Baker Mayfield won’t see your slew of social media insults if he throws an interception on wild-card weekend.
The Buccaneers quarterback said Wednesday that he no longer uses social media after years of collecting online receipts and trying to prove critics wrong.
“That’s been a growing process,” Mayfield said during his weekly press conference. “To say that I’ve always been like that would be a lie. I used to keep a lot of notes and try to prove people wrong but that’s not the way to go about life. You gotta believe in yourself, you gotta move on, play for each other.”
Mayfield’s admission comes as he has turned his career around in Tampa Bay after the former No. 1 pick was close to being out of the NFL completely.
He has now led the Buccaneers to back-to-back NFC South titles as his team prepares to host the Commanders on Sunday night in a wild-card game.
The 29-year-old threw for a career-highs of 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns this season with the help of new Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen.
Coen held the same position with the Rams in 2022 when Mayfield joined Los Angeles for the final five games of the season with the team dealing with a multitude of injuries at quarterback.
The former No. 1 pick had been shipped to the Panthers after the Browns acquired Deshaun Watson. Mayfield struggled in seven games in Carolina and was released before the Rams picked him up off the scrap heap.
Mayfield played well enough to earn a one-year contract with the Buccaneers before last season and then signed a three-year, $100 million deal this past offseason after winning the NFC South last year.
“I keep talking to you guys about it being the greatest team sports, I love this group and so how can I do my job the best to perform for them and be prepared,” Mayfield said. “That’s blocking out the outside noise and the easiest way to do that is to just not have it.”
