TAMPA, Fla. — As Baker Mayfield walked out of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ indoor facility, a coat of orange dye making his hair brighter than that day’s sun, a big smile lit up his face as his teammates took one look at his head.
As part of a charity event for kids with cancer, Mayfield was one of the many Bucs players who allowed the kids to dye their hair. It was all in good fun, and Mayfield is all about the fun these days.
He’s pushed way past all that talk of being a busted top-overall pick to become one of the league’s most-underrated quarterbacks, a player who should be strongly considered among the top 10 in the league.
Those Cleveland days, where they stupidly allowed him to leave after making him the top-overall pick in 2018, are way in the rearview mirror as he settles into his third season in Tampa, coming off his best NFL season yet.
The Bucs are Mayfield’s fourth team, but it’s the home he was searching for his entire career. They love him in Tampa, and he loves the Bucs back. His teammates rave about him. The organization and front office love him. The warm feel is evident as his teammates walked past during our interview.
Massive left tackle Tristan Wirfs, one of his best friends, walked by and gave Mayfield a playful push.
“Man, you look good in that tank top, but I don’t know what you are going for,” Mayfield said to Wirfs.
“I am looking (expletive) huge,” Wirfs yelled back.
Playful. Light. Laughter.
It’s that way in a lot of NFL places in June, when games aren’t on the line, but it’s that way for Mayfield most of the time now because he’s found a home. It’s all he ever wanted.
“I always had to trust the fact that if I got into the right situation, good things were going to happen,” Mayfield said. “I knew what I was capable of doing. It took me getting to Tampa Bay to be the best version of myself.”
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Mayfield, who always came across as confident, admitted that it waned some as he was let go by the Browns and Panthers before latching on with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022.
“I had to build that confidence back,” Mayfield said. “There were points in time where I did (have doubts). The first glimpse I got it back was in L.A.”
He played in five games for the Rams, four as a starter, and threw four touchdown passes and two picks. The numbers weren’t gaudy, but his play impressed. He came off the bench the week he arrived in Los Angeles and helped the Rams win a game over the Raiders with barely any time learning the offense. Then he completed 24 of 28 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns to beat the Broncos.
It was enough for him to get a one-year deal in Tampa Bay in 2023, with the idea in the organization being it might just be a short stint after Tom Brady retired.
Mayfield changed that thinking with his play. Now he’s entrenched. He is coming off a season where he threw a career-best 41 touchdown passes to finish tied for second in the league and was also third in yards with 4,500. In two seasons with Tampa Bay, he has 69 touchdown passes and has taken the Bucs to the playoffs in each of his two seasons and earned a three-year, $100 million contract last year.
But if you think he’s resting on his success, you can forget about it. I asked him if the infamous chip he carries on his shoulder is gone.
“Nope,” he said. “I love playing here with these guys, but I have to be internally motivated.”
For the first time since the 2020-21 seasons with the Browns, Mayfield will be in the same system for two straight years. That means not learning new terminology and a new offense. But he is learning from a new coordinator.
When Liam Coen left after one year to take the head coaching job with the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Bucs elevated assistant Josh Grizzard to take over as the coordinator. Grizzard, who is considered one of the bright, young minds in the league — a coach who graduated from Yale — has never called plays at any level.
Grizzard, by the way, will be Mayfield’s ninth offensive coordinator in eight seasons. Nine. Think about that.
“Liam and I were close in L.A. and he was great for me last year,” Mayfield said. “Griz has his own tweaks on it. He’s handled it well. Things aren’t just going to transfer from one season to the next. Nothing we did last year matters. The foundation is there. We are working on explosive plays (Mayfield’s number of deep passes have come down the past two years) and fundamentals in the run game. Josh is still getting used to calling plays. He was instrumental in our third-down install and passing-game stuff last year. So he has experience.”
Mayfield said coach Todd Bowles is using practice situations to let Grizzard get familiar with calling plays.
“He’s letting him call plays in real game-type situations during practice,” Mayfield said. “But it comes down to feel for play callers more than anything.”
Being in the same offensive system two years in a row will help. Mayfield was asked to do more at the line of scrimmage last season under Coen, which he likes, and that will carry over with Grizzard.
“I try not take take it for granted being in the same system since I am so used to learning new offenses,” Mayfield said. “Now it’s just about the details. We have a great group. We have everybody back and added some pieces in the skill group. That makes it easier. I took a lot more responsibility last year, and I am taking even more ownership of it. When it comes to those checks at the line of scrimmage, it makes it a lot easier with the guys being back. They know when we get this blitz, and I am going to check to this play, it’s second nature for them. When people don’t have to think about it, it’s a lot better.”
The Bucs have all their starters back on offense and added receiver Emeka Egbuka in the first round of the April draft. He has been everything the team expected so far, giving them a nice weapon to go with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin (still recovering from injury) and last year’s impressive rookie Jalen McMillan at receiver and Cade Otton at tight end and Bucky Irving and Rachaad White in the backfield.
“He (Egbuka) has a natural feel to his route running,” Mayfield said. “He has a good feel of getting to the right spots in zone. He’s extremely smart. His head was never spinning. He was getting other guys lined up. He’s polished.”
But Mayfield was quick to point out the Bucs offense this year will be a lot like it was last year.
“It still runs through the run game and Mike (Evans),” he said. “That’s how it goes.”
There are some things the Bucs need Mayfield to cut down on. One is him putting his body on the line in situations where he can be smarter about it, although he was only 14th in carries by quarterbacks and he did have success scrambling with it.
The other is cutting down on interceptions since he threw a league-leading 16 last year. But part of him throwing picks is he’s always going to be a gunslinger. That’s who he is, and as quarterbacks have told me in the past: You can play not to throw interceptions, but you won’t be throwing a lot of touchdown passes either.
“When you go back and look at the interceptions and why they happened, a couple were just being too aggressive in certain situations,” Mayfield said. “You also have to eliminate the bad decisions first and foremost.”
As for protecting himself?
“Third down, game on the line, you have to do what you have to do,” Mayfield said. “Other things on the sideline, you can be smarter. I get it.”
He paused for a second.
“It’s football,” he said.
Expect big things from Mayfield and the offense again. The defense should be better with some nice additions in the draft in the secondary and the acquisition of Haason Reddick as a pass rusher. If that unit comes together, Tampa Bay can be a Super Bowl contender.
If the Bucs were to get there, Mayfield’s transformation would be complete. He would have gone from the Cleveland fiasco to a Super Bowl as the Browns continue to be mired in quarterback misery.
Mayfield is actually now underrated, and it’s almost like people want to see more. They still don’t believe.
That’s a mistake. He’s for real.
A Super Bowl could change all of that negative thinking — and it certainly will change his contract status. His three-year deal expires after the 2026 season. If he plays this season like he did in 2024, his average salary of $33 million will look paltry compared to some of the recent deals given out to the quarterbacks. Mayfield’s cap number goes to $50 million next year, so an extension after this season could be likely. When you see Brock Purdy get a deal that averages $53 million, Mayfield has to be eyeing that type of money.
That means it’s a big year for Mayfield, but he isn’t making it that. He turned 30 in April, and seems so content with where is as a player and seems to think the rest will work out.
“I wouldn’t change anything I’ve been through to get here,” he said. “This is where I was meant to be.”
Mayfield smiled. He does that a lot these days. Football is fun again.
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