Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield recently talked about the warm reception he received in Tampa Bay when he joined the team last season. Mayfield never tried to fill Tom Brady's footsteps, and he appreciated the fans accepting and welcoming him for who he was to the team and the city.
Mayfield's narrative about feeling at home in Tampa Bay is in sharp contrast to earlier in his career when he described being "shipped off to different places like a piece of dirty laundry." This is in reference to Mayfield being on the roster of three different NFL teams in 9 months in 2022, the Cleveland Browns in March, the Carolina Panthers in September, and the Los Angeles Rams in December.
The 2018 No. 1 overall pick has led two teams to the playoffs in his six-year career, the Browns in 2020 and the Bucs in 2023. In the offseason, he inked a three-year deal with the Bucs and hopes the fans get to know him better this season as he hopefully leads the team on a deeper run into the playoffs.