Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield clarified his comments about Tom Brady after the remarks drew a response from the seven-time Super Bowl champion.
“I think a lot of that got taken out of context,” Mayfield said Sunday following the Bucs’ 33-16 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. “None of it was personal by any means. It’s just what he demanded of the guys and that’s the aura of Tom Brady. And that’s what he did to bring a championship here. And so, nothing personal.”
Brady spent the final three seasons of his legendary career with Tampa Bay, winning a Super Bowl and taking the team to three straight playoff appearances. But by the time he retired following the 2022 season, the team was “pretty stressed out,” Mayfield said earlier this month.
Mayfield — speaking on the podcast “Casa de Klub,” hosted by former MLB star Corey Kluber — said he and Brady have “very different personalities” and said he heard stories of Brady playing mind games with teammates.
“The building was a little bit different with Tom in there,” Mayfield said on the podcast, which was released on Sept. 17. “Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out. They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back to football for guys who weren’t having as much fun.”
On Sunday, while Brady was in the Fox broadcast booth calling the Bucs game against the Eagles, he responded.
“I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,” Brady said. “There was a mindset of a champion that I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare. If I wanted to have fun I was gonna go to Disneyland with my kids.”
Play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, Brady’s broadcast partner, joked that Brady also made the booth a stressful place to be. After Brady’s response, with the pair now being shown on screen, Burkhardt let Brady continue speaking, telling the quarterback, “Go ahead, I feel like there’s more in there to say.”
Brady did indeed continue, saying with a smile, “There’s a way to approach this game, and it’s that with a right mindset and try to push each other outside of our comfort zone and great teammates do that. You come in, I have someone like (Rob) Gronkowski, I have someone like (Mike) Evans, there’s high expectations for us, we have to make sure we go out there and deliver.”
Despite the blunt response, Brady was highly complimentary of Mayfield throughout the half as the current Bucs quarterback orchestrated a dominant stretch of play en route to a 24-7 lead. Mayfield was 30-of-47 passing for 347 yards and two touchdowns in the eventual win.
Mayfield and Brady also met on the field before the game and exchanged a hug after speaking.
Midway through the second quarter, Brady received a loud ovation from the crowd and reached outside the booth to wave to fans after being welcomed by the Tampa Bay public announcer.
(Photo: Kevin Sabitus / Getty Images)
