DETROIT — It’s clear that’s season didn’t finish the way he had hoped. With 1:39 remaining on Sunday, Mayfield intercepted a pass from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, ending their chance to mount a game-winning drive.
The Detroit Lions advanced to the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers after winning 31-23 three snaps later.
The result marred a season in which Mayfield helped the Bucs win the NFC South and go to the second round of the playoffs, so earning a great deal of atonement.
Having signed what was effectively a one-year prove-it contract to play for Tampa Bay, he now has some degree of doubt.
The 28-year-old Mayfield made two things very clear on Sunday night: he would like to sign with the Buccaneers again, but he will always be grateful to general manager Jason Licht and coach Todd Bowles for taking a chance on him, as well as to the team for all of their support over the past year.
“I leaned on a lot of people here through all the s— that I’ve been through.” I discovered I could pull that off,” Mayfield remarked. Many individuals have supported me this year and helped to make it memorable.
You go through things, and this location helped me out, so I’m grateful. This goes beyond simply football, where I was at in my life.
Contract negotiations have not yet taken place between the quarterback’s camp and the Buccaneers, Mayfield stated on Sunday.
Mayfield was selected first overall by Cleveland in the 2018 NFL Draft. He guided the Browns to their first postseason victory since the 1994 campaign two years later.
However, Cleveland decided not to extend him for a number of reasons, and the Mayfield era came to an end when the Browns acquired Deshaun Watson in March 2022.
He went 1–5 with Carolina after Cleveland agreed to trade him there before the Panthers cut him go. He went 1-3 during his final season with the Rams.
