Thousand Oaks, Calif. – The Los Angeles Rams have claimed a quarterback Baker Mayfield Off waivers, the team announced Tuesday.
The Carolina Panthers waived May Field on Monday, something interim head coach Steve Wilkes said was a mutual agreement between the two sides. Wilkes said Mayfield requested his release after finding out he would not be the starting quarterback or alternate for Carolina moving forward.
The Rams will inherit the remaining $1.35 million in Mayfield’s contract.
Mayfield is expected to fly to Los Angeles by Tuesday night and could play as soon as Thursday night against the Las Vegas Raiders since the Rams are in the process of sending him the game book to ensure he can study the offense on his trip, according to sources. told ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Asked if Mayfield had a chance to play against the Raiders, a source told Schefter, “There’s a shot.”
“It’s just kind of acquiring talent, to be honest, acquiring someone to come and set him up, but also our offense,” Rams offensive coordinator Liam Quinn said Tuesday of Rams ace Mayfield. Continue to assess the violation [and] other players. It’s more about talent acquisition. Just getting someone here we can continue to develop some competitive nature within the room.”
“If it’s something that can provide a spark and someone who can come in and help us compete to win football games, that’s the ultimate goal for the last five weeks of the season,” Quinn said.
The defending Super Bowl champion (3-9) has lost six straight games.
On Saturday, the Rams placed the starting quarterback Matthew Stafford On injured reserve due to a spinal cord contusion. Stafford has been sidelined since injuring his neck in the Rams’ Week 11 loss to the New Orleans Saints, a game he left after being assessed for a concussion. McVay later said that Stafford felt some numbness in his legs after being injured in that match.
Although Stafford is eligible to return in Week 17, McVay said “there’s a good chance” he won’t play quarterback again this season.
Backup quarterback John Walford He started in the Rams’ Week 13 loss to the Seattle Seahawks but was examined several times by the team’s medical staff during the game. He was listed on injury report Monday with a neck injury.
If Mayfield does not play, then either Walford or the third-string quarterback Brice Perkins Thursday night’s game will start. Perkins started in the Rams’ Week 12 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs while Walford was injured.
The Panthers traded for Mayfield in July, sending the Cleveland Browns a conditional 2024 fifth-round pick who would have become fourth had Mayfield played 70% of the snaps. Mayfield has not reached that level this season.
Mayfield, a first overall pick in 2018, won the Panthers’ starting training camp job after an open competition with Sam Darnoldthird pick of the 2018 draft. He went 1-5 as a starter this season and had a career-low 57.8 completion percentage and threw only six touchdown passes to six interceptions.
Mayfield, who has started six games with the Panthers this season, ranks last in the NFL in total QBR among qualified quarterbacks with an 18.2 rating, also the second-worst player ever among 521 qualified passers since the stats began tracking in 2006, ESPN Statistics and Information Research. The next lowest this season is the Houston Texans Davis Mills with a rating of 29.2.
ESPN’s David Newton contributed to this report.
