When Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield signed with the team in 2023, he brought a much-needed shift in energy and dynamic to Tampa Bay following Tom Brady’s retirement.
Brady put the organization back on the map by winning the Super Bowl in 2020, but his last year in 2022 was one where the team failed to get to a winning record, was filled with distractions, and overall was a disappointment as the team failed to reach the level of success of the previous two seasons.
Mayfield took over and quickly won over his teammates and fanbase by exceeding expectations, which was rewarded when the Bucs committed to him on a three-year, $100 million deal. He recently joined two-time Cy Young Award Winner Corey Kluber on his Casa De Klub podcast, and the quarterback spoke on there and at the team facility Wednesday about his mindset in joining the team and filling the shoes of the greatest NFL player of all time.
Baker Mayfield: Tom Brady “Was Different”
Tom Brady demanded excellence.
It is what propelled Brady to become the GOAT when it comes to the NFL. Brady’s seven Super Bowls and countless records do enough of the talking. What he did in his three seasons with the Bucs was not just ride off into the sunset, but an exemplary showing of what it means to age like a fine wine. No one could replace the impact he had on the organization and league itself, but the environment he fostered was also one that left some guys stressed out.
That’s where Baker Mayfield came in.
Mayfield came into Tampa Bay as someone with a completely different career arc and personality. Someone who had not made it but was just looking to make it and stick around as a starting quarterback. When he joined the team, the vibe around it changed completely.
“Front office guys and coach Bowles were all just saying, ‘Just be yourself. That’s all we want you to be,'” Mayfield said on the Casa De Klub podcast about signing his one-year deal. “The building was a little bit different with Tom [Brady] in there. Obviously, playing-wise, Tom was different. He had everybody dialed in, [in a] high-strung environment so I think everybody was pretty stressed out.
“For me, everybody was expecting the Bucs to not be good last year. They wanted me to come in and be myself, bring the joy back to football a little bit for guys that weren’t having as much fun. Just continue to raise the competition level, they just asked me to be myself, and as a player, you really can’t ask for much more than that.”
That is not a bad thing, and one could argue that in both iterations of the Buccaneers, different styles of leadership were needed. In 2019, the Bucs had all the pieces but were missing that true game-changing quarterback. One that could bring them out from the depths of the NFC South and provide a taste of playoff football the organization had not experienced since 2007.
Brady’s big-game experience paired with an innate desire to better the players around him rubbed off in the following three seasons and that gold standard is still embellished in the remaining cast of players who have stuck around and passed it on to the next generation.
“You hear a lot of good stories,” Mayfield said on the podcast. “They won a lot of games, but it’s just different. We have very different personalities so for me, I was just trying to be myself. Not trying to wear his shoes or do any of that and you can’t do that. He made it to the level he did by being himself and in his own way and I think everybody else did as well. Just got to do it your own way.”
After Brady retired (for good), the team needed a different style of leadership. Walking the plank with him were various big-name veterans who tagged along for the boat parade, and pairing a chip-on-the-shoulder Mayfield with a squad mixed with veterans and young players proved to be a perfect blend. Quickly they have embodied being a team of grit and a mentality of not just proving others wrong, but proving themselves right as head coach Todd Bowles pointed out at his Wednesday press conference.
Todd Bowles: “Nobody’s Ever Going To Be Tom,” Baker Came In And “Has A Place He Calls Home”
When discussing this further on Wednesday, both Baker Mayfield and Todd Bowles shared their comments.
“Well, the biggest thing he did was not try to be Tom and the biggest thing we did was not want him to be Tom,” Bowles said of Mayfield following Brady’s footsteps. “The schemes have changed since Tom was here, the players have changed since Tom was here. Baker is his own guy.
“I keep saying, ‘Nobody’s ever going to be Tom.’ You know, you put his shoes on the shelf, and you buy a new pair, and you break them in, and Baker [has] come in and he’s picked up the system well. The guys have gravitated around him; he has a place he calls home, we trust him, he trusts us, and he’s fit in very well here.”
Bowles would not compare the two’s different personalities, though.
“I wouldn’t know anything about that,” Bowles said of the comparisons. “Tom was two years ago. He’s a Hall of Famer, he’s the greatest player ever and there’s probably nothing else to talk about.”
Mayfield also discussed what it has been like following in Brady’s footsteps.
“For me, it’s the same answer I gave you guys right when I got here: I’m not going to try to put Tom’s shoes on – that’s not how I do things,” Mayfield said. “Obviously, Tom did it his way and was unbelievably successful with it. A lot of that – just being my authentic self and the best version of me – is [that] this place allowed me to do that.
“Any time you’re having more success than they did in 2022, you’re going to have more fun. It’s different, and it’s always different year-to-year, and there’s a ton of new faces, anyway. [There was] a lot of change within 2022 to 2023. I’m just trying to be the best version of myself.”
Baker Mayfield is simply walking his own path with his own shoes, and for the 2024 Bucs, that is just fine. He has worn them without trying to fit Tom Brady’s, and they have quickly been broken into a comfortable pair.
