{"id":835243,"date":"2026-09-03T17:12:18","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T17:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/835243\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T17:12:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T17:12:18","slug":"baker-mayfield-nearly-got-everything-he-wanted-now-hes-betting-on-himself-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/835243\/","title":{"rendered":"Baker Mayfield nearly got everything he wanted. Now he\u2019s betting on himself \u2014 again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Baker Mayfield used to keep a list. His childhood friends are convinced this started early in high school, back when he was 5 feet 5 and 120 pounds, a wannabe quarterback in the football-obsessed Texas town of Lake Travis who had to crowhop like a center fielder just to throw it 35 yards.<\/p>\n

His buddies ribbed him. His parents wanted him to quit. He started writing down the names of anyone who doubted or dismissed him, easy fuel for a player who came to crave conflict.<\/p>\n

When he couldn\u2019t find a target, he\u2019d invent one. Once, during a 7-on-7 state championship game, Mayfield was torching an opposing cornerback so consistently that he started calling out his receivers\u2019 routes before the snap, wanting the kid to know exactly how he was going to embarrass him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere comes the post!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re running a fade! You can stop a fade, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

The touchdowns piled up. The corner grew so frustrated his coach yanked him off the field. Mayfield kept chirping at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn all my years I\u2019ve only had one player get a taunting penalty in 7-on-7,\u201d says Lake Travis coach Hank Carter. \u201cAnd Baker got several.\u201d<\/p>\n

This NFL player might have the most on the line in 2026<\/p>\n

Zak Keefer<\/p>\n

At the start of a Nike showcase event hosted by former NFL QB Trent Dilfer, Mayfield and Zach Austin, his best friend and top wideout, were lighting up a field of four- and five-star recruits. When he noticed none of the coaches were paying attention, Mayfield told Austin to pack up his cleats. They left halfway through.<\/p>\n

Mayfield needed the slights, the targets, the edge. \u201cSome guys get riled up and don\u2019t play worth a sh\u2014,\u201d says Lincoln Riley, one of his college coaches. \u201cBaker\u2019s different. Baker plays his best when his blood is boiling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The overlooked high schooler became the cocky college star, then the fiery pro with the sharpest tongue in the league, hellbent on running toward any fight he could find. Now, on the verge of his ninth NFL season \u2014 and without a contract for his 10th \u2014 Mayfield has found his latest target: his own front office.<\/p>\n

He was once the toast of Cleveland, the city\u2019s unofficial heir to LeBron James; by the end of his four-year stay he was feuding with the head coach and silencing the owner\u2019s phone calls. The Browns dumped him for a quarterback facing 22 sexual assault allegations. The Panthers demoted him to the scout team. Colin Cowherd told him to retire. The list grew longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some of the other places I\u2019ve been, I\u2019ve learned some things aren\u2019t fixable,\u201d Mayfield says. \u201cI tried to force my own way, and anytime you make your own plan, you\u2019re gonna have a nice surprise.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d forced his own way ever since he was too short and too small to get on the field at Lake Travis. Then the starter got hurt, and Mayfield went 25-2 over the next two seasons and led the team to a state title. He walked on at Texas Tech and won Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year. When the coaches refused to offer him a scholarship, he bolted for Oklahoma, knowing he\u2019d have to start from the bottom. Again.<\/p>\n

His high school coach warned him: \u201cBaker, they\u2019ve got a kid there named Trevor Knight who just threw for 350 yards against Alabama and Nick Saban\u2019s defense,\u201d Carter said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care,\u201d Baker replied. \u201cI\u2019m gonna win the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the first month, the Sooners staff didn\u2019t even know he was on campus. \u201cHe just showed up one day and said, \u2018Hey, can I join the football team?’\u201d Riley remembers. Within three years he was the first walk-on in college football history to win the Heisman.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why we drafted him No. 1 in Cleveland,\u201d says Hue Jackson, one of the many coaches Mayfield has feuded with. \u201cYou know that famous Browns jersey with all the QB names on the back? Well, Baker\u2019s a guy who we knew wouldn\u2019t give a s\u2014 about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Mayfield broke onto the national stage as a freshman walk-on at Texas Tech in 2013 before transferring to Oklahoma the following year. (Ronald Martinez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht met Mayfield in the spring of 2023, the lowest point of the quarterback\u2019s career. He\u2019d been on three teams in eight months and was looking for a fourth. The Patriots called, wanting him to sit behind Mac Jones. The Ravens called, wanting him to sit behind Lamar Jackson. Licht called and promised open competition. The offer was $8.5 million \u2014 \u201cpennies on the dollar,\u201d the GM says. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna put it out to the media that you\u2019re competing with Kyle Trask,\u201d Licht warned.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t care,\u201d Baker replied. \u201cI\u2019m gonna win the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Four quarters into his Bucs\u2019 tenure, Mayfield announced his presence. He stiff-armed Vikings cornerback Byron Murphy on a scamper to the sideline, then screamed at him, \u201cGet your weight up, little boy!\u201d<\/p>\n

Licht was watching from the press box. \u201cWe might have something here,\u201d he told himself.<\/p>\n

