Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield says he’s a different kind of leader than Tom Brady was.
Mayfield said on the Podcast from Casa de Klub that he and Brady have “very different personalities” and that he thinks it’s a relief for some in the locker room not to have to deal with Brady’s intensity anymore.
“The building was a little different with Tom in it. Tom is obviously a different game. He had everybody on edge, a tense environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed,” Mayfield said. “They wanted me to come in, be myself, bring the joy back into football for guys who weren’t having as much fun.”
Mayfield says Brady would make it clear it was his offense, even if he had to show it by throwing an incomplete pass on a play call the coaches thought was better than his.
“You hear stories about if he didn’t like a certain play call and he didn’t like it during the week and they’re still calling it in the game, there could have been an intentional throw or a throw at the feet of the running back or receiver,” Mayfield said. “There was a lot of mind games going on.”
Brady showed that his methods work by coming to Tampa Bay and winning a Super Bowl in his first season. But Mayfield’s method works in Tampa Bay, too, and he thinks his teammates enjoy it even more.
