Baker Mayfield’s new teammates formed instant opinion on him replacing Tom Brady

Tampa Bay Buccanneers general manager Jason Licht has explained how the roster quickly bonded with quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Mayfield is in the early months of his first year as the starting quarterback for the Bucs after signing a one-year deal back in March.

In the process, Mayfield replaced NFL legend Tom Brady as the starting QB for Tampa following the 46-year-old’s retirement at the end of the 2022 season. In August, Mayfield was installed as the starting quarterback for the Bucs, having competed with Kyle Trask during training camp for the spot.

The former No.1 overall pick has started the season 3-1 with Tampa in what has been an impressive start to life in Florida.

Mayfield signed a one-year deal worth $8.5 million (£7 million) back in March, and it remains to be seen if the 28-year-old will remain in Tampa beyond the 2023 season.

But it seems that the quarterback has already made an impression on and off the field with his teammates and the front office. Licht, who helped sign Mayfield to Tampa, has opened up on what the quarterback is like off the field. Licht explained how Mayfield almost immediately formed a bond with his teammates.

“Baker, he’s a very, very smart person,” Licht said on ‘The Season with Peter Schrager’ podcast. “I knew he was smart, we did our due diligence on him coming out. I didn’t realize just how incredibly smart he is.

“And he was targeting us, maybe more than we were targeting him. He saw this as an awesome opportunity for him. And we told him from the beginning that you’re going to be in a competition here because we really like Kyle Trask.

“And he didn’t flinch, he accepted that and just ran with it.” Licht added: “I don’t know where this started that he wasn’t a good guy, and I think you can point to a few things where people got the wrong impression of him, but he’s an awesome dude.

“He’s a dude, and the players saw it right away. Whether he’s taking the lineman to the Bahamas, on our break during camp after the final cuts to go golf.

“He’s spotted around town at dive bars with different position groups, with receivers, with Mike Evans, with [Chris] Godwin. “It’s not fake, he really knows how to be a dude with the team, and they love him.