The most unexpected development in the entire league, even more than Taylor Swift’s cameo – is that on Sunday, Baker Mayfield was lecturing his Tampa Bay teammates to guard against overconfidence.
Mayfield, the discarded former Cleveland Brown who no one was certain would even beat Kyle Trask out for the starting job.
Tampa Bay is sitting at 3-1 heading into a bye week following a resounding 26-9 victory at New Orleans. He was also the left-for-dead, post-Tom Brady Bucs.
Mayfield’s comments after the draft
“Right now, the narrative is going to flip,” Mayfield said. “We have to keep that mindset even more so. You can’t change whether people are patting you on the back or talking trash about you.”
But Mayfield certainly knows about both. He won a Heisman at Oklahoma. He was the Browns’ No. 1 overall draft pick and, with fiery, excellent play, was heralded as a franchise savior. He and his wife Emily lived at the stadium, at least in high-rotation national television commercials.
But when his play faltered, the Browns decided to replace Mayfield with Deshaun Watson.
Mayfield was then traded out of town for a fifth-rounder and spent a part of 2022 in Carolina before getting released and then joining as a stopgap for the injury-decimated Los Angeles Rams.
Later, he signed with Tampa Bay for a one-year deal, and it was seen as a Bucs franchise in post-Brady rebuild mode, taking a flier on a guy. A poor season that set up a high draft pick in a quarterback-rich draft wasn’t exactly the worst thing that could happen to Tampa Bay.
But no matter his struggles or setbacks, he has never made someone say Mayfield wasn’t a competitor. So he was the perfect guy for this team. Las Vegas had won 6.5 to 7.5 games this season.
“We’ve known all along what we have in this building,” Mayfield said. “We’ve been saying that since the offseason. We just have to keep getting better and better.”
Todd Bowles, head coach’s comments on Mayfield
“Bake is tough,” head coach Todd Bowles said. “He fits in here. He understands the offense very well. The guys love to play for him, and he works for us.”
His 69.9 percent completion percentage and 101.5 QBR are well above the 62.8 and 95.9 he posted in 2020. He’s even avoiding sacks for the first time in his career.
It’s early, of course — “Only the first quarter of the season,” Bowles noted. Still, “3-1 is better than 1-3,” the coach acknowledged.
“It’s a great team,” Mayfield said. “Everybody is on the same page. Everybody is doing their job. It comes down to little details when you are playing against a good team.”
“I think we have a team of very, very strong-minded men,” Mayfield said. “It shows, I guess, just the accountability within our building. Knowing to do your job and not letting outside noise affect you.”
In the end, on his fourth team in six seasons in what is considered Act 3, the former No. 1 draft pick is making plays and winning games. The NFL might have done with Baker, but he certainly wasn’t done with the NFL.
