Leave it to Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield to be Captain Obvious in his first presser on his new team.
Baker Mayfield is not Tom Brady, and he cleared that up pretty well in his first press conference with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In case anybody was wondering.
Last week, Mayfield and the Bucs agreed to aย one-year contract worth up to $8.5 million, giving the NFC South heavyweight a successor to the now-retired Tom Brady.
The Bucs brass showered Mayfield with kind words like โtough competitorโ and โgood upsideโ trying to hide the ugly truth that in his entire five-year career, the former first-round pick has been unbelievably average.
He has one winning season with the Browns under his belt, and he wears it proudly. As long as he knows who he is โ an average quarterback โ he shouldnโt face too many problems in Tampa. Everybodyโs expectations are at a minimum, especially after Mayfieldโs scoff-inducing comments in a Monday presser.
With a stern face, Mayfield leaned into the microphone and said eight words that the rest of the league already knew:ย โListen, Iโm never going to be Tom Brady.โ
New Bucs QB Baker Mayfield doesnโt want anybody to confuse him with Tom Brady
โThereโs a reason why heโs won so many Super Bowls. Heโs the greatest of all time โ thereโs no doubt about that. Iโm not going to try to be Tom. Iโm going to be me. Thatโs whatโs gotten me to this point. Weโre going to do it differently.โ
Nothing like a little self-deprecation to start your first press conference on your new team.
Brady thrived in an offensive scheme with Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, and others to win the Bucs a Super Bowl in his very first year, and then he took the team to the playoffs two more times.
With a less reliable passer like Mayfield under center, itโs very possible Tampa could regress to its Jameis Winston era, bumble toward a last-place finish, and miss the postseason altogether.
Mayfield put together a few nice highlight reels last season on the Los Angeles Rams, but in the wake of his signing, Kyle Trask has to feel pretty good about his chances of beating the veteran quarterback for a starting role in 2023.
What everyone knows for a fact is this: The Buccaneersโ second act that is Baker Mayfield will never be able to follow the first act that was Tom Brady. Theyโre two totally different plays altogether. Bradyโs act ended with a standing ovation and desperate pleas of โEncore! Encore!โ Itโll be interesting to see how Mayfieldโs act ends.
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Author: Kristen Wong
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