The Bucs won NFC South titles in 2023 and 2024 and looked even better to start 2025. Mayfield kept throwing bombs and running his mouth. \u201cYou\u2019re gonna be real f\u2014ing quiet at halftime,\u201d he told Seahawks fans before a Week 5 game in Seattle. \u201cI f\u2014ing told you!\u201d he gloated after a 38-35 win over the eventual champs.<\/p>\n

By midseason his name was in the MVP conversation. The Bucs were 6-2 and stirring talk of a Super Bowl run. \u201cWe have the team to do it,\u201d Mayfield said then. He was so close to having everything he\u2019s ever wanted. Maybe as close as he\u2019ll ever get.<\/p>\n

Then came the skid. Seven losses in eight weeks. Mayfield got hurt and played hurt, succumbing to some of his most stubborn, self-sabotaging instincts. \u201cHe would have to be dead not to play,\u201d Licht says. \u201cSometimes that\u2019s not a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The final tally for the 2025 season: sprained MCL, sprained PCL, bruised knee, bruised bicep and sprained AC joint, evidence of a reckless style his offensive coordinator likened to a UFC fighter. Mayfield refused to miss a start, even if he was too injured to practice. His play regressed. The defense crumbled. The season fell apart.<\/p>\n

He watched the game that sealed the Bucs\u2019 playoff fate from his kitchen in Tampa. The Panthers won the division via tiebreaker. \u201cWe s\u2014 the bed,\u201d he mumbled, as captured in the latest season of the Netflix series, \u201cQuarterback.\u201d \u201cThis is the best roster I\u2019ve ever been on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The late-season slide muddied Mayfield\u2019s future. A contract extension that once felt like a certainty became part of a more complicated conversation. Talks dragged. He set a deadline \u2014 the start of training camp \u2014 then held firm. He said he felt \u201cdisrespected\u201d<\/a> by the Bucs\u2019 offers. He said the price was only going to go up. He said he wouldn\u2019t negotiate until after the season.<\/p>\n

He sounded like a player resolute on proving his own team wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you have to back yourself into a corner and fight your way out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Licht didn\u2019t expect this type of acrimony with a player he says \u201cwill be a friend for life,\u201d but he\u2019s not na\u00efve about the personality he\u2019s dealing with.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope he\u2019s the quarterback as long as I\u2019m still working,\u201d Licht said in December, before Mayfield\u2019s play slipped and the Bucs missed the playoffs. \u201cI hope he\u2019s my last quarterback.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Licht\u2019s mind, nothing has changed.<\/p>\n

Mayfield eventually scrapped his list, wanting to look forward instead of back. That doesn\u2019t mean he forgot who was on it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a long memory,\u201d Riley says, \u201ca detailed memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Late January. Mayfield sees a post on X about newly hired Falcons coach Kevin Stefanski and the \u201cdumpster fire\u201d of quarterbacks he churned through in Cleveland. By this point it\u2019s been four years since Mayfield\u2019s messy exit from the Browns. He\u2019s found a home in Tampa. Re-established himself as a franchise quarterback. Started a family.<\/p>\n

And yet.<\/p>\n

Failed is quite the reach pal. Still waiting on a text\/call from him after I got shipped off like a piece of garbage. Can\u2019t wait to see you twice a year, Coach. https:\/\/t.co\/jUUsYkvlOC<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Baker Mayfield (@bakermayfield) January 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

His relationship with Stefanski soured badly during the 2021 season, which ended with Mayfield gutting through a torn labrum in his left shoulder. His play sagged down the stretch. Coach and quarterback barely spoke. Mayfield was sacked nine times in his final start, an ugly loss in Pittsburgh, and he fumed over protection calls that left a rookie tackle on an island against Steelers All-Pro T.J. Watt. Mayfield later wondered if the team set him up to fail.<\/p>\n

He remembers the Browns telling him to have surgery after the season, and when he returned, he\u2019d still be The Guy.<\/p>\n

He found out they were chasing Deshaun Watson while he was at a concert with a teammate. When owner Jimmy Haslam tried to reach out, Mayfield ignored him. \u201cI know that hurt him,\u201d Carter says of the end in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

List or no list, break his trust and he never forgets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Mayfied led the Browns to their first playoff win in nearly three decades following the 2020 season. Less than two years later, Cleveland traded him. (Emilee Chinn \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Mayfield has come to accept that his me-against-the-world mantra \u2014 \u201cJust throw a rock in there and see how I handle things,\u201d is how he describes it \u2014 played a role in his exit. \u201cYou can get lost in what\u2019s truly important,\u201d he admits, \u201cand that\u2019s how you handle relationships in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Cleveland, he began to wrestle with a reputation he came to resent, that he was brash and immature, a maverick who couldn\u2019t be trusted to lead an NFL franchise. He seethed over reports he wasn\u2019t a good teammate. Nothing stung worse. Hadn\u2019t he delivered the Browns their first playoff win in 26 years? Hadn\u2019t he slogged through a battered shoulder the following season?<\/p>\n

