After a rocky 2021 season, the Browns traded Baker Mayfield to the Panthers ahead of last season. He struggled in Carolina, which led to his release midseason, and the former No. 1 pick finished the season with the Rams, playing well-enough to earn a one-year deal with the Buccaneers this year.
Now that last year is behind him, Mayfield has time to reflect on it, and the quarterback believes that his brief time in Los Angeles was a good thing for his career.
“I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. It was the first time I had fun playing football in a few years,” Mayfield said, via The New York Post. “It brought that feeling of having that success and really remembering what it was all about, kind of hit the reset button for me.”
Mayfield only played in five games for the Rams, but his completion percentage, touchdown percentage and interception percentage were all better than they were in Carolina. Now, Mayfield has a chance to fully regroup with Tampa Bay as the team’s likely starting quarterback to open the season.
The quarterback credits the Rams coaching staff for elevating his play, and he sees similarities with his new coaching staff.
“To be around a coach like Sean McVay and a bunch of other guys … to be around those guys and to be in that offense and now looking forward to being in Tampa because it’s a very similar system with our new offensive coordinator [David Canales],” he said.
In 2020, Mayfield led the Browns to the second round of the playoffs, which was Cleveland’s first playoff appearance in almost two decades. He will try to get back to that level with the Buccaneers in the fall.
