TAMPA, Fla. — The new face of the Bucs at quarterback arrived with a confident smirk.
Baker Mayfield, 27, joined his fourth team since July when he signed a one-year contract with the Bucs on Monday.
It’s not been the NFL career the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 draft and Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma envisioned. After four seasons with the Browns, he was traded to the Panthers last summer. In December, he was claimed off waivers by the Rams, with whom he finished last season.
But he hasn’t lost any of his trademark swagger.
“It’s not how I drew my career up by any means,” Mayfield said Monday at his introductory news conference. “If I was to tell you how it would go based on a plan, I wouldn’t have said that I put on three different uniforms in year 2022, but that’s how it happens.
“So, you’ve got to learn from it. Roll with the punches, trust in God’s plan. But yeah, I’ve grown a lot. I appreciate all the things that have happened throughout my journey, and it’s helped me get here today.”
Mayfield said he’s learned a lot of lessons along the way. Now, it’s time to put them into practice.
“I’ve played a lot of ball. I’ve seen a decent amount, so I can help people out behind the scenes like I did last year quite a bit and just enjoying the process,” he said. “This is a dream I’m living. Why not enjoy it? But right now, I want to compete and I want to win.”
Mayfield has embraced the fact he will be competing with Kyle Trask for the Bucs’ starting job.
“I have not spoken to Kyle yet,” he said. “I’ve just watched him over the years through the college stuff, and I’ve always been a big fan. I thought he was really talented coming out and, yeah, I’m excited for it.
“To me, competition brings the best out of everybody. I’ve always believed that, and that’s just true for all sports. You know, it teaches you how to compete, it teaches you how to, you know, win and lose the right way, and there’s a learning process the whole way. I think Kyle and I were gonna push each other no matter what happens, and I think we’re going to make the most of it.”
Here are some other highlights from his 23-minute news conference:
On the possibility of succeeding Tom Brady in Tampa Bay:
“Listen, I’m never gonna be Tom Brady. There’s a reason he has won so many Super Bowls, and he’s is the greatest of all time. There is no doubt about that. And I’m not going to be Tom. I’m going to be me. That’s what’s gotten me to this point. We’re going to do it differently. But that’s what makes this league so special. Everybody puts their own touch on it. Yeah, it’s it’s an honor to follow up somebody like that and definitely the people that have played with him around here, I’m going to pick their brains about the things he did. There’s no doubt about that. So, I’m excited.”
How bouncing around from team to team during the past year has hindered his success:
“I think any time you look at some of the quarterbacks that have success you look at the stability they’ve had, so, you know, unfortunately, I haven’t had that. But that’s not all on everybody else. I haven’t played the best I’m capable of. I’ve had flashes of that, I know that. So I’m just eager to have this next opportunity to see what I can become.”
How he intends to approach the next few months before training camp:
“Dive headfirst. I mean, it’s the only way I know how to do it. So, I’ll be here and enjoying the process and getting to know everybody., To me, that’s what makes football the best team sport on Earth. It’s so much more than the X’s and O’s on the the field. You have to trust your guys. You have to know them in and out and know what their family situations are like, get to know why they’re wired a certain way, and that’s what’s so special about the quarterback position is you’ve got to know how to push people. You’ve got to know how to relate to him. If somebody needs a little kick in the butt, then you do that or put your arm around them. That’s what I love about the game. Everybody’s different, and that’s what I love about it. So, my approach is to just dive headfirst and go all in and just enjoy the process.”
