Baker Mayfield Has Always Played Better With Something to Prove
From a hostile return to Texas Tech, to the infamous Kansas handshake, Hue Jackson, Steve Wilks and now Cleveland again, Baker Mayfield has spent a career turning grudges into fuel.
First and foremost, Baker is one of the most entertaining players to watch, regardless of how you feel about his skill level, ability to take a team to a championship, etc. He is entertaining from game start to game end. You can't count him out at any point.
With his personality, he gets his fair share of love and hate, and with that, some emotionally charged games. From a hostile return to Texas Tech, to the infamous Kansas handshake, Hue Jackson, Steve Wilks and now Cleveland again, Baker Mayfield has spent a career turning grudges into fuel.
There is a chip on his shoulder, and I'm all about it.
With Cleveland coming to Tampa Bay on Sunday, Mayfield has another one. He has already acknowledged that this game has been circled on his calendar.
So before Baker gets another crack at the franchise that drafted him No. 1 overall and eventually traded him away, let's go back through some of the most memorable games in which Baker Mayfield had a little something extra riding on the outcome.
Oklahoma 66, Texas Tech 59
27/36 • 545 yards • 7 TD • 0 INT
Holy stat line. This might be the game that created the blueprint.
Mayfield began his college career at Texas Tech, walking onto the team and starting as a true freshman before eventually leaving the program and transferring to Oklahoma. His first trip back to Lubbock as Oklahoma's starting quarterback was never going to be an ordinary road game.
Texas Tech fans were waiting for him. The stadium was hostile. Mayfield was booed relentlessly. And according to the people who were there, Baker wasn't exactly trying to block it out.
Former Oklahoma linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo later recalled that Mayfield “took it super personal” and that his demeanor was different leading into the game. Mark Andrews remembered the team wanting to win the game for him.
Then Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes produced one of the craziest quarterback duels college football has ever seen. Mayfield threw for 545 yards and seven touchdowns without an interception.
Mahomes threw for 734. Oklahoma survived, 66-59.
Oklahoma 31, Ohio State 16
27/35 • 386 yards • 3 TD • 0 INT
This one wasn't about a former team.
It was about embarrassment.
A year earlier, Ohio State had gone into Norman and beaten Oklahoma 45-24. Mayfield later specifically remembered watching the Buckeyes celebrate on Oklahoma's field and sing their fight song. He called it “embarrassing.” The following season, Oklahoma traveled to Columbus.
He completed 27 of 35 passes for 386 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions, leading Oklahoma to a 31-16 win over the No. 2 Buckeyes.
And then came the part everyone remembers. Some took offense to it; I loved it. Mayfield grabbed an Oklahoma flag, ran to midfield and planted it directly into the Ohio State logo.
Oklahoma 41, Kansas 3
20/30 • 257 yards • 3 TD • 0 INT
This one became personal approximately five seconds before the game started. I almost didn't include this, because Oklahoma dominating was almost a foregone conclusion. At midfield for the pregame coin toss, Kansas' captains refused to shake Mayfield's hand.
Mayfield exchanged words with Kansas players. Kansas defensive back Hasan Defense delivered a late hit to Mayfield's throwing shoulder. Mayfield jawed with Kansas fans.
And after throwing his third touchdown, Baker directed an obscene gesture and some not-so-family-friendly words toward the Kansas sideline. He apologized afterward for allowing the emotions of the game to get the better of him.
20 of 30, 257 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions.
Oklahoma won 41-3.
The Hue Jackson Game
19/26 • 258 yards • 4 TD • 0 INT • 143.9 rating
Baker didn't leave the grudges behind when he entered the NFL. Cleveland fired head coach Hue Jackson midway through Mayfield's rookie season. Not long afterward, Jackson joined the staff of the division-rival Cincinnati Bengals.
Mayfield did not appreciate that.
When Cleveland traveled to Cincinnati a few weeks later, Mayfield shredded the Bengals: 19 of 26. 258 yards. 4 touchdowns. 0 interceptions. 143.9 passer rating.
Cleveland won 35-20.
Afterward, Jackson approached Mayfield on the field. Instead of embracing his former coach, Baker gave him a quick handshake. Asked about it later, Mayfield didn't hide his feelings. Jackson had been in Cleveland's locker room asking players to play for him, Mayfield explained, and then joined a team Cleveland played twice a year.
