The Rise, Fall and Resurgence of Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield is a player that knows a lot about the highs and lows of football both in the NFL and in college Baker was a walk-on and transferred all before winning the Heisman Trophy he was the first overall pick and helped the struggling organization make the playoffs and even win a postseason game beger Mayfield was a top name in the game and he had a bright future but then he was replaced and sent to the depths of Hell Carolina he struggled with a bad team but found some success after being released to earn a one-year Pro it deal with Tampa Bay where he did just that proved it Baker Mayfield has had his ups and downs he started from the bottom and Rose to the top just to fall back down and have to restart all over again but he stayed resilient his story is nothing short of incredible Baker Mayfield was born on April 14th 1995 in Austin Texas his middle name is actually Reagan named after Ronald Reagan thanks to his father James Mayfield who played football at Houston for 3 years Baker played at Lake Travis High School and went 25-2 in two seasons and won the 2011 4A state championship in all Baker Mayfield had 6,255 yards 67 touchdowns and eight interceptions over his high school career he wasn't a very sought-after recruit though he was a three star and the composite 42nd best quarterback in the class one spot ahead of Kurt bener 27 spots behind Jared gof 32 spots behind Josh dos in 41 spots behind the top quarterback in the class max Brown Baker received some offers from Florida Atlantic New Mexico and rice but instead decided to go to Texas Tech as a preferred walk-on 2013 was the first season for Texas Tech with Cliff Kingsbury at head coach Michael Brewer was the expected starter but then suffered a back injury and suddenly Baker Mayfield was the first walk- on true freshman quarterback to start an FBS season opener he put on a show in his first two stars securing wins over SMU and Steven F Austin Baker completed 71.1% of his passes for 780 yards in seven touchdowns plus one rushing without an interception it was an incredible start to his collegiate career but it didn't last he struggled the next week against TCU with 216 yards one touchdown and three interceptions Texas Tech did ultimately win after a Bradley Marquez touchdown but it wasn't Baker Mayfield who threw it it was actually true freshman fourstar Davis web who alternated between starting and backing up Baker in 2013 Baker did then have four touchdowns in an interception and a 63-34 blowout loss to number five Baylor at AT&T Stadium Baker Mayfield appeared in eight games and won Big 12 offensive freshman of the year after he passed for 2,315 yards 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions plus three rushing touchdowns the future was looking bright for the freshman but then he transferred baker said Texas Tech had not offered him a scholarship for the spring semester and decided to transfer to Oklahoma to play for Bob Stoops the NCAA rule at the time was that a player who transfers and hasn't graduated has to sit out for a year but the big 12 had a rule that if a player transfers within the conference they lose a year of Eligibility and have to sit out the loss of Eligibility could be waved by the players's former school but Texas Tech denied Baker's request the Big 12 did later change its rule to let some Walk-Ons transfer within the conference without losing eligibility a rule that Texas Tech actually voted in favor for and it allowed Baker to play in 2017 the year he won the Heisman Trophy after sitting out of the 2014 season Baker Mayfield won the Oklahoma starting quarterback job over Trevor Knight in his OU debut against akan Baker passed for 388 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for another he passed for 13 touchdowns over his first four games as a sooner leading up to a huge game against Texas Baker had a single touchdown and Oklahoma lost its first and only game of the regular season they followed it up though with an absolute smashing of Kansas State winning 55 to zero as Baker threw five touchdowns in his best performance of the Season he got his revenge on Texas Tech the next week beating the Patrick Mahomes L Red Raiders 63 to 27 and U won the bedum game 58 to 23 at the time Oklahoma state was number number 11 in the country Oklahoma went on to make the college football playoff as the number four seed but ended up losing to number one seed Clemson 37 to 17 as Baker struggled he passed for just a touchdown to two interceptions still it was a successful season for the Sooners and Baker Mayfield he had 3700 yards 36 touchdowns plus seven rushing touchdowns and seven interceptions and finished fourth in Heisman Trophy voting again in 2016 Baker was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy and so was his top receiver DD Westbrook he was just one of many good offensive weapons that Baker got to play with at OU including Sterling Shepard cidi lamb Maris Brown Mark Andrews samaj perine and Joe Mixon he also had some pretty great offensive lineman like Orlando Brown Jr Cody Ford Ben Powers and Creed Humphrey of course there's always his backup to Kyler Murray safe to say that Baker had some Talent around him but U still missed the cfp for the first and only time behind Mayfield in 2016 after they started the season 1-2 they dropped games to number 15 Houston and number three Ohio State by a combined 31 points bger was playing well regardless though and U didn't lose another game that season including a sugar bowl win against Auburn Baker had seven