Baker Mayfield Talks About Being Tom Brady's Successor

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield commented on being Tom Brady's successor with the team.

Kade Kimble | Aug 11, 2023

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in for a rude awakening after Tom Brady is officially retired. The team, however, must move on. One of Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask will be starting under center come Week 1 of the regular season. Until then, the two will have to continue taking the proper steps through their battle.

One of the two quarterbacks will have to be the successor to Brady, the best quarterback of all time. This is no easy task for either quarterback and no matter what they do, they'll be drawn back and compared to Brady.

As things stand now, it appears Mayfield will have the starting job under wrap. He's taking the first opportunity. He also is self-aware enough to get ahead of the curve and acknowledge Brady's success.

“Everybody talks about Tom’s gone. Yes, he is the greatest quarterback to ever play,” Mayfield recently said after practice. “But football is the greatest team sport in the world. And so it takes a lot more than just one person. And there’s a lot of good pieces here. And, yeah, they were banged up last year. I think everybody’s hungry and ready to go.”

While Mayfield acknowledged Brady's greatness, he also stayed grounded in the fact that football is a team game, and the Buccaneers still have support for Mayfield to work with this season.

“I’ve always been myself. That’s kind of why people either love or hate me,” Mayfield said. “So I do it my own way. And I enjoy doing it. I have fun while I’m doing it. … I respect (Brady) completely, but I’m not going to ever try and be him. I’m not built like him. I don’t play like him. So just, yeah, try to be the best version of myself.”

With Mayfield's statement, one thing is made clear -- the team is officially in a new era.

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Published Aug 11, 2023

KADE KIMBLE

Kade has been covering a wide variety of teams ranging from the NFL to the NBA and college athletics since joining Sports Illustrated's FanNation in 2022.