Tom Brady publicly responded to his Tampa Bay Buccaneers successor after Baker Mayfield leveled a series of accusations against the retired quarterback.
Brady found himself in the line of fire last week after Mayfield, who replaced the NFL legend in Tampa Bay, targeted his presence in the locker room.
The Buccaneers quarterback last week accused the serial Super Bowl winner of creating a “very nervous environment” within the team he inherited in Florida, and Brady didn’t take Mayfield’s comments very well.
Using his new $375 million Fox platform, the former quarterback-turned-broadcaster took a wild swing at Mayfield, who signed with Tampa Bay in 2023 after Brady retired.
“I thought it was stressful not having Super Bowl rings,” Brady said while calling the Bucs’ game against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
Tom Brady (left) publicly responded to Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield (right)
‘There was a champion mentality that I brought to work every day. This wasn’t a daycare. “If I wanted to have fun, I went to Disneyland with my kids.”
Brady added that he believed the best way to approach the game was to have teammates who “push each other outside of our comfort zone.”
“Great teammates do that,” he said. “There are high expectations for us, we have to make sure we go out and deliver.”
Mayfield had claimed that he and Brady had “very different personalities” and that Tampa Bay’s locker room now contrasted with the one Brady left behind.
‘The building was a little different with Tom there. Obviously, game-wise, Tom is different. “I had everyone on their toes, in a very nervous environment, so I think everyone was pretty stressed,” Mayfield said on the Casa De Klub podcast.
“They wanted me to come in, be myself and bring the joy back to football to the guys who weren’t having as much fun.”
“You hear some stories about if he didn’t like a certain play and he didn’t like it all week and he still gets called in the game, there might have been a throw out on purpose or he might have taken a dive into the field.” runner or the receiver’s feet,” Mayfield added.
Brady played for the Buccaneers for three seasons before retiring permanently in early 2023.
The quarterback led the Bucs to victory in the Super Bowl during his first season with the team.
“There are a lot of mind games going on.”
Mayfield also mentioned how those inside the Buccaneers headquarters are less “stressed” than when Brady was in the building.
Brady’s highly competitive nature led the Bucs to a Super Bowl victory in his first season in Tampa Bay after signing with the franchise in free agency in 2020.
Meanwhile, Mayfield led the team to a 9-8 record and a playoff berth in his only season with the Buccaneers, beating the Eagles in the wild card round before losing to the Detroit Lions in the divisional playoff.