In December 2022, in the span of about three days, quarterback Baker Mayfield was cut by the Panthers, claimed by the Rams, joined the team in Los Angeles and suited up for a Thursday night game against the Raiders.
What he did — learning an offense on the fly, literally meeting teammates in the huddle, rallying from a 16-3 deficit in the final five minutes — helped the Rams survive a difficult season. And in the bigger picture, his impromptu performance changed the course of his NFL career.
Mayfield reasonably didn’t expect to play in that game, so much so that his wife, Emily, was initially going to stay in Charlotte and not fly to Los Angeles.
“Baker was like, ‘Don’t worry about it. This is insane. There’s no chance I play,'” she told me. “The game’s in 48 hours. This is Tuesday night. I’m like, ‘Are you sure you’re not going to play?’ and he’s like, ‘In what universe would that make sense?'”
She went to Los Angeles, and Baker won in incredible fashion.
The Buccaneers and Mayfield visit the Rams on Sunday, three years after his legendary trip to Los Angeles. Ahead of his first game against the Rams since that Thursday night, I spoke with 15 people who were key characters in Mayfield’s whirlwind 48 hours. This is our oral history of the events that led to his career resurgence.
Mayfield’s football low point came in 2022, when he was traded by the Browns and benched by the Panthers after going 1-5 as a starter, with as many interceptions (six) as touchdown passes. He requested his release after he was demoted to the No. 3 spot, and Carolina waived him on Monday, Dec. 5, giving other teams until 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday to claim him.
He didn’t know if a team would claim him, but he took a gamble and booked a 4:30 p.m. flight on Tuesday to Los Angeles, knowing that the Rams might be interested. The defending Super Bowl champs were depleted by injuries and 3-9, having lost six straight games. Starting quarterback Matthew Stafford was out with a spinal cord contusion, backup John Wolford was limited by a neck injury and Bryce Perkins had just thrown two interceptions in a 26-10 loss to the Chiefs.
After Los Angeles made the waiver claim, Mayfield got to the team’s facility around 9 p.m. PT on Tuesday and immediately went to work with the Rams’ braintrust. He and head coach Sean McVay had met once by coincidence. Mayfield was training in Los Angeles before the 2018 draft and was on the same flight as McVay to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis. They talked the whole way after McVay convinced the passenger next to him to switch seats with Mayfield. No other Rams coaches had met Mayfield before.
Baker Mayfield was at the low point of his NFL career in 2022. He was benched and became the Panthers’ third-string quarterback after throwing six interceptions in seven games with Carolina. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
Liam Coen, Rams offensive coordinator (now Jaguars head coach): He got in pretty late. It was well past post-practice. When he got in, myself, (passing game coordinator) Zac Robinson and Sean were in the offensive staff room with him until about 12:30 a.m. or so, cramming — formations, motions. One of the first things we taught him was the two-minute menu. It’s the easiest play calls. They’re just two words, and that obviously ended up paying off in a major way at the end of the game.
Zac Robinson, Rams passing game coordinator (now Falcons offensive coordinator): We had around 20-ish plays, run and pass game — kind of a ready list for him when he got there. All Sean wanted was to put him in a position to be successful. “We’re not going to just throw you out there. If we get to that point later in the week and we feel good about it, then shoot, we can go cut it loose.” We went through huddle, cadence, operation, pass protection, motion snap point, all the little things you’re going through with a new quarterback.
Jake Peetz, Rams offensive assistant (now Seahawks passing game coordinator): Baker had a lot going on. He’s obviously just been released. He had every reason to have a negative attitude or outlook on life, for sure football in general. He gets ripped across the country. His energy, I remember how easy he was to communicate with, how open he was. He came in so excited to be there and really embraced it.
Because Mayfield arrived late Tuesday, his only on-field time with his new teammates was a Wednesday walkthrough — a short, light practice — that had him more involved than he expected to be.
Mayfield: I got some routes on air with the guys, took some reps in practice because John couldn’t throw. I started to feel more comfortable with the play calls, getting them in and out, memorizing it.
Brian Allen, Rams center (now a Rams coach): Day before a game, you have so much of the plan in place that it’s kind of elementary at that point, hitting everything and checking boxes. We put a couple of packages for him that he could own and operate, and we had nothing to lose. All of us were super-excited, just the opportunity to have a Heisman Trophy winner in here, former No. 1 overall.
Mayfield: After that practice, I called Emily. I was like, “I think I might play.” She’s like, “What are you talking about?” I had told her not to worry about coming out to the game. “I’m just going to be on the sideline, don’t worry about it.” But on Wednesday, I’m like, “I think you should probably fly out.”
