Baker Mayfield shares what made first summer with Buccaneers 'tricky'

During a recent appearance on the "Pardon My Take" podcast, quarterback Baker Mayfield admitted his first summer with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was at least somewhat awkward due to having to compete with career backup Kyle Trask for the club's starting job.

"It’s tricky ’cause like the whole offseason and throughout most of camp I was still in a battle with Kyle Trask to get the starting job," Mayfield explained, as shared by the JoeBucsFan website. "And I think a lot of the guys knew what I was capable of, but they also didn’t know what version they were going to get of me. And the version they got was the one that truly didn’t give a s---."

Mayfield previously revealed that being discarded by both the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers in 2022 made him feel "like a piece of dirty laundry" before he signed a one-year contract with Tampa Bay in March 2023. Numerous analysts routinely named Mayfield the favorite over Trask last summer to earn the QB1 gig, and the first pick of the 2018 NFL Draft ultimately guided the Buccaneers to the NFC South division title and to a home playoff victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

"I had nothing to lose at that point," Mayfield said about where he was roughly one year ago. "I’m either going to be a backup for the rest of my career or I’m going to revive this thing. So it was like, 'This is the sparkplug I needed. Game 1 when I’m the starter. Let’s set the tone, a third-down run or something that we needed on the line, like let’s set the tone for the rest of the year, like what type of locker room we’re going to have.'"

Mayfield received some job security when he signed a new three-year deal to stay with the Buccaneers in March. With that said, history shows that contract could become little more than a one-season agreement if he fails to build upon all that he achieved en route to becoming a finalist for the Comeback Player of the Year Award in his first campaign with Tampa Bay.