Only after brief stops in Carolina and Los Angeles \u2014 only after his career was \u201ctaken down to the studs,\u201d Mayfield says \u2014 did he realize he had some growing up to do. The brash antagonist who ran from the cops in college and once barked at an opponent, \u201cYou forgot who daddy is, I\u2019mma have to spank you today,\u201d now had a new layer of humility.<\/p>\n

But there was more, a private pain Mayfield hid from public view. It was only after a 2024 lawsuit he and his wife, Emily, filed that it came to light. The couple alleged a company run by Mayfield\u2019s father and brother had transferred roughly $12 million out of the Mayfields\u2019 personal bank accounts without their knowledge. Mayfield quietly withdrew the lawsuit a year later, and his attorneys declined to comment. The quarterback recently told The Tampa Bay Times that his icy relationship with his family has slowly started to thaw<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Three years in, Tampa has started to feel like home. The family is growing \u2014 the Mayfields now have two youngsters. After he found out their newest arrival would be a baby boy, a grinning Mayfield told reporters that he \u201cwas going to have a little s\u2014head on my hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

He paused. \u201cThat\u2019s karma,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Back in 2023, Licht wanted a player who\u2019d add some rough edges to his roster. He ignored the narrative. Everything about Mayfield fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cLot of turmoil, with his family and what happened in Cleveland,\u201d the GM says. \u201cHis whole story, really. I think it helped build character. We always knew what his ceiling was \u2014 for crying out loud, no one\u2019s won a playoff game there since he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd personally, I like the swag. I like the attitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Licht felt the QB\u2019s wrath while hammering out Mayfield\u2019s initial contract extension with the Bucs in 2024. At one point, the QB\u2019s patience wore thin. \u201cCan we get this f\u2014ing thing done?\u201d Mayfield texted his GM, adding a few more expletives for good measure. What he didn\u2019t know is that Licht and his agent had just finalized the deal.<\/p>\n

Licht called. \u201cListen up, a\u2014hole,\u201d he began, \u201cwe just agreed to terms.\u201d Both laughed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe fits us,\u201d Licht says, \u201cbecause he came to a place where (head coach Todd Bowles) and the GM said, \u2018Hey, be you.’\u201d<\/p>\n

The locker room echoes that: \u201cSix\u201d \u2014 as Mayfield is universally known \u2014 is one of them. He takes on his offensive linemen in \u201cMario Kart\u201d and chugs beer with them at hockey games. He encourages anyone with nagging soreness to swing by his house and see his physiotherapist, then refuses to let them pay.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never throw shade on Tom because I like my ring too much,\u201d Licht says of Brady, who led the Bucs to a win in Super Bowl LV. \u201cBut Baker is just more \u2026 relatable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Left tackle Tristan Wirfs, Mayfield\u2019s closest friend on the team, puts it this way: \u201cTom didn\u2019t really do anything with us, because he couldn\u2019t. Like, he couldn\u2019t even go out to dinner. Then Baker comes in and the first day he asks me if I wanna grab a beer that night. I\u2019m like, \u2018This is sick!’\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the Mayfield moxie, the trash-talking, on-field fearlessness his teammates can\u2019t help but respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou want somebody you can go into a dark alley with,\u201d says wideout Sterling Shepard. \u201cThat\u2019s Six.\u201d<\/p>\n

And veteran Chris Godwin: \u201cBake\u2019s really just an offensive lineman in a quarterback\u2019s body.\u201d<\/p>\n

The linemen still laugh at this story from the end of the 2024 season, when the Bucs were struggling in a win-or-go-home game against the Saints. Mayfield slid late on a quarterback keeper, knowing he\u2019d take a shot and his teammates would come to his defense. They did. A fight ensued. Mayfield walked away, says Bucs guard Cody Mauch, \u201clike he just set off a bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember us getting into it with them,\u201d says wideout Jalen McMillan, \u201cand I see Baker strolling out of there with this little grin on his face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay won and clinched a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just always had this mentality of, \u2018I\u2019m gonna have to kill this other person,’\u201d Austin says. \u201cIt\u2019s whatever it takes with him. He\u2019s the best teammate I\u2019ve ever had.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Mayfield\u2019s late-season slide has muddied his future in Tampa. (Mike Ehrmann \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Now Mayfield faces the most consequential season of his career. A true franchise quarterback \u2014 the label he\u2019s chased since he was shown the door in Cleveland \u2014 can\u2019t fade down the stretch like he did a year ago. His touchdown-to-interception ratio, 16-2 across the season\u2019s first nine games, plunged to 11-9 over the final eight.<\/p>\n

If he shines, and leads the Bucs back to the playoffs, he\u2019ll be in line for an extension that will pay him north of $50 million a year, cementing the status he\u2019s long craved. If he stumbles or gets hurt, he could find himself looking for a new team, starting over, again.<\/p>\n

Friction has a way of finding him. Mayfield welcomes it, eager to wager on the one person he\u2019ll never bet against.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Baker Mayfield used to keep a list. His childhood friends are convinced this started early in high school,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[1799,349,99,1824],"class_list":["post-835243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}