You don’t have to be a fly on the wall to know that the atmosphere at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is different with Baker Mayfield at quarterback than it was during their three seasons with Tom Brady at the helm.
Mayfield has now publicly admitted this and has made serious accusations against the current Fox Sports commentator.
Brady and Mayfield were never teammates in their NFL careers, as he was never planned to replace Brady as the former No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
Brady’s departure gave Mayfield a lifeline with his fourth NFL team, potentially salvaging his professional career.
Mayfield now appears confident enough to tell the franchise what happened to his predecessor.
Tom Brady played three seasons for the Buccaneers before retiring for good in early 2023
Baker Mayfield has since taken over as the Buccaneers’ quarterback and noted the differences
“You hear stories sometimes about a certain play call that he didn’t like and he didn’t like it all week, and then they call it in the game, it could have been an intentional throw or throwing the ball at the feet of the running back or receiver,” Mayfield said on the House of Club podcasting.
‘There are a lot of games going on.’
Mayfield also said that people in the Buccaneers’ headquarters are less “stressed” than when Brady was in the building.
The results speak for themselves: Tampa Bay reached the playoffs every season with Brady on the roster and won the Super Bowl in 2021.
That fact also applies to the one full season Mayfield played for the NFC’s Floridan team. Last season, he lost in the Divisional round to the Detroit Lions.
“The building was a little different with Tom in it,” Mayfield continued. “Obviously Tom is a different game. He had everybody on edge, a tense environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed.”
Mayfield and the Buccaneers are on a strong 2-0 season so far. On Sunday, they welcome one of the league’s worst teams to Tampa Bay: the Broncos.