Baker Mayfield was born in Austin, Texas, and attended Lake Travis High School just outside his hometown. He accumulated a 25-2 record as the team’s starting quarterback. As a high school senior, Mayfield passed for 2,467 yards, 22 touchdowns and only 3 interceptions. He walked on to Texas Tech and became the first true freshman walk-on to start in a FBS opener in 2013. Mayfield threw for 413 yards and four touchdowns in that debut. He went on to finish the season with 2,315 passing yards and 12 touchdowns, but lost the starting job to Davis Webb.
After the 2013season, Baker Mayfield transferred to Oklahoma where he was forced to sit out the subsequent season due to NCAA transfer rules. Upon regaining eligibility to play in 2015, Mayfield won the starting quarterback competition and went on to start three years at Oklahoma, including a 2017 campaign in which he passed for 4,627 yards and 43 touchdowns. Mayfield won the Heisman in 2017 and is the first ever walk-on player to win the Heisman.
After accumulating some of the best college stats in the Player Profiler database, Baker Mayfield declared for the 2018 NFL draft. He attended the NFL combine where he measured in at 6 feet 1 inches tall and with a hand size of 9 ¼ inches. Baker ran an average 4.84 40 time. Ultimately, Mayfield’s elite 97th-percentile 92.6 college QBR and 199th-percentile 1.5 College YPA led to the Cleveland Browns selecting Mayfield as the first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
Baker Mayfield began his NFL career behind Tyrod Taylor on the Browns’ depth chart until an injury forced Taylor to the bench. Mayfield went on to play in 14 games and set the NFL rookie record for touchdown passes with 27 touchdowns. He was highly efficient with a +13.0 (no. 5) Production Premium and was top five in the league among qualified quarterbacks in Deep Ball Attempts and Deep Ball Completion Percentage. Unfortunately, Mayfield’s rookie season was his best season from a fantasy perspective as he has failed to surpass his 2018 average of 17.9 fantasy points since.
Mayfield was traded to the Carolina Panthers prior to the start of the 2022 season and it remains to be seen if he will be able to reclaim some of the excitement generated during his rookie season.
