Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma and the No. 1 overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. His career traces an unusual arc for a top pick — four seasons in Cleveland, a split 2022 between Carolina and the Los Angeles Rams, and a reinvention in Tampa Bay that turned a one-year reclamation signing into the richest contract in franchise history. He matters as a case study in quarterback volatility: a player written off as a bust in two cities who, by the 2024 season, was throwing 41 touchdown passes and anchoring a perennial division winner.

Vitals
Born	April 14, 1995, Austin, Texas
Position	Quarterback
Teams	Cleveland Browns (2018–2021), Carolina Panthers (2022), Los Angeles Rams (2022), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2023–present)
Draft	2018, Round 1, No. 1 overall (Cleveland Browns)
Contract	Three-year, $165M extension signed Sept. 9, 2026 — Buccaneers’ long-term starter as of Nov. 4, 2026
Number	6

Oklahoma and the Heisman

The walk-on. Mayfield began his college career without a scholarship, starting at Texas Tech as a true freshman in 2013 before transferring to Oklahoma, where he sat out the 2014 season under transfer rules. He became the Sooners’ starter in 2015 and never relinquished the job, closing a three-year run with roughly 12,292 passing yards and 119 touchdowns against 21 interceptions.

The Heisman. In 2017 Mayfield threw for 4,627 yards and 43 touchdowns with six interceptions and won the Heisman Trophy — recognized as the first Heisman recipient to begin his college career as a walk-on since athletic scholarships were introduced. The chip-on-the-shoulder reputation that followed him to the NFL was forged in those years, when he reached college football’s highest individual honor from an unrecruited start.

The Browns era

The No. 1 pick. Cleveland selected Mayfield first overall in 2018, the first quarterback the franchise had taken at No. 1 since Tim Couch in 1999. His rookie season produced 27 touchdown passes, an NFL rookie record, across 14 games.

The peak. The high point came in the 2020 season, when Mayfield posted a 95.9 passer rating and led the Browns to their first playoff appearance since 2002. In the Super Wild Card round he threw for 263 yards and three touchdowns in a 48–37 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers — Cleveland’s first postseason victory since the 1994 season.

The decline. A torn labrum in his left (non-throwing) shoulder hampered the 2021 campaign, in which he threw 17 touchdowns and 13 interceptions across 14 games. Cleveland moved on that offseason, and Mayfield’s four years in Cleveland ended with the quarterback and franchise parting ways.

The journeyman year

The split season. The 2022 season defined the “journeyman” chapter. Traded to the Carolina Panthers, Mayfield started seven games, threw for 1,313 yards with six touchdowns and six interceptions, and was released midseason. Claimed by the Los Angeles Rams, he appeared in five games and threw for 850 yards and four touchdowns. For a former No. 1 pick, being waived and claimed within a single season marked the low point of his professional standing.

The Buccaneers revival

The arrival. Mayfield signed with Tampa Bay on a modest one-year deal ahead of the 2023 season, won the starting job, and threw for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns while leading the Buccaneers to the NFC South title. In the playoffs he beat the Philadelphia Eagles 32–9, completing 22 of 36 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns.

The breakout. The 2024 season was the finest of his career. Mayfield threw for 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns and a 106.8 passer rating, both the yardage and rating career highs, and set Buccaneers single-season franchise records in completion percentage (71.4%) and passer rating. He became the fourth passer in NFL history to record 4,000-plus yards, 40-plus touchdowns and a 70-percent-or-better completion rate in one season, joining Drew Brees, Joe Burrow and Aaron Rodgers. Tampa Bay won a fourth consecutive NFC South title.

The extension. On September 9, 2026, Mayfield signed a three-year, $165 million extension worth an average of $55 million per year, with $70 million fully guaranteed at signing — reported as the largest contract in Buccaneers history. The deal cemented him as the franchise’s long-term starter in the NFC South, completing a reversal from the player two organizations had discarded.

Playing style

The gunslinger. Mayfield is a sub-6-foot-2 pocket passer defined by aggression, improvisation and a willingness to attack downfield into tight windows. The approach produces both volume touchdowns and interception spikes — his 21-interception 2019 and his 16-interception 2024 came in the same career as his efficient, record-setting passing.

The edge. The competitive chip that dates to his walk-on years is inseparable from the scouting profile: analysts have long framed him as a quarterback whose confidence and mobility outrun his measurables, a reading his Tampa Bay production has largely validated.

By the numbers

Regular-season passing, per NFL.com:

Season	Team	GP	Cmp/Att	Yards	TD	INT	Rating
2018	Cleveland	14	310/486	3,725	27	14	93.7
2019	Cleveland	16	317/534	3,827	22	21	78.8
2020	Cleveland	16	305/486	3,563	26	8	95.9
2021	Cleveland	14	253/418	3,010	17	13	83.1
2022	Carolina	7	119/206	1,313	6	6	74.4
2022	LA Rams	5	82/129	850	4	2	86.4
2023	Tampa Bay	17	364/566	4,044	28	10	94.6
2024	Tampa Bay	17	407/570	4,500	41	16	106.8
2025	Tampa Bay	17	343/543	3,693	26	11	90.6
2026	Tampa Bay	5	68/110	679	3	2	80.8

Career totals

Ranks

• 1st Passer rating, Buccaneers single season (106.8, 2024)
• 1st Completion percentage, Buccaneers single season (71.4%, 2024)
• 1st Passing touchdowns, NFL (2023–2024 combined) (69)
• 2nd Passing yards, NFL (2023–2024 combined) (8,544)

Honors

• 2017 Heisman Trophy (Oklahoma)
• 2× Pro Bowl (2023, 2024)
• 2018 No. 1 overall pick
• 2× NFC South champion (2023, 2024)
• NFL rookie record, touchdown passes (27, 2018)
• 2015 Burlsworth Trophy

Per NFL.com, Over The Cap and Buccaneers.com, through Nov. 2, 2026.

The arguments

Bust or late bloomer? The central debate around Mayfield is whether Cleveland misjudged him or simply failed him. Critics point to the four uneven seasons and the 2022 waiver-wire season as evidence that a No. 1 pick never delivered on his billing. Supporters counter that his 2020 playoff run and his Tampa Bay production — including the 2024 franchise-record passer rating — suggest a quarterback who needed the right system and surrounding talent rather than one who lacked the ability.

Product or driver? A related dispute concerns how much of the Buccaneers’ success is Mayfield’s. Skeptics credit the receiving corps led by Mike Evans and the scheme around him, framing his numbers as system-inflated. Advocates note that the same player posted elite efficiency across changing offensive coordinators and that leading the NFL in touchdown passes across the 2023 and 2024 seasons reflects individual command of the position, not just supporting cast.

Worth the money? The $165 million extension reopened both arguments at once. One side sees a fair commitment to a quarterback entering his prime years in Tampa; the other questions paying top-of-market money to a passer whose interception totals and up-and-down track record carry real risk. As of November 2026, the deal stands as the franchise’s largest, and the Buccaneers’ decision is still being judged in real time.

Why it matters

Baker Mayfield’s entry in the record is not about a single peak but about reinvention: a Heisman-winning No. 1 pick who was discarded by two franchises and then rebuilt himself into the highest-paid quarterback in Buccaneers history. For a player set that reaches beyond the uncontested elite, his story anchors the Tampa Bay era and stands as the clearest modern example of how volatile the quarterback market — and the quarterback himself — can be.