Baker Mayfield, Surging In Tampa Bay, Left Confused By Cleveland Exit

Baker Mayfield, you’re not alone. Tampa Bay’s fiery quarterback spoke Friday on why he was unceremoniously dealt from Cleveland, a team that selected him first overall in the 2018 NFL Draft.

His opinion of the situation is as muddled as the rest of ours.

Following stops in Carolina and Los Angeles, Mayfield’s landed – and succeeded – in Tampa Bay. The Bucs are 3-1 in large part because of Mayfield who’s completing a career-best 69.6% of his passes while posting the best quarterback rating of his career.

The 28-year-old Heisman-winning quarterback has seven touchdowns compared to two interceptions.

Meanwhile, Cleveland still has no idea what they have at quarterback, other than a bunch of guaranteed money.

Appearing as a guest on The Pat McAfee show, Mayfield confessed: “I think I’m still confused too.” This came after McAfee admitted he couldn’t understand why Cleveland didn’t want to make it work with Baker.

Baker Mayfield Spent Four Seasons With Cleveland

The Browns dealt Mayfield to the Panthers months after acquiring Deshaun Watson – a quarterback that’s about as beloved in Cleveland as prom night acne.

Cleveland fans had previously anointed Mayfield the franchise savior after he set the NFL rookie record for touchdown passes in a season (27), then guided the team to a playoff win over Pittsburgh two seasons later.

Inconsistency throughout the organization (rare for Cleveland, I know) injuries, and up-and-down play from Mayfield caused the Browns to panic, then seek other options under center.

Enter Watson, exit Mayfield.

It’s a move that many Browns fans still can’t get behind (for reasons related to Watson both on and off the field) and has everyone from McAfee to Mayfield, to Northeast Ohioans still scratching their heads.

Baker Mayfield is off to the best start of his career. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images).

"Towards the end there, I played in 2021 with a torn shoulder and I was excited to get surgery, get healthy and get back to my 2020 form but that wasn't their plan,” Mayfield told McAfee. 

Hey, who needs to massage fan-favorite Mayfield back to health and keep a good thing rolling when you can bring in Deshaun Watson, a suspension, $230 million guaranteed and subpar play?

“I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason," said Mayfield. "Now the rollercoaster I went on after that was a little bit nuts for me. It gave me good perspective.”

And it gave Tampa Bay a Buc'n good quarterback.

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