Baker Mayfield is an American quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the NFL. After transferring from Texas Tech and dominating under coach Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma, Mayfield was drafted 1st overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 2018 draft.
Mayfield's career started with a bang; in his first appearance as a Brown, he led the team to their first victory in 19 games, ending a 635 day winless streak.
Mayfield enjoyed a fruitful high school career, leading Lake Travis to a 25-2 record over his two seasons as a starter. His team also won the 2011 state championship. He compiled 6,255 passing yards, 67 touchdowns and 8 interceptions throughout his high school career.
Mayfield enjoyed a successful, yet short career at Texas Tech, where he was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Burlsworth Award in November.
Mayfield decided to leave Texas Tech after a "miscommunication" with the coaching staff, and he walked onto Oklahoma. In his new digs, Mayfield won the starting quarterback gig and finished the year with 3,700 passing yards and 36 touchdowns as well as fourth place in voting for the Heisman Trophy. Not too shabby.
On December 9, 2017, Mayfield was the first walk on to win the Heisman Trophy.
The Cleveland Browns selected Mayfield with the first pick in the 2018 draft, then signed him to a four-year, $32 million rookie deal.
Mayfield helped lead the Browns to a respectable 7-8-1 record. He finished the season with 3,725 passing yards and 27 touchdowns. His second season in Cleveland was a lot rockier, starting with a 13-43 loss to the Titans opening night when Mayfield three three fourth quarter interceptions. Mayfield finished the 2019 season with 3,827 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, and 21 interceptions as the Browns finished with a disappointing 6–10 record.
Mayfield bounced back with a more promising 2020 season, leading the Browns to an 8-3 record through 11 games. Mayfield also recorded a 7.6% touchdown rate, the best of his young career.
Mayfield has a reported $12 million net worth, and has many endorsement deals under his belt. He has a very unique situation where his family's private equity company helps manage his endorsement contracts. Mayfield has a deal with progressive insurance, where he has appeared in numerous national commercials.
Mayfield signed a four-year, $32 million deal with the Browns in 2018.
Mayfield married Emily Wilkinson in July, 2019. His brother Matt is an acquisition strategist at Camwood Capital Group, the family's private equity buyout firm that handles Baker's endorsement deal contracts.
"Everybody wants to portray the bad boy, the Johnny Manziel stuff, but I love the game of football. There's no doubt about that."
"I was the undersized underdog who people never gave a chance. From that, the motivation to prove people wrong just grew and grew... Looking back now, I'm glad I didn't hit puberty until later."
"Everywhere I look, someone is telling me, 'You're not good enough,' or, 'You can't do this or that.' You can only hear that so many times before enough is enough."
"You don't build a great castle just all at once."
"I've learned I can't change every opinion or have everyone's approval. If I get caught up in that, I'm worried about the wrong things."
"It doesn't matter what cards you're dealt. It's what you do with those cards. Never complain. Just keep pushing forward. Find a positive in anything and just fight for it."
He's the only walk on to win the Heisman.
His family devotes a whole team of workers at their private equity buyout firm to help Mayfield with his endorsements.
Affiliate Disclosure: Lines may receive advertising commissions for visits to a sportsbook or betting site.