(This story has been updated with new information.)
Tom Brady, now the lead analyst for FOX’s football coverage, responded to Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield’s recent comments about the ‘stressed out’ environment he claimed Brady created in the Tampa Bay locker room.
It just so happened that Brady was part of the broadcast team covering Sunday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Midway through the first quarter, Brady directly addressed Mayfield’s comments made earlier in the week on the ‘Casa De Klub’ podcast.
‘I thought stressful was not having Super Bowl rings,’ Brady said during the broadcast. ‘There was a mindset of a champion I took to work every day. This wasn’t daycare – if I wanted to have fun, I was going to Disneyland with my kids.
‘There’s a way to approach this game and it’s with the right mindset to push each other outside of our comfort zone, and great teammates do that.’
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Brady, 47, added that there were ‘no apologies’ for having competitive spirit.
After the Buccaneers’ 33-16 win, Mayfield said he felt that his comments had been misconstrued.
‘I think a lot of that got taken out of context, and none of it was personal by any means,’ Mayfield said in a news conference. ‘It’s just what he demanded of the guys, and that’s the aura of Tom Brady. And that’s what he did to bring a championship here.’
Brady joined the Buccaneers ahead of the 2020 season and played three years in Tampa. He led the team to its second Lombardi Trophy with a victory in Super Bowl 55 in February 2021. Notoriously exacting when he was a player, Brady led the NFL in passing yards (5,316) and passing touchdowns (43) the season Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl.
Prior to the 2023 season, Mayfield, 29, was brought in as Brady’s replacement in Tampa. He played well in his first season with the Buccaneers, earning his only Pro Bowl berth.
‘The building was a little bit different with Tom in there,’ Mayfield said earlier in the week about the culture under Brady. ‘Obviously, playing-wise, Tom is different. He had everybody dialed in, high-strung environment, so I think everybody was pretty stressed out.’
Mayfield went on to say, ‘You hear some of the stories about if he didn’t like a certain play call and he didn’t like it throughout the week and they still call it in the game, there might have been a throwaway on purpose or throwing it at the running back or receiver’s feet. There were a lot of mind games going on.’