following an action-packed week 16 there are officially 2 weeks left of an NFL regular season that has been nothing but unpredictable it's been a year filled with many questions and very few answers for instance there is still not a clear runaway favorite for who the MVP will be one week gets Tua then Herz then Dak then perie then Lamar while there's a whole other group of people who believe it shouldn't even be a quarterback with names like Christian mcaffrey and Tyreek Hill mentioned in the conversation as well we still don't really know who the clear Super Bowl favorite is since there are five or six teams fighting for the League's best record but in this year of unpredictability one major story that seems to be sliding under the radar is the season of Baker Mayfield just last season it looked like Mayfield's days in the NFL were numbered the former number one overall pick was bouncing around from Team to team and there was no clear direction for the future of his career but in 2023 he's very quietly putting together the best season he's ever had while proving that not only does he belong in the NFL but he still has potential to be a perennial pro bowler with capabilities of leading a team to the playoffs in this video we're going to break down down the fascinating career of Baker Mayfield including the trials and tribulations he had to go through this past decade that led him to play the best football of his life in 2023 before I get into it welcome to the war room please consider subscribing to the channel if you're new and let's get straight to it on April 14th 1995 Baker Reagan Mayfield was born in Austin Texas where he would later attend Lake Travis High School best forward to Baker's junior year in 2011 and he was the football team's starting quarterback similar to most future professional athletes he made a name for himself locally at the high school level the second he got significant playing time Mayfield LED his Squad to a 16-0 record where they ranked as the number one high school team in Texas and sixth in the nation as you can probably imagine his numbers were impressive throwing for over 3700 yards with 45 touchdowns to five interceptions and he led his school to a state championship Victory this win also made Lake Travis the first High School in Texas history to win five consecutive state titles so after Baker's first full season at the high school level his football career literally could not have gotten off to a more perfect start but unfortunately he couldn't carry this momentum into his senior year in 11 games that season the team went 9 and two as he threw for under 2500 yards with 22 touchdowns to three interceptions considering the expectations he had following his massive Junior season his senior year stats were pretty underwhelming which had a drastic effect on the college recruiting process he graduated from high school in 2013 as a three- star recruit and only received offers from Florida Atlantic New Mexico North Texas rice Sam Houston State and Wyoming though he did land some preferred walk-on offers from bigger schools like bayor Washington State and Texas Tech he had a big decision to make does he go to a smaller school where he'll most likely be the starting quarterback or a big school as a walk-on where there's a chance he gets little to no playing time he said quote I easily could have gone to a place like Florida Atlantic but my dad pushed me to realize that my dream was to play somewhere big and he was right taking his father's advice Baker bet on himself and announced his commitment to Texas Tech University as a walk-on Under head coach coach Cliff kingsberry he started seven games for the team in his freshman year where he would put up pretty good numbers considering he was a true freshman walk-on he certainly showed he had potential to be the school's quarterback of the future however the year following Mayfield's freshman season was met with controversy which is something that became a recurring theme throughout his football career Baker felt like he did enough in his freshman season to earn a scholarship from Texas Tech but the school disagreed as a result of him not getting the scholarship he decided to transfer to his dream School Oklahoma where he planned walking on to their football te team this of course is Baker's side of the story and Cliff kingsburry claimed that Texas Tech actually offered Mayfield a scholarship but he simply declined and decided to play elsewhere this disagreement caused some bad blood between Baker and Texas Tech and the school initially declined his request to transfer in which Mr Mayfield called out kingsberry by saying he was a scoundrel hellbent on punishing his son the whole situation was just very messy but regardless of who was in the wrong he did eventually complete the transfer to Oklahoma which caused him to lose a year of eligibility in 2014 but the good good news is during his red shirt season at his new school Baker wowed the coaching staff which landed him a scholarship on top of that since he allegedly didn't receive a written scholarship offer from Texas Tech the Big 12 rules state that a walk-on can transfer schools and potentially regain the year of lost eligibility Baker did exactly that and he was granted eligibility for the 2017 season to make up for the Lost 2014 year he basically played his cards to Perfection and now he's in his sophomore season as the starting quarterback for Oklahoma in 2015 it was over the course of the next three seasons where this Underdog who was written off by College's left and right just two years prior transcended into one of the biggest stars the sport has ever seen in 13 games in his sophomore season he led his Squad to an 11-2 record throwing for 3700 yards with 36 touchdowns to 7 interceptions finishing fourth in Heisman voting in his Junior season his team again finished with an 11-2 record as he threw for just under 4,000 yards with 40 touchdowns to eight interceptions lending him a third place Heisman finish he entered his senior year at Oklahoma as the favorite to win the Heisman after flirting with it his sophomore and junior year and let's just say it was a great idea to appeal for that extra year of Eligibility when he did because had Baker not been able to Showcase himself in 2017 the trajectory of his football career wouldn't be the same he absolutely exploded in his final College season throwing for over 4600 yards with a career-high 43 touchdown passes to six interceptions Oklahoma finished the regular season with a 12-1 record which lended them their second playoff of appearance ever they would eventually lose to Georgia in a double OT semi-final classic 54 to 48 but despite them coming up short in the playoffs Mayfield did in fact win the Heisman trophy for the 2017 season