NFL News NFL News, Reports and Updates
As a former No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft, Baker Mayfield is rare in so many ways.
He was the first walk-on to be selected with the first pick in the draft. At just under 6-foot-1, he was, at the time, the shortest No. 1 overall pick quarterback in NFL history. He had transferred from one Power 5 school to another before Kyler Murray and Joe Burrow did it.
And he’s the rare failed No. 1 overall pick passer who didn’t quite “bust” with the team that drafted him yet didn’t sign a second contract with that club.
This season with the Buccaneers, and most recently in Week 15’s convincing win over the Packers in Lambeau, Mayfield’s shown those No. 1 overall pick glimpses from his days in Cleveland, when he gave the Browns juice that’s evaded them for decades as a record-setting rookie (touchdown passes) and in 2020 en route to a triumphant and sweet playoff win over the Steelers.
So, like most things with Mayfield, this is not a classic, we’ve-seen-this-before career rejuvenation.
It’s rare.
Now, before I really get started, I will note — Mayfield has not been spectacular for the currently 7-7 Buccaneers in 2023.
But what’s both striking and encouraging for Tampa Bay this season (and beyond?) is that after a borderline disastrous year in 2021, Mayfield’s last with the Browns, then dismal stops in Carolina with the Panthers and Los Angeles with the Rams in 2022, he’s started to play like the fun young quarterback he was at the outset of his NFL career before injuries and organizational dysfunction in Cleveland accelerated his exit from Ohio.
It’s rare because we normally don’t see a rise then a fall then another rise from a quarterback in this league. This is not a Ryan Tannehill or Geno Smith second-act revitalization.
This is Mayfield’s third act. Or maybe, technically, his fourth. Usually once the NFL has a quarterback figured out and squashes his productivity…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/buccaneers-baker-mayfield-accomplishing-something-incredibly-rare-this-season-and-heres-how-hes-done-it/
Author : Chris Trapasso
Publish date : 2023-12-21 14:49:34
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
