Baker Mayfield emerged from last season smelling like roses.
Faced with replacing the legendary Tom Brady as suddenly a journeyman quarterback on his fourth team in two years, Mayfield surprised by finding happiness and a home in Tampa Bay, leading the Buccaneers to their third consecutive NFC South title and a trip to the NFC Divisional Round.
"You're having a lot more fun when you're not getting shipped off to different places like a piece of dirty laundry, I'll tell you that," Mayfield said Thursday on the Mike Calta Show. "So, when I got embraced in Tampa, it made a world of difference. I've always played ball to enjoy it. I mean, it is a game. Yes, it is my job, but I love it so much. I've always worn my emotions on my sleeve and, so, let people embrace that, and that's why I'm so excited for having more years to come in Tampa for people to just get to know me a little bit better, truly realize that's not just a show on the field. That's who I am when it comes down to the football aspect. I love it. I'd do anything for our team and our locker room guys know that."
Before his latest stop in Tampa Bay, Mayfield had initially been a No. 1 overall pick of the Browns and during the 2020 campaign led them to their first playoff victory in 26 years. But he only lasted one more season, his fourth with Cleveland, before the team traded him to Carolina, where he initially won the starting job and played in seven games before the Panthers released him in December 2022.
Mayfield then caught on with the Rams, and two days later led a 98-yard two-minute drill for a stunning win over the Raiders. Those heroics and his steady play across four more contests to close the season put him back on the map, which he traveled across to Tampa Bay in 2023.
One year later, Mayfield now has his first Pro Bowl bid and first 4,000-yard passing season under his belt.
He's earned the confidence of the Bucs organization. General manager Jason Licht made that clear by inking the QB to a three-year, $100 million contract this past offseason.
And the stability for Mayfield didn't stop there. Tampa Bay took care of many of its own this offseason by re-signing players like wide receiver Mike Evans and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. Reunions were also forged, such as when the Bucs brought in Mayfield's college wideout, Sterling Shepard, and brought back defensive back Jordan Whitehead following a two-year hiatus.
"I couldn't have been happier with the way it worked out," Mayfield said of his first season with the Bucs. "Obviously getting some of those other guys back and continuing what we were able to build on last year, it just felt like home from top-down how they run it. … I'm so excited to be heading into another season with these guys, for the most part the same group, and just truly embrace that and build the chemistry even more."
Mayfield and Co. won't have everyone back for their run at four straight division titles, though. Offensive coordinator Dave Canales, the man perhaps most responsible for unlocking Mayfield, took a head-coaching job with the rival Panthers.
His absence means the Bucs must learn a new offense under Liam Coen, who did briefly cross paths with Mayfield in Los Angeles but will otherwise be unfamiliar to most players. Coen marks the club's third OC in as many years and -- even counting their five-game partnership with the Rams -- Mayfield's seventh since 2018.
The 29-year-old QB can lead knowing full well what to expect after enduring such consistent change, both throughout his career and during the recent years of his "dirty laundry" era.
He also knows who everyone, including his old friend Canales, must take down to wrest away the NFC South.
"Let's not get it twisted," Mayfield said. "The division still runs through us."