The Mayfields had gotten a new dog that year, an 80-pound Irish Setter Goldendoodle named Fergus, and he’d just gotten out of the animal hospital Monday night. They didn’t have anyone to watch the dog, another reason for her to stay in Charlotte.
Emily: I started thinking, “What if by some weird thing, he ends up getting in and I’m not there?” It was such a rough go in Charlotte, I made up my mind that there’s no way I’m not going to go. I got a flight Thursday morning/afternoon. I got in an hour and a half before kickoff, went straight to the game. I had three siblings living in L.A. at the time, so I had people to go to the game with. Even then, I was like, “There’s not a great shot he’s going to play, but at least I’m here, just in case.”
The Rams stay in Manhattan Beach the night before a home game, but McVay told Mayfield not to worry about that, to study at the facility and stay in his hotel nearby — he lived out of that hotel his entire five weeks with the team. McVay’s assistant picked Mayfield up on his way to drive the coach to the game on Thursday.
Coen: Sean said to me before the game, “Hey, man, whatever happens, let’s get him some confidence, some stuff we can build off for the next few weeks. Let this guy go play. We could win. It could be a miracle.”
McVay: The thing I give Baker a ton of credit for, he’s obviously incredibly intelligent. There were similar concepts he’d had success with in previous stops, but his ability to understand the language, come in, be able to authentically connect with his teammates and call plays in the huddle, just 48 hours after he got here, it’s pretty remarkable. At this point, I don’t know that anything Baker does surprises people.
The Rams went three-and-out on their first drive, with Wolford handing off three times. Los Angeles was already down 10-0 when Mayfield came in for the team’s second drive. The mere fact that he was in the game brought excitement to Amazon Prime’s live TV broadcast. “If nothing else, you have an opportunity, if you’re Baker Mayfield, to show the rest of the league in the rest of this season what you’re all about,” analyst Kirk Herbstreit said.
Van Jefferson, Rams wide receiver (now with Titans): Lo and behold, Baker comes in. I’m thinking in my mind, “Oh, my goodness.” Bro has barely been here. How is he going to call this? Sure enough, he came in and dialed it up.
Mayfield’s first pass was a 21-yard completion on the right side to Jefferson, and his 6-yard scramble helped the Rams get a 55-yard field goal.
Coen: It was wild. He completed his first pass on play-action. Things got a little rocky, we didn’t run it great, we were thin at receiver. He never got frazzled. We had a whole wristband for him, and we were only going to operate off these, let’s say, 45-50 plays total, and they were all on the wristband. Well, Sean didn’t use it hardly at all. He’s calling it in to Baker on the mike, like longhand. We’re on the sideline, with the game plan, like drawing up, “Well, this is what this is.”
Ben Skowronek, Rams wide receiver (now with Steelers): I wasn’t sure if he knew who I was. It was in a huddle, and I was like, “What’s up, man? I’m Ben.” I thought it was a good time to introduce myself.
Allen: It was pretty crazy. He’s just got that “dawg” element to him that everyone knows. He got his first drive, and it’s, “Screw this. We’re rolling with him the rest of the game.” It was one of the few NFL games I played in that was a backyard football game. Whatever happens, win at all costs and we’ll figure it out after.
A fumble by running back Cam Akers at the Raiders’ 20-yard line ended the next drive, and the Rams trailed 13-3 at the half. The team’s second half opened with two punts, and Mayfield looked like someone who’d joined the team two days earlier, starting out 5-for-13 for 76 yards. The next drive got to the Raiders’ 29-yard line, but was scuttled by holding and personal foul penalties, leading to a missed 61-yard field goal attempt.
Allen: I just remember the life he brought to our team. We were in a down period, we had guys hurt, we’d lost a couple of games. The season was kind of for nothing at that point. It didn’t really matter. You’re going to play the game because you love it. At that point, where was Baker in his career? This guy’s beaten down, no one cares, and he’s out here letting it rip, having the time of his life. Him being the light and the gasoline of the engine that night was a cool thing.
John Wolford started for the Rams at quarterback in that game against the Raiders in 2022. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
They weren’t scoring, but the Rams’ staff couldn’t believe how much Mayfield was able to do after so little prep. Their offensive playcalling has “cans” — they’ll come out of the huddle with two calls and can shift or audible to the second play based on the defensive look.
Coen: You have run-can-pass or run-can-run, whatever. We also have a mechanism where we say “RELOAD” where you canned it but didn’t mean to, or they gave you a different look. He actually had a reload in the game that he executed. He messed up the can and was “RELOAD! RELOAD!” and everybody’s like, “What? What the hell just happened?” It speaks exactly to how he operates. Football just makes sense to him.
