Earlier this month, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield said former QB Tom Brady had created a “tense environment” in Tampa Bay — and Brady didn’t take the criticism lightly.
Mayfield, who signed with Tampa Bay in 2023 after Brady retired, said on the Casa De Klub podcast on September 16 that “everyone was pretty stressed” when Brady was with the franchise.
On Sunday, the future Hall of Famer pulled no punches and clapped back at Mayfield’s comments while working as a commentator during the Bucs-Philadelphia Eagles game.
“I thought it was stressful not having Super Bowl rings,” Brady said during the game. “There was a champion mentality that I brought to work every day. This wasn’t daycare. If I wanted to have fun, I took my kids to Disneyland.”
Tom Brady responds to Baker Mayfield’s claims that Buccaneers players “had no fun” playing next to him.
“I thought it was stressful not having Super Bowl rings. If I wanted to have fun, I went to Disneyland with my kids.”pic.twitter.com/G86fUGYfAE
— Terrible announcement (@awfulannouncing) September 29, 2024
Brady continued, adding that the best way to approach football was to have teammates who “push each other outside of our comfort zone.”
“Great teammates do that,” he said. “There are high expectations for us, we have to make sure we go out and deliver.”
In the podcast, Mayfield said he and Brady had “very different personalities” and that Brady left behind a different locker room environment than the Bucs have now.
“The building was a little different with Tom in it. Tom is obviously different in terms of his game. He had everyone dialed in, a tense environment, so I think everyone was pretty stressed,” Mayfield said. “They wanted me to come in, be myself and bring the joy back to football for guys who weren’t having as much fun.”
Mayfield added that Brady was known for maintaining control of the offense, even if it meant going against coaching.
“You hear some stories about if he didn’t like a certain play call and he didn’t like it all week and they still call it in the game, one might have been deliberately thrown out or thrown at the player. ” running back or the receiver’s feet,” Mayfield said. “There was a lot of mind games going on.”
Brady’s highly competitive nature is somewhat infamous, but it has paid off well throughout his career, earning him seven Super Bowl rings, including one with Tampa Bay.
Mayfield, meanwhile, led the team to a 9–8 record and a playoff berth in his lone season with the Buccaneers, defeating the Eagles in the wild-card round before losing to the Detroit Lions in the divisional playoff.
