Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield confident despite previous failed stints

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield remains confident he can win at the highest level despite how his stints with the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers ended. 

"I know what I'm capable of," Mayfield told reporters on Thursday, as shared by Jenna Laine of ESPN. "Yeah, I got hurt in Cleveland — that's why my run ended there. And then last year, it was what it was in Carolina. But everything happens for a reason, so I'm here now."

Mayfield guided the Browns to a playoff victory in January 2021 but then suffered what became a serious injury to his left (non-throwing) shoulder in Week 2 of the subsequent season. Attempting to play through that setback likely did him more harm than good, as Cleveland replaced Mayfield with Deshaun Watson in March 2022 and then traded the first pick of the 2018 NFL Draft to the Panthers last July. 

By the time Carolina parted ways with Mayfield this past December, he was statistically one of the worst quarterbacks of the 2022 season. He later found some success during a cup-of-coffee stop with the Los Angeles Rams and then signed with Tampa Bay early into this offseason. 

Mayfield is competing with unproven 2021 second-round draft pick Kyle Trask to win the Buccaneers' starting job and replace retired legend Tom Brady. For now, the 28-year-old is focusing on improving from where he was with the Rams in January. 

"...Right now, I'm gonna approach each day the same, no matter what position I'm in — I'm gonna try to get everybody better," Mayfield said. "I'm still gonna be me, I'm still gonna work my tail off to obviously start, that's the goal, but to get everybody else better around me, to raise that standard as well. Being in different places and different experiences always helps you — if you don't take lessons from that and learn from it, you're doing it wrong."

The 6-foot-5 Trask noted Thursday he wants to play "a little taller" while attempting to defeat Mayfield in a battle that should run through at least part of the preseason. Mayfield, 6-foot-1, called Trask "a great guy" who ideally will help bolster the overall quarterback room regardless of who starts the regular-season opener at the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 10. 

"To me, competition always brings the best out in anybody," Mayfield continued. "You want to have somebody pushing you to be better. You want to have somebody who is going to challenge you and bring a different aspect to it."