After being teammates on the 2022 Carolina Panthers, Mayfield and Darnold are now thriving as starters in Tampa Bay and Seattle.
The Carolina Panthers had three quarterbacks start at least five games during a frustratingly unremarkable 7-10 season in 2022. Baker Mayfield started the season leading the team before he was released in December, P.J. Walker started Weeks 6-10 in his penultimate NFL season, and Sam Darnold led Carolina to a 4-2 record over the final six games before leaving the next season to back up Brock Purdy in San Francisco.
Just three years later, Mayfield and Darnold put on an unprecedented duel as the entrenched, ascendant starters for two intriguing NFC playoff contenders, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks. In a thrilling 38-35 road win Sunday for Mayfield’s Bucs on a field goal as time expired, the pair of ex-Panther stopgaps became the first opposing quarterbacks in NFL history to each record at least 325 passing yards and complete at least 80% of their passes. Despite being without injured star wide receiver Mike Evans, Mayfield was 29-for-33 with 379 yards and two touchdowns, while Darnold was 28-of-34 for 341 yards and four TDs.
Following his release from Carolina, Mayfield started the final five games of the season for a Los Angeles Rams team that had lost Matthew Stafford for the season due to a spinal cord injury. He played well enough to land an incentive-laden one-year, $4 million deal with Tampa Bay to lead the team following its title-winning Tom Brady era. Mayfield more than passed the test, helping the Bucs win the NFC South, win a playoff game, and earn a three-year, $100 million contract extension, including $50 million guaranteed.
Baker has found his home in Tampa at the age of 30, following a tumultuous four seasons as Cleveland’s No. 1 overall pick in 2018. He had a bright green light to chuck it all over the field last season, finishing second in the league with 41 touchdown passes and leading the league with 16 interceptions, though his 2.8% INT rate was only the ninth-highest in the NFL. After another division title and a wild card round loss to Jayden Daniels and Washington, the Bucs are riding high at 4-1 with every win coming on a game-winning score in the final minute of regulation. Through five games, Baker’s thrown 10 TD tosses to just one pick.
Tampa Bay may have to make a decision in the not-too-distant future on Mayfield’s contract, which balloons from $26.5 million in 2025 to a shade under $52 million in the final year of his deal in 2026. The Bucs invested a first-round pick this year in wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, who’s quickly become a Rookie of the Year frontrunner while being second in the NFL in receiving touchdowns and fourth in receiving yards. To see how far Mayfield’s come in just three years is nothing short of remarkable.
Subscribe for the biggest stories in the business of sports and entertainment, daily.
After spending 2023 in San Francisco, Darnold inked a one-year, $10 million deal with the Minnesota Vikings to compete with first-round pick J.J. McCarthy. Darnold was quickly thrust into the undisputed starting role after McCarthy suffered a season-ending knee injury in training camp. He proceeded to lead the Vikings to a 14-3 record, finishing 10th in MVP voting. However, Minnesota elected not to re-sign him after he suffered a season-ending injury in the last regular season game against Detroit, which ultimately decided the NFC North title, and in the first round of the playoffs against the Rams.
Darnold quickly found a new home in Seattle, which went 10-7 in head coach Mike Macdonald‘s first season as head coach and decided it wanted an upgrade at quarterback from Geno Smith, who’s struggling mightily in Las Vegas so far this season following an offseason trade to the Raiders. The Seahawks signed him to a three-year, $100 million contract with $55 million guaranteed, likely following the model Tampa Bay gave Mayfield a year earlier.
With a strong defense and talented young receivers around him, Darnold is in a strong position to succeed as an NFC playoff contender in the strongest division in football this season. If he gets the combination of belief from the coaching staff and skill position players around him like Tampa Bay provided Mayfield, Darnold has a chance to follow in his former Panther teammate’s footsteps as a once-discarded quarterback who may make some unexpected noise in the NFL playoffs.
Read More:
Austin Reaves’ Latest Play Proves He’s Outgrown His Lakers Role
From Comments to Conversations: How Manychat Became a Creator Essential
Ravens’ Lamar Jackson Practice Status Faces Heightened Scrutiny
On Record: Miguel Reflects on His Evolution from ‘Adorn’ to ‘CAOS’
How Prime Video Is Reimagining NBA Coverage for the Streaming Generation