Robinson: Those reloads might come up every two or three years, and the fact that it came up that night, we were amazed.
Mayfield: We definitely hadn’t covered that. It was a run-to-run play. I canned the run and they got out of whatever pressure they were showing. I said, “REWIND! REWIND!” and their term was reload, but luckily everybody knew what I meant.
Robinson: There were plays that weren’t on his list, and Sean’s on the headset: “Guys, you think he’d be good on this?” So I had three-four plays on my call sheet, and I was drawing them up: “Here’s the motion, you’re faking it to the running back, you’re wheeling around and throwing this receiver screen.” The way Baker was able to handle that in real time in a real game was incredible.
Another Raiders field goal had them up 16-3 with 12:20 left in the fourth quarter. That’s when the comeback started, with the Raiders’ help. The Rams went three-and-out, but Las Vegas jumped offsides on a punt for a first down. They grinded out a 17-play, 75-yard drive, with Mayfield converting a fourth down at the 2 with a throw to Cam Akers, who then ran it for a touchdown and a 17-10 deficit. But the drive took up nine minutes, leaving only 3:19 left and the Rams down to their last time out.
Los Angeles’ defense got the ball back for the offense, but Las Vegas’ punt was downed at the 2-yard line, so the Rams needed a touchdown, 98 yards away, with 1:45 left and no timeouts.
Mayfield threw an interception on the third play, but it was negated by a pass interference penalty. On the next play, he was sacked back to his own 9-yard line; however, as Mayfield got up, the Raiders’ Jerry Tillery knocked the ball out of his hands and drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. That not only gave the Rams 15 yards, but it stopped the clock.
Mayfield: Truly, it went back to what I was cramming for, learning the no-huddle stuff, the formations, the number system they call it with. Sean was calling the no-huddle, and I actually knew that better than I knew the normal game plan.
Greg Olson, Rams senior offensive assistant (now with Raiders): The way he carried himself in that drive, confident, no signs of stress or anxiety. He was in control. That’s what you’re looking for in that situation, a sense of calmness. He understood the urgency of the situation and handled it like a pro.
Mayfield hit Skowronek for a 32-yard gain to the Raiders’ 40 on a leaping, contested catch between two defenders. Skowronek set career highs that still stand with seven catches for 89 yards in the game.
Mayfield: You’re thinking that we need a chunk play, and the throw to Ben down the sideline. It’s one-on-one in my eyes, so I’m going to throw it up to him. He’s a big dude.
Two short throws, the second to Skowronek (“a shallow cross, a Rockin’ Rip 9,” Mayfield says), and the Rams had a first down at the Raiders’ 23, and Mayfield had to spike the ball to stop the clock with 15 seconds left.
Coen: When we went to clock it, the center, Brian Allen, you can see it on the clip, grabs him and tells Baker what the cadence is for Clock.
Matthew Stafford (left) saw his 2022 season end prematurely, giving Baker Mayfield (right) an opportunity to start with the Rams. Offensive coordinator Liam Coen (center) was tasked with getting Mayfield prepared to play a game 48 hours after he signed with the team. (Photo by Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Mayfield: You can see it on the TV copy. He gets right in my face and tells me: TURBO SET HUT! TURBO SET HUT! It’s funny, in the middle of that, not knowing what it was, I was going to fake it til I make it.
McVay: That’s the stuff you don’t realize, when you have a center that has that capacity and command to be able to communicate that to him after he hits a big play. It’s incredible, and that’s when you realize you’re fortunate when you’re around really good players.
Coen: He went and operated like he’d run those plays a million times. To see it come together in the two-minute at the end is what was really cool, because of how much time we spent working with him. He studied his tail off.
From there, McVay called “Dancer,” with three receivers on the right and Jefferson alone on the left and an undrafted rookie corner named Sam Webb covering him in just his third (and last) NFL start.
Jefferson: They called Dancer, and I asked Baker like, “What do I got on this play?” and I realize I’m asking him what I’ve got and he just got here. He told me, “You’ve got a go ball,” and he saw the one-on-one coverage, and the rest is history.
Mayfield saw safety Duron Harmon toward the middle of the field, leaving Jefferson one-on-one, and he dropped in a perfect pass in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown with 10 seconds left.
“Is that possible?” announcer Al Michaels asked on the live broadcast. “This is impossible.”
“This is unbelievable,” Herbstreit said. “Has the league ever seen anything like this, after two days?”
In what universe would that make sense, right?