making him the first former walk-on player in history to ever win the award based on everything I just covered you would think that Baker would be the heavy favorite as the first overall pick in the 2018 draft but that wasn't the case what I'm yet to mention is the controversy that came with the name Baker Mayfield that I alluded to earlier in the video there were several on onfield altercations throughout his college football career that caused NFL Scouts to question his maturity which hurt his reputation as he was labeled childish cocky and high-risk plus released footage of him drunk off his ass attempting to evade police leading to an arrest in 2017 didn't help his case at all before stepping foot on an NFL field he was labeled as a bust that couldn't seem to shake comparisons to Johnny Manzel a comparison which only grew when Mayfield was eventually selected by Manzel's former team the Cleveland Browns as the first overall pick in the 18 draft Baker entered the NFL as the most polarizing player in the entire league without even playing a single second some people love Tim claiming he was the savior of the Browns franchise While others hated his guts he won over the fan base right away in week three he came off the bench to make his NFL debut and L a comeback win versus the Jets he had a six- s record as a starter in his rookie season which led the franchise to their best record in over a decade his numbers were good enough to make him a runner up for offensive Rookie of the Year and he proved that maybe he wasn't just hype maybe the Browns actually did have a star in the making and all of those who doubted him were nothing but haters on the ever growing list of people he proved wrong however unlike College his Cleveland career never really elevated to that Superstar level he regressed heavily in year 2 was second in the league in interceptions thrown while the team finished 6 and 10 but he did manage to bounce back in 2020 leading his Squad to an 11 and5 record ending an 18-year playoff drought he tossed 26 touchdowns and really cut down on his interceptions again showing signs of being the franchise guy but 2021 is where things took an unexpected turn in week 2 against the Texans he tore the laborum in his left shoulder since this was his non-throwing shoulder he decided to toughen it out for his team and play the rest of the season but it was obvious that he wasn't the same after this injury throwing for 500 less yards nine less touchdowns and five more interceptions than the prior year his qbr plummeted from a 65.5 in 2020 to a 35.1 in 2021 the largest drop off for any QB in the league regarding this disastrous season Baker later stated that the injury had an effect on him mentally as well saying quote when it started hindering my play and going downhill that's when I was like oh that's when I started losing my own self-confidence and just losing myself this past year was rough most franchises in this situation would realize the type of sacrifice Mayfield made for his team he wanted to be out there every week for the organization that took a chance on him despite him dealing with something that was really negatively impacting him both mentally and physically but the Browns did not care they came to the conclusion that he had nothing else to offer the team and he was traded to the Carolina Panthers following the 20121 season for a fifth round pick honestly the Browns handling of this situation was very coldblooded but I guess it's karma that their replacement for Baker was known Predator DeShaun Watson who Cleveland acquired through one of the worst trades in the history of the NFL but back to Mayfield his 2022 season was rough in six games started with the Panthers he wasn't playing well at all he eventually got benched and was released from the the team later that season a few days after his release he was signed by the Los Angeles Rams where he played at Tad better but was really just trying to salvage another forgettable year 2022 was Rock Bottom for Baker Mayfield it really is crazy how one year you can be at your Peak the next you're dealing with an injury and the year after that you're bouncing around from franchise to franchise not knowing where or even if you'll be playing in the league ever again and that label of a bust that so many fans were waiting to put on him was coming true but if Baker Mayfield has proved one thing in his career it's that you can never write him off following the 2022 season he signed a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a contract that was lowrisk high reward this was really his last chance to prove that he belonged in the league and as I make this video with the 2023 season coming to an end I can confidently say that the star version of Baker Mayfield that appeared to be burnt out is actually burning brighter than ever in 15 games started the Bucks are 8 and seven and leading their division Mayfield is on Pace for a career high in passing yards passing touchdowns touchdown to interception ratio completion percentage and quarterback rating this bounceback season should land Baker the first Pro Bowl appearance of his career and because all this is happening on a one-year deal you got to feel happy for the guy when he gets paid this upcoming off season he's one of the most under the radar great players in the league right now and the success the Bucks are having thus far literally would not have happened without him Baker Mayfield really does have one of the most fascinating football careers when you fully understand his story he's one of those guys where you really don't know how will be remembered is he an easy to root for Underdog that defied the odds is he a cocky prick with maturity issues is he a bust is he a star is he overrated underrated truth is he shown signs of all of these things at one point or another in his career but regardless of how the rest of his career plays out one thing we can say for certain is that we've witnessed the rise the fall and the rise again of Baker Mayfield and with that we have our final video uploaded of 2023 I just wanted to use this time to thank you guys personally for all the support you've shown throughout this year I put lots of work into these videos and I'm very happy to see that you guys enjoy them as much as I enjoy making them I also wanted to use this time to say I am looking for an editor in 2024 so if you guys know anyone or you yourself are experienced and kind of understand the editing style of my videos email this email on the screen right now it's also in the description and that's pretty much it I wanted to keep this short and sweet but thank you guys once again I'm looking forward to a great 2024 with everyone stay safe during the new year and as always I'll see you guys in the next one one