“That's how I feel,” Mayfield said.
Hue Jackson, Part II
27/37 • 284 yards • 3 TD • 0 INT • 121.9 rating
Four weeks later, the Bengals came to Cleveland. Baker did it again.
284 yards. Three touchdowns. Zero interceptions. 121.9 passer rating.
Late in the game, television cameras appeared to catch Mayfield staring toward Jackson on Cincinnati's sideline following a completion that essentially sealed the game. Asked about the stare afterward?
Mayfield claimed he had no idea what anyone was talking about.
The obvious revenge game
16/27 • 235 yards • 1 pass TD • 1 INT • 1 rush TD
Cleveland had made Mayfield the No. 1 overall pick in 2018. He helped take the Browns to the playoffs and win their first postseason game in more than two decades.
Then Cleveland acquired Deshaun Watson and traded Mayfield to Carolina. Naturally, his first game as a Panther was against Cleveland. It wasn't just against his former team, either. Though certainly not the entire fanbase, a vocal portion of Browns fans had turned against Baker, despite him playing through a significant shoulder injury throughout much of his final season in Cleveland.
Mayfield publicly rejected the “revenge game” label. But when discussing how he would handle the emotions surrounding the matchup, he immediately reached for a familiar comparison: Texas Tech.
Mayfield said his return to Lubbock gave him experience dealing with precisely this kind of situation.
This time, though, there wasn't a storybook ending.
Mayfield completed 16 of 27 passes for 235 yards, one touchdown and one interception, while also rushing for a touchdown. Carolina rallied from a 20-7 fourth-quarter deficit to take a 24-23 lead, but Cleveland kicked a game-winning field goal in the final seconds.
Browns 26, Panthers 24. Baker's revenge game ended in a loss.
“This Is Personal”
19/29 • 233 yards • 1 TD • 0 INT • 44 rush yards
This might be the cleanest NFL example because we don't have to speculate about Baker's motivation. He told us.
The connection was Steve Wilks, who had been Carolina's interim head coach during Mayfield's brief Panthers tenure and was now the Jets' defensive coordinator. Before the game, Mayfield told his teammates:
His reasoning was equally direct: Wilks had been Carolina's coach when Mayfield was released. The game itself became wild.
Tampa Bay led 23-6 entering the fourth quarter before the Jets stormed back and eventually took a 27-26 lead. Baker got the football with less than two minutes remaining. He drove Tampa Bay into field-goal range.
Chase McLaughlin hit the winner.
Buccaneers 29, Jets 27.
Mayfield finished 19 of 29 for 233 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions, while adding 44 rushing yards on four carries.
It wasn't his most spectacular statistical performance. But in a game Baker explicitly told us was personal, he had the ball in his hands at the end and Tampa Bay won.
And now we're back where we started.
Cleveland.
Mayfield isn't pretending this one means nothing.
During an August conversation with former Browns teammate Jarvis Landry, Mayfield acknowledged that the Browns game was circled on his calendar. This week, he explained that whenever there's history with a franchise or coaching staff, you want to come out on the winning side.
There is certainly history here. Cleveland drafted Mayfield first overall. He quarterbacked the Browns to an 11-win season in 2020. He helped deliver Cleveland's first playoff victory since the 1994 season. A year later he played through a significant shoulder injury as the Browns struggled.
Then Cleveland traded for Watson. Mayfield was shipped to Carolina, struggled, and was released before the season was even over.
Two days later, the Rams claimed him.
Roughly 48 hours after arriving in Los Angeles, Baker was on the field for Thursday Night Football with essentially one abbreviated practice in a brand-new offense. He proceeded to lead a 98-yard game-winning touchdown drive, hitting Van Jefferson with 10 seconds left to beat the Raiders 17-16.
It wasn't a revenge game. It was just another reminder that counting Baker Mayfield out has a funny way of producing great television.
His career appeared to be heading in the wrong direction. Instead, that brief Rams stop became the bridge to Tampa Bay, where he rebuilt it.
Baker gets Cleveland again.
He says this one has been circled on the calendar. If history has taught us anything, that's usually when Baker Mayfield is at his most entertaining.