“Where the hell am I right now?” - Baker Mayfield reveals he suffered crisis of faith after Panthers traded Christian McCaffrey away
The 49ers were the star of the Christian McCaffery trade. However, Baker Mayfield's reaction was a piece of the fallout that went under the radar. Speaking on Monday's edition of the "Pardon My Take" podcast, Mayfield highlighted the crisis following the team's loss of McCaffrey.
“There was definitely a point in Carolina where we went through a couple of injuries," Mayfield said. "Team wasn’t playing well. Trading Christian McCaffrey. I was like ‘Where the hell am I right now?’" [1:15:00 onwards].
He added that landing in Los Angeles for a few weeks with Sean McVay allowed him to reset.
"Just needing a fresh start and going to LA for the last five games of the year. They weren’t making the playoffs regardless. McVay was in a bad spot at that point. They had so many injuries that year coming off the Super Bowl," he added.
"For us to both come into it at that point, the timing was perfect. I needed that, to go out and say ‘Screw it’ let me find the fun in football again.”
Not only did it let him mentally reset, but it also allowed Mayfield to put out some good tape once again. Mayfield won his debut game with the Rams after landing with the team less than a week prior.
Then, before the end of the year, he put on a Christmas beatdown of the Denver Broncos. Mayfield's Rams won 51-14 over Russell Wilson, leading the team to fire their head coach before their next game. Many can point to those two games as the reason the Buccaneers gave Mayfield a shot.
The Buccaneers quarterback then managed to slide into Tom Brady's vacated shoes by winning a playoff game in 2023 after a 9-8 season.
Baker Mayfield completes $100 million NFL comeback
Not many quarterbacks land a $100 million contract once their first team decides to cut ties. However, having played for one-eighth of the leagues in the NFL, Mayfield appears to have finally found a port in the storm.
Mayfield's three-year contract worth up to $115m contract runs through 2026, per Spotrac. As such, Mayfield has the longest runway he has had with a team since getting drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 2018. His new contract also triples the remuneration of his rookie deal, which offered $32 million.
As such, with a playoff win under his belt last season, Baker Mayfield has fans urging him to make a deeper run in the playoffs in 2024. However, if he falls short of that goal, he will have at least one more season to prove his worth.
This serves as a luxury for Mayfield, who also has reason to deliver to increase his earnings further with top yearly quarterback salaries nearly doubling his $33 million salary.
Will Baker Mayfield's story hit a new height or has the quarterback's return from the brink peaked? Let us know in the comments section.
If any of the above quotes are used, credit "Pardon My Take" and H/T Sportskeeda.