Baker Mayfield has entered the NFL MVP conversation.
After his latest round of heroics in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 38-35 walk-off win in Seattle, Mayfield is now drawing the third-best MVP odds, behind only Buffalo's Josh Allen and Kansas City's Josh Allen, both former winners of that coveted award. That's a long way from a player who signed a one-year "prove-it" deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023 after playing for three different teams in the span of 13 months.
Famously, when the Buccaneers bet on Mayfield in their search for a Tom Brady replacement, team management gave the former first-overall draft pick a message: Be yourself. That was an important message for Mayfield, whose fiery demeanor and all-out approach on the field was seen by some as part of the reason his tenure in Cleveland didn't end as originally hoped.
The rest is (still-developing history). Mayfield won a competition with holdover Kyle Trask for the starting job in the Bucs' 2023 training camp and then produced a Pro Bowl season, throwing for what was then a career-best 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns for a team that won its third straight division title. He proved it was no fluke in 2024 – after signing a more lucrative long-term deal to stay in Tampa – once again leading the team to an NFC South title by throwing for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns. He finished 11th in the MVP balloting that season.
If that wasn't enough to change the group think about Mayfield, his incredibly clutch play in 2025 may have tipped the balance. He's producing numbers near the top of the league again, with 10 touchdown passes, no interceptions and a 104.4 passer rating, but more importantly in terms of his national perception, he has led the Bucs on four last-minute game-winning drives in the season's first five weeks. That had never been done before. And he's just as fiery and just as brash as he was earlier in his career. Only now, those are good things, and he has a new perspective on the ups and downs of life as an NFL quarterback.
"I try not to get too high, not get too low, which is something that I was not doing early on in my career," said Mayfield. "Early on in my career, it is looked at as cocky and immature, [and] now it is moxie and 'He is a dawg.' Same [crap], different day. As long as you play well, they change the narrative. You just have to be yourself and I have always been like that."
Mayfield had just turned 23 when the Browns made him the top pick in the 2018 draft. He turned 30 in April, and it's safe to say that most people come out of their 20s quite a bit different than how they entered them. That's true to for Mayfield, but one thing that will always stay the same is how competitive he is when he puts on the helmet.
"At the core, [I am] definitely the same, but matured in different ways," he said. "Not worried about little things that really do not matter Now, [if] you put it in the landscape of competitive football games in that atmosphere? That will never change."
The Buccaneers don't want him to change, and didn't want him to change when they signed him during the 2023 offseason. That "be yourself" directive has worked to a degree that is perhaps what the Buccaneers were even expecting at the beginning.
"I love what he's doing right now," said Head Coach Todd Bowles. "I love the way he's playing. I love the space he's in mentally and physically—getting it done. The mastery of the offense in his second year has really done a lot. Them understanding and communicating what he likes and doesn't like, and him throwing to the open guys and making everybody better, has really helped. I'm very proud of that."
It's far too early in the season to know what Mayfield's MVP odds will look like in November or December, and that's hardly the top concern for him and the team. But the narrative surrounding his career has certainly experienced a sea change, even if at the core he's the same player and same man as he was seven years ago.
