Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield opens up about hitting 'rock bottom' in career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield was able to climb out of a dark time in his life and his career.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield throws during the second quarter of a NFC wild card playoff. / Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield has played well in Tampa Bay in the two years he's been there. Last year, he threw 41 touchdowns and helped lead the Bucs to another NFC South championship. But it wasn't always that easy.

Mayfield opened up on his career on a recent episode of Sports Spectrum, and he talked about the tough part of his NFL career. He was traded to the Carolina Panthers in 2022 and then was released during the year, concluding it with a short stint in Los Angeles with the Rams. He said on the pod that this experience, which he called "rock bottom", helped to humble him and realize that there's more to just being an NFL quarterback.

"God taught me a lesson. He had to take my career down to the studs and make me realize that I'm more than a football player," Mayfield said. "There's much more going on than the game of football. For me to see that, I had to hit rock bottom."

He mentioned that it wasn't just that, though, He revealed that his marriage wasn't going well at the time and that he had unsuccessfully tried to have children, and when this happened along with the bumps in the road his career took, he turned to religion to help him through his struggles.

"There's that 99% of you that you can put on a facade, as a guy. You put on the mask, but behind closed doors, who are you really? What are you hiding?," Mayfield said. "Until my career got stripped down, I was hiding a lot. For me to climb back up, I had to dive into the word."

It was tough for Mayfield, but he's found a home in Tampa, where he signed a three-year deal worth $100 million ahead of the 2024 season. Next year, he'll run it back with his whole offense and some continuity with offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard, so he could have an even better year after coming out of the gloom he went through a few years ago.

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