Since he was selected by the Cleveland Browns with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, Baker Mayfield has had quite a rollercoaster ride of a career. After starting for a few seasons in Cleveland, Mayfield was replaced by Deshaun Watson and traded to the Carolina Panthers before last season. In Carolina, he was benched several times and ultimately traded to the Los Angeles Rams, where he performed well but obviously didn’t unseat starter Matthew Stafford. This season, he was a full-time starter for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and just won a playoff game with the team.
Following the big win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card round of the NFL playoffs on Monday night, Baker Mayfield addressed his absolutely wild career, making it clear that he and his team are very comfortable embracing that underdog role.
“It’s always fun to be counted out,” Mayfield said according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “Obviously, I’m pretty comfortable in it, but our team has completely embraced that.”
Mayfield and the Buccaneers will need to embrace that role once again next week as they will be underdogs again in the division round game against the Detroit Lions. We’ll have to see how they perform.