On December 5 last year, the Carolina Panthers waived Baker Mayfield. A day later, the Los Angeles Rams picked him up. Fresh off a Super Bowl hangover, the “F- them picks” Rams entered 2022 with a depleted roster. They beat Carolina, 24-10, to enter the bye at 3-3 but lost their next six games. Matthew Stafford got hurt, and John Wolford and Bryce Perkins weren’t getting the job done. They must have liked what they saw from Mayfield in Week 6 because they picked him up on Tuesday and played him against the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday.
Mayfield delivered. After a cross-country flight, he had a short practice with the Rams on Wednesday. Then he went 22/35 for 230 yards and led a game-winning drive on Thursday. “I don’t know if you could write it any better than that,” Mayfield said after LA’s 17-16 win. “Obviously, we’d like to be a little bit more stress-free, but it’s a pretty damn good story.”
“What a quick study,” Rams coach Sean McVay said. “He just got here five minutes ago and figured out a way to be able to do some special things tonight.”
The fun didn’t last. The Green Bay Packers beat LA the following week. LA ran up the score on the Denver Broncos, 51-14, the next week but lost the next two games. Mayfield never threw for more than 230 yards and only had a quarterback rating above 60 in the Denver game. The Rams finished 5-12. Mayfield declared free agency and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On Tuesday, Tampa head coach Todd Bowles named Mayfield the starter for Week 1 against the Minnesota Vikings.
“I expect to be the starter,” Mayfield said in reaction to the news. “I know how talented I am. I know what type of leader I am. Now it’s time for the real thing.”
It also might be Mayfield’s last opportunity to be a full-time starter in the league.
Every former Cleveland Browns quarterback has a story. Tim Couch played behind a poor offensive line. Brady Quinn looked pro-ready coming out of Notre Dame, but it never fully manifested in the pros. Johnny Manziel battled off-the-field issues and wasn’t Johnny Football in the NFL. Ultimately, Cleveland never drafted the right signal-caller to build the franchise around. They traded for Deshaun Watson and made him their franchise quarterback last year.
But Mayfield’s situation felt different. The 6’1” former first-overall pick had moxie. He won the Heisman and starred in Progressive commercials. He finished runner-up for Rookie of the Year and led the Browns to the playoffs in his third season. They finished 11-5 in 2020 and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round. That was Cleveland’s first postseason win since 1994, when Bill Belichick was still the coach.
The Browns exercised Mayfield’s fifth-year option, and he played through injury in 2021. His numbers declined, and he asked for a trade after the Browns dealt for Watson. Cleveland traded him to the Panthers, where he competed with Sam Darnold for the starting job. Carolina felt like a good spot for Mayfield. He won the starting job and had Christian McCaffrey in the backfield and D.J. Moore and Robby Anderson out wide. The NFC South was hardly formidable. Perhaps he landed in a fortunate situation.
Mayfield suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 5, though. He missed the next week and backed up third-stringer P.J. Walker upon his return. Mayfield played in a blowout loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 9 and started Week 11. But Carolina traded McCaffrey to the San Francisco 49ers and Darnold took over as the starter in Week 12. Mayfield asked the Panthers to release him during their Week 13 bye.
Carolina obliged, and Mayfield landed with the Rams. But despite leading them to a comeback over Vegas, the Rams are sticking with Stafford, 35, this year. Mayfield had to win the starting job over Kyle Trask, Tampa’s second-round pick in 2021, in camp. He takes over a post-Tom Brady Buccaneers team that pundits believe will finish at the bottom of their division.
Tampa Bay may be Mayfield’s last opportunity to be a full-time starter in the NFL, but expectations are low for the team. Mayfield could retain his job by playing like he did in his first four seasons and keeping the Buccaneers competitive in a weak division. ESPN is giving the Vikings a 70% chance to beat Tampa in Week 1, but it’s a game they have to win. They play in Philadelphia on Thursday in Week 2, then Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers the following week. After that, they travel to play Adam Thielen, Bryce Young, and the Carolina Panthers before welcoming Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs to Minneapolis.
The Vikings have to win their first game, and Mayfield has nothing to lose. Even if Mayfield replicates last season and plays well for one week, only to regress after, it still would meaningfully affect Minnesota’s season. It’s easy to dismiss Tampa’s decision to start Mayfield Week 1, but the Vikings can’t look ahead to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 2. Mayfield’s stock has dropped since his 2020 season. Still, he can be disruptive, if only for one week.
