I can’t tell if this is a “shots fired” situation or just an “informing the people” situation.
Either way, current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield had some things to say about his predecessor when he joined the Casa de Klub Podcast earlier this week. There wasn’t anything inherently bad said about Tom Brady, but then again, Baker wasn’t exactly praising the seven time Super Bowl winner either.
Basically, the conversation came down to the culture that Brady left behind for Baker to step into. When Tom retired – for good – there were a lot of question marks around the organization that had just instantly competed for Super Bowls with Brady on the roster.
And though they might have had success, Mayfield implied that the winning came at a price:
“The building was a little bit different with Tom in there. Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out.”
Some might call that discipline…
And most were probably okay with that since they also got a Lombardi Trophy in 2021.
That’s not the worst thing to hear from Mayfield, who currently has the Buccaneers off to a great 2-0 start. However, when he elaborated on the “high strung environment” comment, Baker didn’t exactly help himself out:
“You hear some of the stories about if he didn’t like a certain play call and he didn’t like it throughout the week and they still call it in the game, there might have been a throwaway on purpose or throwing it at the running back or receiver’s feet. There were a lot of mind games going on.”
Well… that doesn’t sound all that great.
But hey! Who cares now right? Tom Brady got Tampa a Super Bowl victory, and now Baker is having a career resurgence with the Buccaneers. Fans of the Bucs can’t complain too much, though they might want to encourage their current QB to not speak ill of their former QB (who just so happens to be the GOAT).
You can check out Baker’s interview at the link below:
