Baker Mayfield on Sam Darnold, Kevin Stefanski and QB Mentality

I am here with Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield at the Super Bowl in San Francisco.

We have a beautiful burger here .

I know you've teamed up with Sonic.

What do you got going on?

Yeah, we are introducing the all-new smasher, um, unbelievable burger, and you can get it for $6 the combo, the medium fries or tots.

That's my preference, OK, and a medium drink.

So it's, uh.

Yeah, comes looking fantastic but tastes better.

What's the, the secret to assembling a perfect burger?

Well, see, if I was making my own, I probably wouldn't do all the toppings like that.

I'm not an artist.

What's the strategy?

More of an equality.

Um, what's the strategy?

You gotta make sure you layer the cheese between the patties on a smash burger, and it's, it's an art form.

Are you a big grill guy?

Not really.

I got friends that do it, but not.

I mean, I can get it done, but I'm not like looking up research.

I don't have all the tools.

I'm, you know, I'm working with what I got.

It sounds complex, honestly.

It does.

It sounds like a lot of work.

And why even grill when you could just go to Sonic and get a nice burger?

Bingo.

So what is your go to side dish to accompany a burger?

Is the fries tots?

It's tots.

It's tots, um.

The crispiness, yeah, OK, go to dipping sauce.

Hot take ranch ranch, not for the burger, for the tater tots, OK, not ketchup.

I love ketchup, but.

with the go to would be ranch.

OK, if you could share a burger with any athlete, past or present, who would it be?

Past or present.

Hmm.

I would say.

I would sit down and have a burger.

Let's go with Mark Andrews, my buddy.

OK, what do you guys like to talk about?

Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness.

OK, he's got, he's got a, he's got a serious girlfriend.

And uh you know they're engaged now.

Yes, that's right yeah they're getting married they're engaged, getting married, gonna be in the wedding, yeah, hopefully I don't know that's why we need to sit down and have a burger together absolutely need to talk about it.

Um, let's talk about the Super Bowl.

You were in the same draft class as Sam Darnold, Sammy D.

Is a part of you rooting for him?

Absolutely, yeah, I love Sam.

Um, just all the stuff he's been through, the ups and downs, having a Find his home in Seattle and he finally did and I can, I can obviously relate to that.

So just to to see him learn throughout the process and get better, uh, and you know his confidence never wavered.

So I think that's, it's awesome to see for anybody whatever you're doing in life, but for a guy that close friends it's, it's fun to watch him.

Yeah, I was gonna say you guys' careers have kind of taken like similar twists and turns.

You guys both bounced around.

Now you're having a lot of success.

You're having a ton of success in Tampa Bay.

What would you say to people who wrote you off early on in your career?

Um, I mean it playing quarterback is difficult, but it's, it's all about the right fit, you know, the people you're surrounded with, the staff, um, the organization, them obviously giving you all the resources you need to have success, um, it's, it's such a hard position to play that, uh, the organizations that take care of a lot of the other stuff, the day to day things for you, uh , to make your life easier, it just, you gotta be in the right situation.

What do you think is the toughest, toughest thing about playing quarterback?

Um, it's not the physical part of it because at this level you.

Better be able to have it physically.

Um, I think it's processing information quickly, being able to apply what you've studied and practiced, whether it's a check or changing throughout the progression, uh, being able to react to it quickly as you've gone through your NFL career, do you feel like the game slowed down for you?

Absolutely, yeah, yeah, compared to your Oklahoma days?

I mean, yeah, Oklahoma days.

I mean, even the college NFL speed is different, but, uh, yeah, I'll look back at.

Games from my younger days whether it's rookie 2nd year, I don't think I knew what I was doing.

So it's funny to look back at that and I think I was just getting by based on raw talent and uh ignorance.

Your rookie year in the NFL, yeah, I think so yeah.

Um, what more do you think you can do personally to help bring a Super Bowl to Tampa Bay?

You guys have coming off a good year.

Yeah, um, I, I think for us we set our expectations really high, which is great.

You should every year the goal is to win a Super Bowl, but when it comes down to it.

You have to progress throughout the year.

You have to get better as the weeks go on, as the season goes on.

So I think for me, um, refocusing everybody on how do we win whatever day we're in, whether it's a Wednesday for practice, Thursday, Friday, um, or Monday and Tuesday for recovery days when you have to get ready and do the mental prep work.

So I think for me, making sure guys are being present where we're at in the year.

OK, before I let you go, I do have to ask, what would it take for you to share a burger with Kevin Sapansky?

I mean maybe we'll have one after a game in Atlanta.

I don't know.

Yeah, well, you're gonna play him now with the Falcons.

I have two opportunities next year to see if I have to share a burger.

Is that gonna fuel you a little bit more now that he's in this?

Well, the burger will fuel me.

OK, yeah, OK.

Are you viewing those games as a revenge game?

No, not really.

I mean, well, not a revenge game in the sense of Atlanta, but we lost the division for the first time in 4 or 5 years.

So any divisional game will be a revenge game, I guess.

There's no beef to squash.

I mean, there's, there's stuff there, but it's not like it's beef.

I mean, it doesn't.

We've worked together.

Um, anytime you know somebody , you wanna, you wanna beat them, whether it's a good or bad relationship.

The only beef right here.

This is what you need.

Sonic Smasher.

Awesome thank you so much appreciate it I really appreciate it.