LOS ANGELES -- Baker Mayfield was the 2017 Heisman winner at Oklahoma. He was the No. 1 pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2018.
But in July 2022, after Cleveland traded for Deshaun Watson, Mayfield was dealt to the Carolina Panthers for a conditional fourth-round pick. After winning the quarterback competition during training camp, he injured his ankle in Week 5 and eventually lost the starting job.
During the Panthers' Week 10 bye that season, Mayfield and his wife, Emily, went to Cabo. On their way back, Mayfield talked to his agent, who gave him a heads-up that he was hearing that the quarterback might be a healthy scratch for Carolina's next game.
That Monday, Mayfield got a text to come to Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks' office, where Mayfield was told he was going to be the team's third-string quarterback that week against the Seattle Seahawks. The other option, he was told, was that he could be released.
"It sucked, but it's one of those things that for my career and for the betterment of my future, I had to do it," Mayfield said in 2022 of his choice.
Mayfield's agent told him they wouldn't know where he would be going until 4 p.m. ET the next day, which was "an unsettling feeling," Mayfield recalled not long after the whirlwind 48 hours. They were looking at the waiver wire and made an educated guess that Mayfield might go to Los Angeles. He booked a flight for 4:48 p.m. ET from Charlotte to L.A. and was sitting at the airport, about to board the flight, when he got the call that it was official.
Mayfield spent the next five weeks with the Los Angeles Rams. That time in L.A. not only gave Mayfield a fresh start, but it also breathed life into a Rams building that was struggling with injuries amid a tough season coming off Super Bowl LVI. The Rams had lost six games in a row and eight of nine. They were without starting quarterback Matthew Stafford, wide receiver Cooper Kupp and defensive tackle Aaron Donald due to injury.
"We were struggling that season obviously with multiple injuries along the line and it just kind of kept going one after another," former Rams pass game coordinator and now Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson told ESPN. "And so it was kind of a breath of fresh air. "
Mayfield returns to SoFi Stadium with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on "Sunday Night Football" (8:20 p.m. ET, NBC) to play the Rams for the first time. Although Los Angeles won just two of the five games he started to end the season -- including a Thursday night game against the Las Vegas Raiders, it "ignited" the building, Robinson said.
"It was life-changing," Mayfield told ESPN. "It was the biggest weight lifted off my shoulders that I had ever felt. I could physically feel it, which is hard to imagine, but I did."
THAT TUESDAY, MAYFIELD arrived at the Rams facility around 9 p.m., less than 48 hours before Los Angeles would take the field for their "Thursday Night Football" game against the Raiders.
When he reached the facility, he sat down with the Rams' then-offensive coordinator Liam Coen, Robinson and McVay, "and kind of dove in for a little bit just to talk concepts."
"And the conversations were never like, 'Hey, we want you to play,'" Mayfield said in 2022. "It's like, 'Hey, if you feel comfortable, we'd love for you to be suited up and ready to go if the opportunity arises, but no pressure. We're not going to put you in a bad spot. We're not going to do that to you.'"
The Rams gave Mayfield what he called a condensed version of the game plan, "and I just started studying right away," he said. After working at the facility late into the night, Mayfield was back for the walk-through that morning, where "they threw me in."
Quarterback John Wolford had started the previous game for the Rams while Stafford was injured, but he got hurt and was dealing with a neck injury. And while the Rams didn't know if Wolford would be healthy enough to play on short rest against the Raiders, they knew he wasn't going to be able to practice on Wednesday.
Because it was a short week, the Rams did not have a full practice that Wednesday. With Mayfield taking the reps -- and possibly playing that Thursday -- the team wanted to give him opportunities to throw to his receivers for the first time.
"The only live reps I had with these guys was a couple throws and routes on air," Mayfield said in 2022. "Honestly, I was asking questions like, "Hey, how do these guys run these routes? How do they come out of it?"
