Baker Mayfield

Mayfield was given his distinctive name, Baker, which was his mother's idea, under the condition by his father that he also be named after the 40th U.S. President Ronald Reagan, which became his middle name.

Mayfield grew up as a fan of the University of Oklahoma; he attended a number of their games during his childhood.

His father played football for three years for the University of Houston, though he never lettered.

Mayfield was the starting quarterback for the Lake Travis High School Cavaliers football team in Austin.

Baker Reagan Mayfield (born April 14, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL).

Following a stint with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, Mayfield played college football for the Oklahoma Sooners, winning the Heisman Trophy as a senior and was the first walk-on player to win the award.

Baker Reagan Mayfield was born on April 14, 1995, in Austin, Texas, to James and Gina Mayfield as the younger of two sons.

James, a private equity consultant, encountered financial difficulties during his younger son's senior year in high school.

These struggles forced the Mayfields to sell their home and live in rental homes.

For his performance, Mayfield was named Big 12 Conference Offensive Player of the Week – the first freshman Texas Tech quarterback to be named so since former Red Raider head coach Kliff Kingsbury in 1999.

The game featured the last four former Lake Travis quarterbacks combined on both teams: Garrett Gilbert, Michael Brewer, Collin Lagasse, and Mayfield.

Following the Red Raiders' second victory over Stephen F. Austin, Mayfield's 780 season yards and seven touchdowns already exceeded the 755 yards and six touchdowns accrued by Texas Tech's last true freshman quarterback, Aaron Keesee, in 10 games.

After being affected by a knee injury and losing the starting job to fellow true freshman Davis Webb, Mayfield finished the season with 2,315 yards on 218-of-340 completions with 12 touchdowns and 9 interceptions.

Mayfield was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Burlsworth Trophy in November; the award is given to the best player in Division I football who began his college career as a walk-on.

He led Lake Travis to a 25–2 record in two seasons and won the 2011 4A State Championship.

He finished his high school football career totaling 6,255 passing yards, 67 touchdowns, and eight interceptions.

A 3-star recruit, Mayfield received light recruitment and only earned scholarship offers from Florida Atlantic, New Mexico, North Texas, Rice, Sam Houston State, and Wyoming, but also received preferred walk-on offers from Baylor, Texas Tech, and Washington State.

Florida Atlantic offered him a scholarship, but he said "My dad pushed me to realize that my dream was to play somewhere big...I knew my destiny was at a Power 5 school."

He chose to go to Texas Tech.

Shortly before the start of the 2013 season, Mayfield was named as the starting quarterback following a back injury to projected starter and former Lake Travis quarterback Michael Brewer.

Mayfield was the first walk-on true freshman quarterback to start an FBS season opener at the quarterback position.

In his first start against SMU, Mayfield passed for 413 yards and four touchdowns.

His 43 completions of 60 attempts broke a school record held by Billy Joe Tolliver, and fell only four completions short of the NCAA Division I FBS single-game record for completions by a freshman, held by Luke McCown.

Mayfield earned Big 12 Conference Freshman Offensive Player of the Year for the 2013 season.

Mayfield announced that he would be leaving the program due to a "miscommunication" with the coaching staff.

After playing for Texas Tech, Mayfield transferred to the University of Oklahoma in January 2014, but had not contacted the Sooners coaching staff.

Mayfield further elaborated in an interview with ESPN that he sought to transfer due to scholarship issues and a perception that he had earned the starting position and that further competition was not "really fair".

The alleged scholarship issues were denied by Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury.

In February 2014, Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops confirmed that Mayfield would be walking on for the Oklahoma Sooners.

Mayfield was not eligible to play until the 2015 season, and he lost a season of eligibility due to Big 12 Conference transfer rules following an unsuccessful appeal of his transfer restrictions.

On August 24, 2015, Mayfield was named the starting quarterback for the Sooners after winning an open quarterback competition against Trevor Knight.

On September 6, 2015, Mayfield started against Akron.

Mayfield totaled 388 passing yards with three passing touchdowns on 23 completions in the 41–3 win.

In the second game of the 2015 season, Mayfield started at Tennessee at Neyland Stadium.

He was selected first overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 2018 NFL draft.

Mayfield set the NFL rookie quarterback record for passing touchdowns during his first season, along with ending a 19-game winless streak for the Browns in his debut.

His most successful season was in 2020 when he led the Browns to their first playoff appearance since 2002 and first playoff victory since 1994.

Due to inconsistent play and conflict with Browns management, Mayfield was traded to the Carolina Panthers in 2022.

Following further inconsistent play and injuries, he was released by the Panthers near the end of the season and played the rest of the year with the Los Angeles Rams.

Mayfield joined the Buccaneers ahead of the 2023 season, whom he led to a division title and a playoff victory in the same season, along with being selected to his first Pro Bowl.