Former Buccaneers CB addresses Baker Mayfield, Tom Brady comments

Retired cornerback Richard Sherman shared the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' locker room with Tom Brady during the 2021 season and, thus, may know a little bit about Baker Mayfield claiming last month that the Buccaneers were "pretty stressed out" and "weren’t having as much fun" when Brady was the team's QB1 from 2020 through the 2022 campaign.

Brady said this past Sunday he "thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings." Sherman responded to both quarterbacks during the latest edition of his "The Richard Sherman Podcast."

"Both of them spoke facts," Sherman said, per the JoeBucsFan website. "You know, it’s perspective. Everything’s perspective. … Tom Brady is a really fun guy. He’s not some dictator in the locker room , but he is a guy that holds everybody to a high standard — his receivers, his offensive line, his coaches, his offensive coordinators, his training staff, everybody in the building. Sure, that’s going to be stressful. But he gives you that kind of performance, that kind of effort, where you got to deal with a little bit of stressful ."

Brady was a 42-year-old six-time Super Bowl champion when he signed with the Buccaneers as a free agent in March 2020 and immediately made them a championship-or-bust team. He then guided the club to a Super Bowl LV win in February 2021 and to three straight playoff appearances before he retired in February 2023.

To compare, many expected the Mayfield-led Buccaneers would finish last season near the overall basement of the league standings. Instead, Tampa Bay won the division title and then earned a home postseason victory before Mayfield signed a new three-year contract to stay with the organization this past offseason.

Mayfield insisted on Sunday his original words "got taken out of context" and weren't "personal" in nature. Linebacker Lavonte David, who has been with the Buccaneers since the 2012 draft, later suggested he appreciates both Brady and Mayfield for their contributions.

"If you walked into the building and everybody was stressed," Sherman added, "but they got rings on their fingers, maybe the stress is what they need. Maybe that’s the kick in the butt they need because that pushed them to where they needed to go. Because the difference between a Super Bowl championship team and just a good team is inches. It’s details. It’s attention to detail. And Tom was incredible about those things."

It is, of course, worth noting that not everybody who played for the 2022 Buccaneers as Brady went through his public divorce earned a ring with the club in February 2021. At this point, Mayfield may need to explain why he shared the Brady take when he did if only to put this matter to bed for good.