Mark Madden: If Aaron Rodgers lands in Cleveland, could Baker Mayfield find his way to Pittsburgh?

No matter how much Aaron Rodgers flirts with Pittsburgh on Pat McAfee’s satellite radio show, he won’t play for the Steelers next season. He’s a tease.

If Rodgers leaves Green Bay, he will go to a team that’s poised to win a Super Bowl. The Steelers are not that team.

The Cleveland Browns are.

Rodgers should go to Cleveland.

The Steelers should get Baker Mayfield.

That’s a ridiculous notion on par with the idea that the Steelers might get Rodgers. But it makes a lot more sense from the Steelers’ standpoint.

Forget the salary cap hit and the price: The Steelers don’t need a 38-year-old quarterback with (maybe) a couple good years left. They’re not good enough to take immediate advantage.

But Mayfield is just 26 and in his fourth year starting. His experience is extensive, and he’s got a lot left.

He’s not perfect. But he competes hard, makes just enough plays and is a ready-made starter at a young age. There would be no teaching and blooding a draft pick, or pretending Mason Rudolph could be the long-term answer.

Mayfield would play right away. He’d be the answer for the long-term. He’d be above average.

Look around the NFL. Most teams would love to have an experienced, above-average quarterback. (For example, the Steelers would love to have Sam Darnold right now. They should have got him this past offseason.)

The Browns picked up Mayfield’s fifth-year option for next season. It pays $18.8 million. The Steelers have the cap room to easily absorb that.

The Browns and Mayfield are slow-playing contract-extension talks. He’s tied to Cleveland for next season, so there’s really no hurry.

Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Buffalo’s Josh Allen are making $45 million and $43 million per year, respectively. Mayfield isn’t in their class and shouldn’t be paid that kind of money. (That’s barring him steering Cleveland through a long playoff run.)

But what if Mayfield wants, say, $35 million per?

The Browns will be between the proverbial rock and hard place. Mayfield hasn’t played well enough to merit that. But Cleveland’s history of starting quarterbacks dating back to the team’s rebirth in 1999 has been embarrassing.

Mayfield isn’t a superstar. But he’s solid, he’s charismatic, he plays hard and he is considerably better than DeShone Kizer, Cody Kessler, Brady Quinn, Charlie Frye, etc.

The Browns need stability at QB. Mayfield provides that, at the very least. The Browns don’t want to go back to square one.

But what if Rodgers would come to Cleveland? He’s not exactly square one.

The Browns are exactly the kind of team that should want Rodgers — and that Rodgers should want.

Where would that leave Mayfield?

Pittsburgh, maybe.

This is, of course, absolute drivel beyond me getting paid to write it. If you think it’s meant as an obscene gesture to those beating the Rodgers-to-Pittsburgh drum, you might be correct. The idea is unspeakably stupid and unrealistic.

But in the 21 years between Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers drafted 10 quarterbacks. Of those 10, none was elite. The best were Kordell Stewart, Neil O’Donnell and Bubby Brister. (Like I said, none was elite.)

The Steelers also drafted Mark Malone in 1980s first round with the intent of him being Bradshaw’s long-term replacement. He wasn’t.

Since the Steelers drafted Bradshaw in 1970, there have been just three seasons when the majority of games were started by a quarterback the Steelers didn’t draft.

Replacing Roethlisberger won’t be easy.

But it won’t be Rodgers or Mayfield.