In the pantheon of NFL quarterbacks, Baker Mayfield and Tom Brady have shared little of the same air.
Brady is considered the greatest football player of all time. In 23 seasons — the first 20 with the New England Patriots and final 3 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — Brady won 7 Super Bowls, was a 5-time Super Bowl MVP, 3-time NFL MVP. He owns NFL career records for passing touchdowns, passing yards, playoff passing yards and playoff passing touchdowns.
Mayfield is yet to play in a conference championship game or a Super Bowl and is on his 4th team in 7 seasons. After making his first Pro Bowl in 2023 with Tampa Bay, he signed a 3-year, $100 million contract with the Buccaneers in March 2024.
Despite that vast canyon of career achievements, Mayfield decided to critique Brady’s time in Tampa Bay during an appearance on the Casa de Klub podcast with ex-MLB pitcher Corey Kluber on Sept. 17.
Brady won a Super Bowl in his first season in Tampa Bay in 2020, led the NFL in passing yards in 2021, led the NFL in completions and pass attempts in 2021 and 2022 and set NFL records for completions (493) and pass attempts (733) in 2022.
“The building was a little bit different with Tom in there,” Mayfield said. “Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out.”
“… You hear some of the stories about if he didn’t like a certain play call and he didn’t like it throughout the week and they still call it in the game, there might have been a throwaway on purpose or throwing it at the running back or receiver’s feet. There were a lot of mind games going on.”
Mayfield’s Career Has Been Rollercoaster So Far
Why Mayfield would think it was a good idea to offer up such a harsh criticism of Brady is anyone’s guess, although Mayfield has been the target of criticism and doubts dating back to his college days. Mayfield famously walked on at Texas Tech and was the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2013.
After Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury declined to offer Mayfield a scholarship, he transferred to Oklahoma and walked on there as well, becoming a two-time Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and winning the Heisman Trophy in 2017.
Mayfield was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns and was unceremoniously traded to the Carolina Panthers in 2022 when they team brought in quarterback Deshaun Watson and signed him to a 5-year, $230 million contract — the largest contract in NFL history at the time.
Mayfield Playing Way Into Top 10 QB Status in 2024
It’s not too late for Mayfield to start catching up to some of Brady’s bigger accomplishments — he’s only 29 years old and could just be coming into his prime. In 2024, he has the Buccaneers off to a 2-0 start headed into a Week 3 game against the Denver Broncos.
“If you turn on the film from Week 1, if we had to name an MVP from Week 1, it was Baker Mayfield,” ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said on Sept. 16. “He looked unbelievable. This was the most decisive player I’ve seen — (the) most decisive Baker Mayfield I’ve seen in his entire career. The ball was coming out so fast, chunk play after chunk play. He was unbelievable in situational football. In the red zone, threw four touchdowns. On third down, made some great plays with his feet.”