"I'll never forget, there was a moment when we went through all of his plays from the previous day and he was on it," Robinson said. "That's when we all realized, 'Oh man, this guy is just super, super smart. Football makes sense to him.' And the way he was able to process and pick things up was pretty incredible based on him just getting in [at] 9 [p.m.]."
McVay's protection scheme was similar to Browns offensive line coach Bill Callahan's, who was with Mayfield in Cleveland, which helped with the quarterback's learning curve.
"He had some familiarity with the Shanahan tree because he was with Kevin Stefanski, but I was impressed with how he could spit out the plays," Wolford said.
The rest of Wednesday, Robinson said, was going through a few third downs. "And then once we started realizing just how quickly he could pick things up, we kept sprinkling a couple more things from the normal down to distance game plan and just kept going through things and kept watching tape."
The group worked together until around 6 p.m. that Wednesday.
"And by the end of it, when we left the building, it was like, 'Gosh, I think this guy could be ready to play,'" Robinson said. "He's super smart and he's picked things up.' And so we felt pretty good about it."
One thing McVay wanted to be sure of was that they weren't putting Mayfield in a bad situation.
"He wanted to put him in a position to be successful, not just throw him out there," Robinson said. "And he just wanted the best for Baker. And that was kind of the whole 48 hours leading up to it. It was like, 'All right, if we feel good that he can do it, then let him cut it loose.' But he just wanted -- and we all did -- we just wanted to make sure that if he was going to play, he was putting himself in a position to be successful."
WHEN COEN THINKS back to Mayfield's first game with the Rams, he remembers how little pressure McVay wanted to put on Mayfield.
"I vividly remember Sean saying to me before the game, 'Like, man, whatever happens, let's just go get some great positive stuff for this guy moving forward,'" Coen said. "'Hey, we got a great opportunity for the next five, six weeks, whatever it was to go have some fun, let it rip and see what happens. If we win, it could be a minor miracle.'"
Later that Thursday, McVay and the Rams still hadn't decided who was starting. But the head coach did know after watching Mayfield for just one light practice, that the veteran quarterback would come in at some point during the game.
Wolford, still battling a neck injury, started, but Mayfield came in for the Rams' second offensive series. And then once he got in there, it was clear Mayfield could throw down the field in a way Wolford could not while dealing with the injury.
"His first pass we ran like a three-level throw with a slot combination and just the feel that he had to put it where he did on [former Rams wide receiver] Van Jefferson," McVay said.
Added Robinson, "[Once he] hit that first throw to Van and from there it was like, 'All right, hey, let's let this guy go.'"
McVay "has really never been a wristband guy," Robinson said. "He calls it off of his head and he's just calling the game like he sees it. But for Baker, we wanted to make sure we had some wristband plays.
"And I want to say there was only one play in the game that he ended up calling off of the wristband, the rest Sean was calling it, and Baker was just getting the calls in and out of the huddle," Robinson said.
There were a couple of plays the Rams didn't have on "Baker's ready list that Sean would get on the headset and 'Hey, you think he'd be good on this?'"
"It's such an unusual thing in the NFL to go out there and not know what's going to happen," former Rams center Brian Allen said. "I'm sure everyone thinks we just play football, but the invasiveness that goes into game planning, goes into calls and all those things. So it was like another bizarre wrench that got thrown into that season.
"But it was exciting because we were at that point in the season where it was kind of gone already and just to get a chance to go out and play with him, a guy who's won a Heisman Trophy, [No.] 1 overall. Everyone was excited about it."
That night, Robinson's call sheet was littered with drawings, as "we were literally just drawing the play up on my call sheet up and going through it with him."
The Rams offense struggled for most of the night, and Los Angeles had just three points through three quarters. Mayfield led the Rams on a 17-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that took more than nine minutes in the fourth quarter to get the Rams within six. The Rams' defense forced a Vegas three-and-out, giving Mayfield the ball at the Los Angeles 2 with just 1:45 remaining.
After an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty moved the Rams to their own 28, Mayfield hit wide receiver Ben Skowronek down the right sideline for 32 yards. After two completions, Mayfield spiked the ball, with 15 seconds left from the Las Vegas 23.
