningham and he would likely jump into title contention at 122 pounds.

Cunningham lacks power with only seven knockouts among his thirty-one wins and Tete's weakness has been his chin, so the question may come down to this- Can Cunningham hurt Tete?

The co-feature will be a ten-rounder between heavyweights Joe Joyce and Christian Hammer.

Joyce, who is the WBO number one contender after his knockout win over Daniel DuBois, was originally rumored to face former WBO champion Joseph Parker before Parker changed promoters and the fight fell through.

Hammer has fought many of the top heavyweights, usually losing, to the likes of Tyson Fury, Alexander Povetkin, and Luis Ortiz but almost always goes rounds (lasted the distance with Povetkin, Ortiz, and undefeated prospect Frank Sanchez and lasted eight rounds with Fury) so if Joyce could score an early knockout, it would be an impressive win for Joyce.

Boxing Challenge

IBF Cruiserweight Title. 12 Rds

Mairis Briedis vs Jai Opetaia

Ramon Malpica;

TRS and Vince Samano: Briedis Unanimous Decision

Junior Featherweights 12 Rds

Jason Cunningham vs Zolani Tete

Ramon Malpica:

TRS and Vince Samano: Tete Unanimous Decision

Heavyweights. 10 Rds

Joe Joyce vs Christian Hammer

Ramon Malpica:

TRS: Joyce KO 7

Vince Samano: Joyce KO 5

Big 10 adds USC and UCLA

     Things that cause seismic shifts in the college football world seldom arrive expectedly and the announcement that USC and UCLA were going to be entering the Big 10 and leaving the Pac 12 and their home of one hundred years in the case of USC and ninety-four years for UCLA.

BTW- I used the photo to the right because I love the tradition of both teams wearing their colored jerseys for the USC-UCLA game. 

I wish more rivalry games would consider giving that a try!

The SEC's agreement last summer that resulted in the eventual arrival of Texas and Oklahoma for their conference was a tremor that likely forced the Big 10 to look around for two more teams but it feels like this move for USC and UCLA may or may not to equal to the move of Texas and Oklahoma but it does have the feel of having the bigger effect on the rest of college football.

The Big 10 may not have wanted to expand but it almost had to and compared to their past expansion attempts, this one is surpassed only by the arrival of Penn State in the early 1990s as far as impact.

The Big 10's addition of Nebraska looked big at the time with the history of the Cornhusker program but it never played out on the field and didn't really bring in a big media market.

The expansion that brought in Rutgers and Maryland brought in the media markets in theory but hasn't helped on the field, at least in football.

Rutgers never delivered New York City as the conference (and almost no one else) expected, and while Maryland has done well in some sports, the Terrapin fan base has never really cuddled up to the Big Ten, although it could change if the ACC winds up exploding after this move and what could be sure to follow.

The questions are these-

Is the Big Ten finished adding schools?

If they aren't who could be next? Notre Dame will be the first choice but there could be interest in Oregon and/or Washington.

If Oregon and Washington leave the Pac 12, does that kill the conference? Only if the league loses any other schools.

If Oregon and Washington stay, will that be enough to keep the conference afloat?

If so, who would be the likely targets to return to twelve teams? I'd think it would be Boise State and San Diego State with Colorado State and Air Force as dark horses, should the Big 12 stay intact without defectors.

Does the Big 12 attack and try to grab some of the Pac 12? If so, I would think that the Arizona schools, Utah and Colorado make the most sense.

Does the SEC smell blood and attack the ACC for Clemson and who knows who else- N.C. State? Virginia Tech? Florida State? Miami?

If the ACC wobbles, will the Big Ten move in for a try at North Carolina? Virginia? Georgia Tech?

This move raises more questions than answers and I don't think we have seen anything close to how things settle out for the next "quiet period".

Oregon and Washington appear to be the next domino to decide which direction realignment moves next although the biggest prize awaits in Notre Dame should the Irish finally feel forced to make the leap for a real conference berth rather than the associate role that they currently hold with the ACC.

Should Oregon and Washington leave the Pac 12, things begin to crumble and the conference could be out of business within a few years but should they decide to stay for now, the race could be on to see who cannibalizes who in a death match between the Pac 12 and Big 12.

Whichever conference can grab the first handful of schools will likely be the conference that survives.

The Pac 12 could pursue Oklahoma State and a few of the Texas schools from the Big 12 while the Big 12 talks to the aforementioned Arizona duo, Colorado, and Utah.

As for the Big Ten, who is already rumored to "not be finished", I wonder who could be additions should the mentioned three decide not to join.

North Carolina would make lots of sense and some think that Virginia would be a good fit.

I'm not convinced that the same people that think Maryland hasn't worked out would think that the Cavaliers would be a good pickup.

Georgia Tech fits academically and would bring the league into the deep south but Tech doesn't bring a quarter of what Georgia would bring as far as fan interest and their football and basketball are worse than Virginia's currently.

West Virginia would bring a regional fit and the type of rabid fan base that the conference would love but lacks the academics that the conference emphasizes.

Kansas would bring a basketball power to the league but the Jayhawks football program would instantly give the league a midwestern Rutgers.

I've always thought Pittsburgh would be a good choice but Penn State will fight that tooth and nail and I'm not sure that they bring anything that the league doesn't already have.

College sports continue to change and while I'm not screaming about them being ruined for good, I will admit that there could be a risk in losing the rivalries, circumstances, and all that made college sports what it was.

In its place stands something different, and I'm not ready to claim that as a failure

Still, I'll mourn what has been lost and remember what was rather than groan about what is.