Baker Reagan Mayfield is an American football quarterback for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint with Texas Tech, Mayfield played college football at Oklahoma, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a senior. He was selected first overall by the Cleveland Browns in the 2018 NFL Draft.
In his NFL debut, Mayfield led Cleveland to their first win in 19 games, ending a 635-day streak, and went on to set the rookie quarterback record for passing touchdowns. His most successful season was in 2020 when he led the Browns to their first playoff appearance in 2002 and victory in 1994. However, due to inconsistent play and conflict with Browns management, Mayfield was traded to the Panthers in 2022.
The Browns exercised Mayfield’s fifth-year contract option for the 2022 season on April 23, 2021, worth $18.9 million guaranteed. On October 7, 2021, it was revealed that Mayfield was playing with a partially torn labrum which he suffered during the Browns Week 2 victory over the Houston Texans.
Mayfield continued to play with the injury until reaggravating it in Week 6 against the Arizona Cardinals. Due to the injury, Mayfield was ruled out for the Browns’ Week 7 game against the Denver Broncos, missing his first game since taking over as the Browns’ starter in 2018.
On November 14, 2021, Mayfield suffered a right knee contusion during their crushing Week 10 loss to the Patriots. While the injury was not severe, coach Kevin Stefanski decided not to put him in for the rest of the game due to Mayfield absorbing hits and the game being out of reach.
