Baker Mayfield signed a three-year, $131 million deal to remain with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this offseason after his much-needed 2023 season - a year in which he looked to have saved his career .
Mayfield looked to have finally put it together on his fourth team after being traded away from the Cleveland Browns , who made him the first overall pick in 2018, before being released by the Carolina Panthers in 2022.
The quarterback came into the 2023 season being given the opportunity to start which many saw as his last chance - going on to throw 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while leading a Buccaneers team that many had expected to struggle to a win in the playoffs.
Mayfield's high-end play saw him become a hot commodity in free agency, just a few months after many thought he'd become a backup in the league - with FOX Sports talk show host Colin Cowherd telling him that he should walk away from the game and take up a position as an analyst.
Cowherd said on his YouTube show, The Herd : "I'd like to be Baker Mayfield's agent and I'm going to tell him at 28 years old, retire, save your brand and go to college football and be an analyst. You'll be able to make seven figures. I just saw a story this morning where Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask - it's a battle to see who will start at quarterback. It's time to retire.
"You lead the NFL in interceptions since you entered it. You're not a franchise quarterback. You've never grown out of the chutzpah and the tough guy thing. And like Tim Tebow or Cam Newton, he's just too relevant to be a backup."
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Cowherd is not the only detractor who Mayfield had proven wrong, and while he could have explored his worth on the free agency market, he has now opened up on why staying with the Bucs was an easy decision.
He told the Tampa Bay Times : "For us, it was a matter of timing. In the moment, yes, I wanted to get the deal done. But being on the business side of this thing a couple times and on the bad end of it, you want to make sure you get taken care of. So, for me, yeah, I was a little anxious. But I wasn't worried.
"I knew that based on 2023, getting a fresh start in Tampa, I knew that I had put enough stuff on tape. I knew that I was a starter, but now I knew that other people viewed it the same way. I wasn't worried, but I wanted it to be Tampa. I knew the culture and that was a place where I could be myself. Genuinely."
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