Baker Mayfield Proving To Be More Than Just Tom Brady Replacement for Bucs

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield jogged off the field at Raymond James Stadium on Monday night, turned toward the home locker room, and let out an emphatic “Let’s go!” in similar fashion to Tom Brady, the legend he had the daunting task of replacing under center.

But Mayfield’s first season in Tampa Bay has already outlasted Brady’s final one.

The 28-year-old former No. 1 pick threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns in a 32-9 Wild Card thumping of the defending NFC champions the Philadelphia Eagles. No QB in franchise history had ever before thrown for 300+ yards and three scores in a single playoff game—not even Mayfield’s future-Hall-of-Fame predecessor in three years with the Bucs.

Now, almost exactly a year after Brady retired (for good) following a season-ending Wild Card loss, Tampa Bay is onto the divisional round, where a meeting with the No. 3 seed Detroit Lions awaits.

Unexpected? That may be underselling it. But for Mayfield, leading the once-counted-out Bucs into a playoff game as home underdogs was a position he was more than comfortable with.

“There’s something about, whether it’s you’re an underdog or [playing] a road game, just having your backs against the wall and knowing it’s just your team versus everybody else when you’re counted out,” Mayfield said postgame. “It’s always fun to be in that role. Obviously I’m pretty comfortable in it, but our team has completely embraced that throughout the year.”

Baker Mayfield of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throws a pass against the Philadelphia Eagles during the NFC Wild Card Playoffs on January 15, 2024, in Tampa, Florida. Mayfield has made the most of his first season with the Bucs.
Julio Aguilar/Getty Images/Getty Images

The Buccaneers are Mayfield’s fourth team over the last 19 months since the Cleveland Browns gave up on him. After stints with the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams in 2022, the former Heisman Trophy winner signed a 1-year, $4-million prove-it deal in Tampa Bay last offseason.

And prove it he has.

Mayfield set career-highs in passing yards, touchdowns, and completion percentage while leading the Bucs to a 9-8 season, the NFC South title, plus the conference’s No. 4 seed. And rather than just performing to the level of stop-gap, transition QB in the immediate aftermath of the prolific Brady era—the swagger-filled signal-caller has made his case to be the QB for years to come in Tampa Bay. There may be no better example of that than Mayfield’s play on Monday night.

Despite battling both a rib injury he sustained two weeks ago and an ankle ailment suffered against the Panthers last week, Mayfield had perhaps his best performance as a Buc. The QB flew out his personal physical therapist twice last week to rehab ahead of the game.

“I don’t know the science,” Mayfield said. “I just let him do the work. I’m a glutton for punishment. It’s not fun, but it’s worth it.”

Added Bucs coach Todd Bowles: “He gutted it out. I mean, if you looked at him during the week—he was limping around, he wasn’t practicing, he was getting a little better each day[…]He stayed with the plan, he never flinched, and he made play after play after play, and that says a whole lot about him.

“He did a hell of a job.”

The Bucs scored on each of their first three possessions against the Eagles to take a 13-0 lead early in the second quarter. Philly responded, and a Jalen Hurts-Dallas Goedert connection off of play-action for a five-yard score made it a seven-point game right before halftime.

Six first-half drops from Tampa Bay, three from tight end Cade Otton alone, kept the Bucs from blowing their lead open early. But Mayfield paced the sidelines, encouraging his teammates and assuring his pass-catchers of his belief in them.

The energy stayed upbeat. And that’s just what the Bucs needed.

“I feel like we as a team just take on his character,” said Otton, who finished with a team-high eight catches for 89 yards. “Just always competing, always has that fire. We’re seeing it come together. We’re getting better as far as executing. We’re never out of the fight. We’re always going to compete just like he does.”

Then the Bucs delivered a one-two knockout blow.

Tampa Bay pummeled Hurts throughout the night, using six-man defensive fronts orchestrated by the “evil genius” Bowles—as pass-rusher Anthony Nelson called him—to pressure and confuse the QB. But with just a four-man rush late in the third quarter, and the Bucs leading 16-9, Nelson forced Hurts into an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone. Tack on two points for Tampa Bay.

And on the second play of the ensuing drive, the Bucs were on the board again in that same end zone.

Mayfield hit wide receiver Trey Palmer on a quick out to the right, then the rookie did the rest, evading what seemed like the entire Eagles secondary—as Ray Lewis looked on in disgust on the ManningCast—on a 56-yard scoring hike.

A nine-point swing in a matter of 57 seconds of game time just about did it. Eagles fans in Kelly Green jerseys made their way to the exits. Some of those who remained in their seats pulled out paper bags to cover their heads. The City of Brotherly Love wasn’t feeling any in Tampa.

Add in a 23-year lob pass to Chris Godwin to beat cover zero—a play Mayfield audibled to and a throw he described as “[No. 14] is down there somewhere”—and the Bucs’ beatdown was complete. Celebratory cannons were fired.

The Eagles went from an NFL-best 10-1 record, which included a 14-point win over the Bucs in Week 3, to losing six of their final seven and being sent home on Wild Card Weekend. But Mayfield helped bring the Buccaneers back from a 4-7 record to become a playoff-winner.

“I love playing with Baker,” outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett said. “I knew Baker was going to be special for us once he won the job. I saw it from when he first got into the league. He just needed to be healthy and a good opportunity. And I think he got that with us, and he’s showing what he can do with it and I love what I’m seeing from him.”

There is mutual interest, according to reports, between the Bucs and Mayfield to extend their relationship past this season. That could include a franchise tag this offseason. Or, if the two sides want a long-term commitment, deals comparable to those recently signed by Derek Carr (four years, $150 million) or Geno Smith (three years, $75 million) could be in play, as highlighted by Spotrac.

But there’s more important business to attend to at the moment.

Mayfield joins a select list—which also includes Brady—of NFL quarterbacks to win playoff games with two different franchises.

The former walk-on Heisman Trophy winner won the Browns their first postseason contest since Bill Belichick’s tenure in the mid-1990s by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers during the 2020 campaign. Was this second playoff victory sweeter than the first for Mayfield? After being traded by the Browns, cut by the Panthers, and doubted by seemingly all teams not located in Tampa?

He didn’t say no.

“I don’t like to directly compare,” Mayfield, a slight grin on his face, said after a shrug and brief pause. “But year, obviously the ups and downs that I’ve been through the last few years, this one’s great[…]Our sights are set for bigger goals, so [we’re] onto the next one.”

That comes in a 3 p.m. divisional-round matchup with the NFC North Champion Lions on Sunday. Tampa Bay, who lost to Detroit 20-6 in the regular season, enters the rematch as an early 6.5-point underdog. A performance out of Mayfield to the caliber of what was seen against the Eagles may be needed to advance to the NFC Championship Game.

But after overcoming the “GOAT’s” farewell, fighting back into a playoff spot, and upsetting the Eagles, what’s one more win to Mayfield and company?

“I’m looking forward to it,” Barrett said at his locker postgame. “I know playoff football hasn’t been [in Detroit] for a long time. It’s finally back, and they beat us earlier in the year, so this is another step on our revenge tour.”