games with three or more touchdowns including that iconic 66 to 59 win over Texas Tech the Sooners and Red Raiders combined for a division one record 1,78 yards Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes combined for 1,279 passing yards and 12 touchdowns that was easily the best game of Baker's college career and it helped him put together a good statistical season with 3,965 yards 40 touchdowns eight interceptions and six rushing touchdowns after the season Baker got into some trouble after he was arrested in Arkansas on charges of public intoxication disorderly conduct and fleeing and resisting arrest he ended up having to do 35 hours of community service and complete an alcohol education program he then had plenty of extra backlash in his final season at Oklahoma after Baker Mayfield planted the OU flag in the middle of the O at Ohio stadium best year Baker Mayfield hadn't College was absolutely in 2017 and it came after Bob stops retired in Lincoln Riley was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach Baker went on a tear he had multiple touchdowns in every game including a season high five touchdowns and the only game he threw multiple interceptions bedum Baker had a school high 598 yards and U won 162 to 52 Oklahoma dropped just a single game in the regular season in 2017 a 38-31 loss at home against Iowa State Alan Lazard actually scored the game-winning touchdown and David Montgomery scored in the Cyclones win too other than that U ran the Big 12 they played TCU in the conference Championship Game whose top receiver at the time was actually Jaylen rager Oklahoma won 41 to 17 and earned the number two seed in the college football playoff where they'd have to face Seer finished with an incredible year passing for 4,627 yards 43 touchdowns and six interceptions plus five rushing touchdowns he went on to win the Heisman Trophy becoming the first walk-on player to ever do so but up next came the draft there were some good quarterback prospects in the 2018 NFL draft including Sam darnold Josh Allen Josh Rosen and Lamar Jackson the question was who was going to go number one the Browns had the first overall pick at the 2018 NFL draft after another disastrous season Cleveland went 0 and6 and that came right after a 1 and5 finish in 2016 the Browns really were the laughing stock of the league and Baker was drafted to hopefully be their savior in March of 28 the Browns decided to trade for Tyrod Taylor from the bills Cleveland went on to decide that he was going to be the week one starter and immediately he helped them snap a 17-game losing streak but they still didn't win they ended up tying with the Steelers 2 weeks later finally the Browns won a game for the first time since 2016 but it came with plenty of drama Tyrod Taylor went down with an injury and Baker took the field down 14 to0 he went on to throw for 201 yards and and Cleveland came back to win 21- 17 to end a 19 game winless streak from that point on he was the starter and he led the Browns to their best record since 2007 78 And1 his first NFL start was a 45-42 overtime loss to the Raiders but Baker then went on to win his first career start the following week 12 to9 in overtime over the Ravens the best stretch of his rookie year came from week 7 to week 12 with a week 11 byy along the way over the span the rounds went 2 and three as Baker passed for 1,166 yards 13 touchdowns and two interceptions unfortunately he'd have the worst game of the season in a loss to the Texans where he had just a single touchdown to three interceptions it was one of two three interception games for him in 2018 including in week 17 and a loss to Baltimore which was his second back-to-back three touchdown game Baker finished the year with 3,725 yards 27 touchdowns which was the most by rookie in NFL history at the time in 14 interceptions it was a promising rookie season but it came with its drama Hugh Jackson was the Browns head coach to start the season before he was fired after a 25- one start he finished his time as the Browns head coach with a 3 36-1 record it really can't get much worse than that former bills head coach Greg Williams took over as the interim along with Hugh Jackson getting fired so was offensive coordinator Todd Haley which led to familiar name Freddy kitchen getting promoted to his position as OC Freddy kitchens got a lot of credit for Baker Mayfield's good rookie season and it led to him getting promoted to head coach ahead of the 2019 season safe to say that didn't go too well the Browns somehow actually got worse and kitchens was fired a few hours after the last game of the season it was a less than ideal season for Baker Mayfield there were some pretty big expectations heading into the year especially after the Browns traded for obj from the Giants to pair him alongside Jarvis Landry Odell did have a 10,000 yard season which likely is the last of his career but Baker had a bad sophomore slump he didn't have a multiple passing touchdown game until week 10 and had three different games with three interceptions including a 43-13 blowout against the Titans to start the year his best game of the season came in week 12 versus the Dolphins he had 327 yards three touchdowns which was one of his two three touchdown games of the season in a 41 to 24 win overall it was a pretty disappointing season for both Baker and the Browns they lost four straight at one point and closed a season with a three-game losing streak to go 6 and 10 Baker finished the year with 3,827 yards 22 touchdowns and 21 interceptions it was pretty clear that Freddy kitchens was not the answer and