Perception of Bucs' Baker Mayfield shifting amid MVP-type run - ESPN

TAMPA, Fla. — Baker Mayfield has seen the perception himself change dramatically from the time he was a first overall draft pick with the Cleveland Browns to being what some have described as an MVP candidate in his third year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

A video emerged after the Bucs' 38-35 victory at the Seattle Seahawks of Mayfield responding to trash talk from a Seahawks fan in the tunnel just before kickoff. Fingers were pointed. Expletives were exchanged.

«You're gonna be real f---ing quiet at halftime,» Mayfield said. «You're a f---ing p---y.»

Mayfield sought out the fan after the victory too, in which he pointed at him while triumphantly skipping into the tunnel, with the fan yelling, «You still suck! You still suck!»

In Cleveland, where the Browns selected him first overall in the 2018 NFL draft and where he ultimately went 29-30 before being traded in 2022 to the Carolina Panthers, that exchange may have been received differently.

But as a member of the Bucs, with a 4-1 start to the 2025 season, having led his team to four thrilling come-from-behind victories within the final minute, it feels different. And those are the most by any team in its first five games since the 1970 merger, according to Elias Sports Bureau.

«Early on in my career, it was 'cocky, immature.' Now it's 'moxie' and 'he's a dog.' Same s---, different day,» Mayfield said Wednesday. «As long as you play well, they change the narrative, but you've just got to be yourself, and I've always been like that.»

He had just turned 23 years old when he entered the NFL. It took a four-team odyssey for him to find his footing long-term, where he's playing some of the best football of his career at age 30. He has said on multiple occasions that the