Baker Mayfield hasn’t enjoyed football in a long time. The Los Angeles Rams have reawakened the desire in him – the quarterback is therefore ready for the Tom Brady succession with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The shoes to fill with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are huge. After all, Baker Mayfield’s ego was similarly large for a long time. But the past few years have been messy for the quarterback, as he now admits.

But the feisty Mayfield feels ready for the challenging and also thankless task of taking over from legend Tom Brady at the Buccaneers. And that’s thanks in part to a brief stint with the Los Angeles Rams, where he played the final five games of the season in 2022.

Finally enjoying football again

“I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. It was the first time in a couple of years that I had fun playing football,” Mayfield told the “New York Post.”

An interesting statement. Before that, a lot had gone wrong for the 28-year-old. After a good start with the Cleveland Browns, who selected him No. 1 overall in the 2018 draft, things became increasingly difficult athletically.

Mayfield often didn’t deliver, was also injured. Before the 2022 season, they parted ways and Mayfield went on to a fresh start with the Carolina Panthers, which ended after just seven appearances.

Then came the Rams opportunity – which he took for himself. “It made me feel like I had success and really remembered what it was all about. For me, it was like I hit the reset button,” the brash playmaker enthused.

Baker Mayfield: “Excited and motivated “

Having a coach like Sean McVay and teammates on the offensive line was especially impressive to him, he said. “And now I’m looking forward to being in Tampa because it’s a very similar system with our new offensive coordinator [Dave Canales],” said Mayfield, who is competing with Kyle Trask for the starter’s job and official Tom Brady successor.

Mayfield seems primed for the huge shoes to fill, “I’m really excited and motivated and just looking forward to the future. “