that's when Cleveland hired Kevin stefansky at the time the Browns had only made the playoffs once in 2002 since their return to the NFL and they hadn't been back since that was until 2020 year one under stefansky got up to a pretty Rocky start with a 38-6 blowout loss to the Ravens but Cleveland responded with a four-game win streak and Baker threw two touchdowns in each game in week seven he had a career high five touchdowns to go with 297 yards in an interception and a tight 37-34 win against the Bengals five games later he had 334 yards four touchdowns and no interceptions and a close 41-35 victory over the Titans Baker ended up having a pretty good bounceback season he passed for 3563 yards 26 touchdowns and only eight interceptions but more importantly than any of that the Browns went 11 and five and made the playoffs they had to go on the road in the Wild Card round to Pittsburgh and got a 48-37 win after jumping out to a 28 to0 lead in the first quarter Baker came to play throwing for 263 yards and three touchdowns without a pick the next week the Browns actually gave the Chiefs a pretty good test but did lose 22 to 17 it felt like Cleveland was finally on the cusp of being a true Contender and Baker Mayfield was a big part of that they picked up his fifth year option ahead of the 2021 season and that's when things went South in week 2 Baker suffered a partially torn laum and he just kept getting worse he re-aggravated it in week six and later suffered a knee contusion in week 10 he was beat up all season long and his play just wasn't good he didn't have over two touchdowns in any game and had a brutal four interception loss to the Packers Baker Mayfield had easily the worst season during his time in Cleveland passing for 3,10 yards 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions the Browns went 6-8 in his starts and 8-9 overall after the season Cleveland traded for Deshawn Watson from the Texans and signed him to a contract extension so the Browns traded away Baker Mayfield to the Panthers for a conditional fifth round pick Baker spent the 2022 off season competing with Sam darnold for the Carolina starting job Baker did ultimately win the gig and started the Panther's first five games of the Season before suffering a high ankle sprain that caused him to miss some time he came in for a struggling PJ Walker in week nine and then struggled in week 11 a 13 to3 loss where Baker had two interceptions that was Baker's final appearance in Carolina he finished his time with the Panthers 1 and5 with 1,313 yards six tou touchdowns and six interceptions he requested to be released and was claimed off of waivers by the Rams with only two days to learn the Playbook Baker Mayfield backed up John Wolford in week 14 against the Raiders Shawn McVey then benched Wolford after one series and put Baker in the Rams were down 16 to3 in the fourth quarter but then some Baker magic happened with 145 left in no timeouts Baker Mayfield led the Rams on a 98 yd touchdown Drive CT off with a 2 three yard van Jefferson catch to win 17-6 Baker Mayfield went on to start the final four games of the season for the Rams but won just one of them a 51 to4 win over the Broncos a game where Baker was honored by winning Nickelodeon's prestigious MVP after throwing for 230 yards and two touchdowns he finishes very brief time in Los Angeles with 850 yards four touchdowns in two interceptions Baker Mayfield went on to sign a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2023 off season filling the void that Tom Brady left after retiring Tampa Bay did have a quarterback competition between Baker and Kyle tras in the off season that Baker did ultimately win a lot of people counted out Baker Mayfield but he certainly had a big comeback year in 2023 his best game was in week 14 a 34 to2 win over the Packers Baker had 381 yards and four touchdowns without a single interception it was one of the two three or more passing touchdown games he had on the year and he only threw more than one interception a single time he finished the year with 4,044 yards 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions that was enough for him to be named to his first ever Pro Bowl meanwhile the Buccaneers won the NFC South for the third straight year with a 9 to zero week 18 win over the Panthers in the Wild Card round Baker won his second career postseason game with a win over the Eagles and like the time before Baker had three touchdowns without an interception the the following week he had three touchdowns and two interceptions and a 31-23 loss to the Lions the Buccaneers in Baker Mayfield exceeded all expectations and a lot of that has to do with offensive coordinator Dave Canales who was just recently hired by the Panthers to be their head coach now it's time to see just how well new offensive coordinator Liam Cohen can mess with Baker Mayfield he had success at Kentucky as the OC and most recently spent some time with the Rams as their OC regardless Baker Mayfield is now locked up he got a three-year extension in the off season worth up to $100 million with 50 million of that being guaranteed and he's earned every dime of it baker has had a crazy up and down career but he keeps ending up back on top and here we are again he's a starting quarterback in the NFL and he finally got a big bag to do so

Channel: J&D Productions

Views: 30,859

Keywords: j&d productions, baker mayfield, buccaneers, tampa bay buccaneers, bucs, browns, cleveland browns, nfl, football, oklahoma, baker

Id: dBZY97KFIyU

Length: 17min 20sec (1040 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 20 2024