Baker Mayfield has seen a lot in his NFL career – from winning playoff games to being released. Throughout all of that, his personality has remained consistent.
The Buccaneers quarterback’s personality has particularly shined at the podium throughout his career. But while you might think that Mayfield is coming from a place of confidence during press conferences, he actually talks with reporters with a vulnerable mindset.
“For me, it’s I don’t have it all figured out,” Mayfield told Mark Sanchez on the recent episode of FOX Sports’ “Rearview.” “I think being authentic of I’m still learning along this journey of life and especially this football journey. I don’t have it all figured out, and it’s fun to be able to show a little bit of vulnerability, weakness, because, to me, that’s relatable.”
Whether fans at home view Mayfield as relatable is certainly up to the eye of the beholder. But what’s undeniable about the star quarterback is that he’s been refreshingly honest at the podium since the Browns took him with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft through the present day as he’s emerged as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
The latest instance of Mayfield providing blunt honesty came after the Buccaneers’ thrilling Week 3 win over the Jets. He flat out said that the win was “personal” for him and many other members of the Buccaneers, pointing out that he wanted to get revenge on Jets defensive coordinator Steve Wilks for cutting him when they were with the Panthers in 2022.
“You just know that it means more to those guys,” Mayfield told Sanchez, referring to head coach Todd Bowles and edge Hasson Reddick’s history with the Jets. “Obviously, my history with Steve Wilks. I mean, it’s not that the game is about that, but it’s just a little bit of extra motivation for the guys. Something to rally line. As competitors at the highest level of football, you try and find anything you can to motivate yourself a little bit extra.
That kind of openness and honesty seemed almost foreign to Sanchez. The former NFL quarterback said that during his career, he felt that he needed to “hold all this stuff in” and that he was “kind of scared to let anything out.”
Of course, as Sanchez spent a good portion of his career with the Jets, playing in a major media market like New York is a different animal than most cities. But Mayfield also played in a football-crazed market in Cleveland, and he hasn’t let it deter him from being who he is at the podium at all in his career.
“I’m going to continue to go throughout whatever it is, good or bad, I’m going to try to learn from it and take something away from each situation,” Mayfield said. “I think that’s where it stems from. I don’t have to fake it.”
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Mayfield’s play in the last couple of seasons certainly makes life for him a bit easier at the podium. He was statistically a top-five quarterback in the NFL in 2024, helping the Buccaneers win the NFC South again after winning the division in his first season as the team’s starting quarterback in 2023.
Through the first three weeks of the 2025 season, Mayfield and the Buccaneers seem poised to have another strong year.
Mayfield is only completing 61.6% of his passes, a far cry from 71.4% last season, but he has six touchdowns to no interceptions, and he has not committed any turnovers so far this season. That’s a big reason why Tampa Bay is undefeated despite a point differential of plus-six, winning three very close games.
If and when things don’t go Tampa Bay’s way this season, though – potentially in Week 4 when it hosts the reigning-champion Eagles at 1 p.m. ET on FOX – don’t expect Mayfield’s attitude to change.
“If I just be myself — good, bad, ugly — then that’s OK, I can own that,” he said. “I can be proud of that walking away from a locker room understanding that I did everything I thought at least was right at that time. If not, then I learned from it.”
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