Bucs GM: Baker Mayfield Has 'Eternal Chip' on His Shoulder; Everybody Said 'He Sucks'

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 3-1 and in first place in the NFC South the season after Tom Brady retired in large part because of the play of quarterback Baker Mayfield, who is apparently motivated to prove his doubters wrong.

"He has an eternal chip on his shoulder," Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht said, per ESPN's Jeremy Fowler. "Now he wants to resurrect his career. Everybody was counting him out and saying he sucks."

It's not hard to determine where that chip on his shoulder came from given the roller-coaster nature of his career.

Mayfield was a walk-on quarterback at Texas Tech and ended up as a Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma. He was once the No. 1 overall pick and franchise savior for the Cleveland Browns and ended up being traded for a conditional draft pick.

He came to Tampa Bay with no expectations on a one-year deal with no guarantee he would even start and now has the team in early playoff position.

It has been quite the ride to say the least.

There was a time when Mayfield was seen as the long-awaited quarterback answer for the Browns. They selected him with the top pick in the 2018 draft, and he led them to an actual playoff win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers during the 2020 campaign.

It was Cleveland's first postseason win since the 1994 campaign during the previous iteration of the franchise.

Yet the Browns went 8-9 and missed the playoffs during a tumultuous 2021 season, which included wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.'s father posting a video of Mayfield missing his son being open a number of times.

Cleveland traded the quarterback to the Carolina Panthers ahead of the 2022 season, and he ended up starting 10 games between the Panthers and Los Angeles Rams. While there were some impressive flashes, he went just 2-8 in those contests and was something of an afterthought during the ensuing offseason.

All that afterthought has done is lead the Buccaneers to a 3-1 start while completing 69.6 percent of his passes for 882 yards, seven touchdowns and two interceptions. One of those wins came on the road against the division-rival New Orleans Saints, and he will be put to the test Sunday when Tampa Bay faces the 4-1 Detroit Lions.

He may feel doubted, but it's hard to count Mayfield out given his excellent start to the campaign.