"I remember Brian Allen, our center, turning around as we're running down the field yelling, clock, clock, clock, saying what it was on and telling me the cadence," Mayfield told ESPN. "So just the chaos of those moments and just trying to play ball and have fun with it."
Mayfield found a leaping Jefferson in the end zone to tie the score, and the extra point gave the Rams their first lead.
"The last play to Van Jefferson is one that I'll be proud of forever," Mayfield said.
McVay said when he thinks back to the game, he remembers how "intentional [Mayfield] was and how smart he was to be able to quickly learn some of those different things."
"He's just out there playing," McVay said. "I think sometimes when you're just totally and completely present, immersed in the moment, there's a beautiful thing that can come of that. You're not necessarily overthinking things. I think the power of the mind is real."
That game was just one of five during Mayfield's time in Los Angeles, but he said the time he spent with McVay, a coach he first met on a plane on the way to the NFL combine in 2018, was an eye-opener.
"It was awesome to get to know and see how he views [the game], how he tries to attack teams based on weaknesses, setting formations, trying to get matchups," Mayfield said earlier this year. "That was new to me, and it was awesome."
Mayfield said his time in Los Angeles also helped him "discover what offense I really want to play in and the responsibility that comes with that in the accountability at the line of scrimmage and to check and get to the right plays."
"It was instrumental in my career [and] something I am forever grateful for," Mayfield said.
Allen, who is now an offensive assistant for the Rams, said he could tell McVay "who he is as a football mind" was excited for the challenge of helping prepare Mayfield on such a quick turnaround.
"And in the middle of the week, it was like, 'Here's Baker, do what you want with him,'" Allen said. "So I think it was a fun project for him. I think it was fun for Baker to come here and be able to work with him and kind of turn it around here just with where his career was at that point.
"That season was so bad for us just as far as injuries, record and everything that could have gone wrong went wrong. And kind of in a low point or a dark point of the season, Baker definitely brought kind of light to our whole building. And just a guy that guys wanted to rally around."
AFTER THE RAMS' season finale in Seattle, Mayfield stood at his locker, answering questions about his NFL future. And although his life that season had been a whirlwind, there was one thing he was certain of: "I know I'm a starting quarterback."
"I'm confident in that," Mayfield said that January afternoon. "And we'll just see what happens."
On the "Coach McVay Show" ahead the game, McVay said Mayfield "left a huge impression" on him and the organization.
"He's done a great job," McVay said. "And if this hasn't elevated people's opinions and thoughts of him, I'm not sure what he could've done to change whatever the perception is. I just know I think very highly of him, and I've loved working with him."
That day in Seattle, Mayfield said he learned that he doesn't want to "just go chase a check to go start and play," because he's seen "a place that makes me have fun playing football again."
That place ended up being Tampa Bay, where Mayfield signed a one-year deal worth $4 million to replace Tom Brady in 2023. Mayfield threw for then-career-high 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns that season, leading the Buccaneers to an NFC South title before losing in the divisional round of the playoffs.
That offseason, the Buccaneers rewarded Mayfield with a three-year, $100 million contract with $50 million guaranteed. Earlier this season, Mayfield was an MVP candidate. He has thrown for 2,365 yards with 17 touchdowns and three interceptions.
"I'm really happy for all the success that he's had, but I'd be lying to you if I said I was surprised," McVay said. "He's an igniter and you could just feel that there was something. I was just super impressed, but I don't want to say I was surprised."
The Rams went 5-12 that season, a time when McVay has been very open about the struggles he went through as a coach and a human, even contemplating stepping away as head coach. McVay said Mayfield brought "a spark" during what had been a "challenging season."
"It was a fun month," McVay said. "It seemed like we got a lot of experiences in a short amount of time. We always wish him well and appreciate the time because I think it was at a time that we both reflect on and learned a lot. It was real growth for us both."
ESPN NFL reporters Michael DiRocco and Kevin Seifert contributed to this story.