What Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield Said About Jets' Tyrod Taylor
The New York Jets aren’t going to be at full strength when they take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
New York lost starting quarterback Justin Fields for the game as he is dealing with a concussion. In his place, 15-year veteran Tyrod Taylor will start. This will be his first start since 2023 as a member of the New York Giants. The Jets are taking on a Buccaneers team that at least has some familiarity with Taylor. The reason for this, is that Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield played with Taylor back in 2018 as a member of the Cleveland Browns.
The New York Jets are rolling with Tyrod Taylor
Taylor started three games that season but then Mayfield took over and ran with the job for a few years before bouncing around before getting to Tampa Bay. While speaking to the media ahead of the matchup, Mayfield talked about Taylor and had nothing but good things to say.
"He's an awesome guy," Mayfield said. "Really good leader. Veteran presence that was instrumental for me in the midst of a chaotic first year in Cleveland. Somebody I relied on a lot. A ton of respect for him just the way he is able to command and operate."
The Jets enter the contest with plenty of question marks after losing the first two games of the season. Now, they are without the services of Fields, but Taylor arguably is among the league's best backups. He's played all over the place and has accomplished a lot in the NFL, including a Super Bowl win as a backup. The Buccaneers are 2-0 on the season after wins over the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans. The Buccaneers beat the Falcons by just three points and then the Texans by one point. This game, even with Fields injured, should be a close one and give the Jets an opportunity to get into the win column.
The Jets have had to deal with a lot already, but fortunately, they have Taylor to lead the way until Fields' return.
Insider Reveals Why Baker Mayfield Failed In Cleveland
The Cleveland Browns have been searching for a franchise quarterback for nearly the entirety of their franchise history, including in 2025, as 40-year-old Joe Flacco won a four-man QB competition this offseason and has four turnovers through two games.
It seemed like Cleveland finally had its guy when it selected Baker Mayfield out of Oklahoma with the first overall pick in the 2018 draft, but he was tossed aside after four years so the Browns could trade for Deshaun Watson, which has worked out as poorly as anybody could have ever imagined.
Mayfield is now leading a perennial contender with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while Watson can’t stay on the field, and Cleveland.com’s Mary Kay Cabot recently provided some context on Baker’s time in Cleveland and why things didn’t work out during her recent appearance on The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima.
“I think he got off to a very, very tumultuous and toxic start here. So many things went downhill. Baker, himself, he was a little bit of a trainwreck when he was here. I think he needed to be humbled. He needed to change. His marriage was on the rocks. He had family issues with his father and his father’s company. He was not in a good place, and he readily admits he needed to have his career taken down to the studs so that he could build himself back up.”
🚨 "Baker landed in Cleveland in the most dysfunctional period in Cleveland Browns history. So many things went downhill... Baker was a bit of a train wreck when he got here. "
@MaryKayCabot on why Baker Mayfield and the #Browns didn't work out.
🔊: https://t.co/8IYRkGbYkL pic.twitter.com/QYvWuD5okr — 92.3 The Fan (@923TheFan) September 18, 2025
It’s probably a bit harsh to paint Mayfield in this light as if he were Johnny Manziel, and it overshadows the fact that Mayfield set the rookie touchdown record with the Browns and led the team to a blowout playoff victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers at one point.
In his final season, he played through injury and didn’t look like himself, and Cleveland saw what it believed was the shiny new toy with Watson.
Mayfield may have needed to be humbled, but there were never issues with his work ethic, and he never had any sort of legal troubles.
This topic has come up quite a bit lately after Mayfield threw 41 TDs for the Bucs last year and has them at 2-0 after a pair of stellar late-game performances, and while some may try to paint him in a bad light, the Browns were the problem much more so than Baker was.
It has to hurt Browns fans to wonder what could have been, but everyone should be happy that Mayfield seems to have found his permanent home.
