Secret to Baker Mayfield’s success.
So Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht decided to put his shrink hat on. As a result, he may have figured out how Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield went from the cusp of being out of the league to being a star with a perennial playoff team.
Mayfield was used up by the Browns, who decided they should put all their eggs in one basket by signing a sleazy guy with tons of pervert allegations against him.
Then Mayfield went to Carolina with an inept coach who couldn’t figure out how to win games with Mayfield, Christian McCaffery and D.J. Moore, was cut loose and seemed destined for the USFL.
Then he found a coach who believed in him for only a short period of time. That led him to the Bucs where everyone from Licht down to the players wanted and embraced Mayfield.
Next thing you know, he’s winning the MVP of the Pro Bowl and then throwing for 70 percent completion percentage.
Licht believes the rebirth of Mayfield was as much psychological as anything, as he came to a team that wanted him and believed in him, unlike the Browns or the Stinking Panthers.
Licht appeared with fellow general manager John Schneider, the shot-caller of the Seahawks, in a sitdown with Mike Tannenbaum of BSPN, himself a former NFL general manager.
There, the subject turned to quarterbacks. Licht seriously believes Mayfield has succeeded with the Bucs is the way he was welcomed, treated and respected by Bucs’ brass, coaches and teammates.
> “I do think that, at least, with Baker, with us, you know he went through a rough patch there early in his career,” Licht began. “But he felt like he was wanted.”
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> “Yes!” Schneider yelped, interrupting Licht in agreement.
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> “Mayfield was wanted “by the head coach, by the GM, by the coaching staff, by the players,” Licht said. “We wanted him. And I think there’s a psychological advantage to that once \[a quarterback feels\] like they’re at a place where everybody wants him.”
Now look, Joe isn’t going to dismiss this. Joe is sure that being a good fit has something to do with Mayfield’s success. Ever since Mayfield ran over a Vikings defender for a key first down late in the season opener at Minnesota in 2023, the Bucs fully embraced him as their quarterback. They all swear by him.
Joe is sure that camaraderie helps. But at the end of the day, no matter how nice the Bucs organization was with Mayfield, he still had to go out on the field on gamedays and make plays.
Is that before he believed he was wanted and accepted? Joe cannot say that, though Joe is sure it doesn’t hurt.
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