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Baker Mayfield’s NFL career was circling the drain, and he was just 27 years old.
During the 2022 offseason, the Cleveland Browns paid $10.5 million of Mayfield’s $15.35 million salary just to be rid of him and facilitate a trade to the Carolina Panthers. He was benched twice by a bad Panthers team and asked for his release. The injury-bombarded Los Angeles Rams added him, and while Mayfield had a few good moments there, there was not much of a market for him as a free agent last offseason. He signed for just one year and $4 million with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Mediocre NFL backups can make twice that. Mayfield wanted one last shot to start and the desperate Bucs, trying to get their salary cap in order after Tom Brady’s retirement, gave him that chance.
In almost every other case that’s the path of a quarterback who is about to become a career backup at best, and at worst completely fade from NFL consciousness. But Mayfield went from that one-year deal last year — to put it in perspective, Sam Darnold got a one-year, $10 million contract this offseason and Jacoby Brissett signed for $8 million over one year — to a three-year, $100 million contract with $50 million guaranteed.
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Mayfield and the Buccaneers had a pretty good season, and it was out of nowhere.
The Buccaneers were expected to struggle as they transitioned from the Brady era and had Brady’s dead cap hit to contend with, but they went 9-8, won the NFC South and then beat the Philadelphia Eagles 32-9 in the wild-card round. Mayfield threw for 4,044 yards and 30 touchdowns. He probably deserved more votes for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award that went to Joe Flacco, but nobody seems to know the criteria for that award. It was all a fun surprise…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-offseason-power-rankings-no-20-tampa-bay-buccaneers-revived-baker-mayfields-career-125912491.html
Author : Yahoo Sports
Publish date : 2024-07-04 12:59:12
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