Baker Mayfield knew when it came to his future he 'wanted it to be Tampa'

Baker Mayfield has been through the wringer, which is the NFL. His football life is filled with ups and downs, despite being the first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. He even led the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs, but despite it all, they cut bait and moved on from him.

After two stops with the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers, he seems to have found his forever home in Tampa Bay, and he wouldn’t have had it any other way.

When speaking with Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, Mayfield made it very clear he never wanted to leave after getting here.

“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.”

For Mayfield, it was never about the talent but the support he was receiving. At Texas Tech, he showed flashes, but at Oklahoma, he had the right coaching and players around him. At Cleveland, it was about the lack of consistency. With Tampa Bay, he has found the right coaching staff, weapons around him, and an environment allowing him to be the best version of himself.

2023 was Mayfield’s first step of a thousand-mile journey; no matter what, he seems happy to call Tampa Bay home while enduring it all.