Jefferson: He was so locked in and so confident. Just being around him, he’s one of the best teammates I’ve ever been around in my entire career. One of those you want to play for. He’s that type of guy, one of a kind.
Coen: It’s literally out of a movie. For him to do that, everybody rose up and made huge plays. It’s a small part of history.
Emily: The game of our dreams. We were able to celebrate after. It was the best weekend ever.
Kevin Carberry, Rams offensive line coach (now with the Buccaneers): I can vividly remember driving home from the stadium after with my dad, who was in town for the game. It was cool. Nobody flinched. Baker certainly didn’t. He just rolled with it to show what kind of competitor he was. It was certainly a challenge, short week, just went out there and played, executed. It’s one of my favorite memories.
Mayfield: I head-butted a guy right after the touchdown on the sidelines (without a helmet on). Didn’t even know his name at the time.
“There is a new leading man in Hollywood,” Michaels said on the broadcast. Mayfield knew his L.A. stardom was fleeting, but he enjoyed it. Skowronek remembers that two days after the game, Mayfield got them into the posh annual Christmas party hosted by Rams team physician Neal ElAttrache, whose patients include star athletes and celebrities.
Skowronek: Up there in the Hollywood Hills. It was a super-cool party. I met Rocky.
Emily: He was definitely the man of the hour. We packed a suitcase to get us through the weekend, sweats and nothing. We ran to the mall and we tried to look semi-presentable for this huge party. We were there with people much more important than us, but they were all fired up about the game. That whole weekend, you can’t draw it up better. Sylvester Stallone is like, “Baker Mayfield, what a game you had!” and we’re like, ‘Holy s—! Sylvester Stallone!” All these big names in Hollywood and we’re still the little guys sitting in the back talking to Santa and Mrs. Claus.
Allen: Whoa. Whoa. I’ve been going to that party long before Baker and Ben came to town. Baker showed up to my house in a white mink coat. It was fantastic.
The Rams would finish 5-12, and with Stafford back healthy, Mayfield knew he was signing elsewhere. He landed with the Bucs in 2023, taking over after Tom Brady retired, and he’s led them to division titles every season since. Coen would join him as Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator in 2024, in part from their brief success together, and the Bucs had a top-five offense, which helped Coen become head coach of the Jaguars.
Coen: That relationship, those five weeks, is literally what got me the opportunity to come to Tampa. The reality is I would not be here without him. I wouldn’t. You see the headlines of “Baker the Head-Coach Maker,” and it’s true. He’s so much fun to be around that way. He makes it so easy to do your job.
Baker Mayfield and Liam Coen reunited with the Buccaneers in 2024. Coen’s work with Mayfield helped him land the Jaguars’ head coaching job. (Photo by Logan Bowles/Getty Images)
Olson: Anybody that understands football understands what a heroic, unbelievable achievement that was.
Peetz: It changed the trajectory of the NFL, honestly. If Sean doesn’t do that, where does Baker end up? I don’t know. Liam was going to be successful wherever he went, and I’d like to think the same for Baker. But it set off a ripple effect. It was really cool how all our paths crossed for however many games at the end of that year. All the hardships for that organization, all the injuries, and what a shot in the arm Baker was. I remember coming home, and my kids said, “Mr. Sean was so happy!” He pumped a lot of positive juice into the whole building.
McVay: That was a very humbling, challenging year, a lot of things I’ve been pretty open about, about how much that challenged me, where you’re not as secure as you thought. When you have somebody that did a great job of bringing some light to a challenging spot, the way Baker pours into his teammates … the command, the respect, the way Baker handled it, it was a much-needed boost for our group. There’s a real appreciation from me, Liam and Baker for that month of time that was needed for all of us. It was a blessing in disguise because it made us all stronger.
Jefferson: I think that propelled him into the player he is now. You think about him going from Cleveland to Carolina to the Rams. Everyone was talking about how bad a quarterback he is, how he’s not going to pan out, but I think God aligned the right things for Baker to be there that night.
Allen: I can’t say enough good things about that guy. The ultimate competitor. That’s one of his best traits you can’t measure, the belief he gives people. It’s a rare thing for a quarterback to be really smart these days, and even rarer for him to be a tough dude who’s going to put his head down. That’s something the 10 other guys will always gravitate towards. The Rams are definitely really proud of him, what he’s gone on to do.
Peetz: Sometimes, people get an opportunity to really show what they’re all about, to put their résumé on spectacle for the world to see. That’s what he did. So the success he’s had since then is not a surprise at all.
Emily: It was such a cool moment. I remember when everything slowed down a little bit, Baker said, “This is like a highlight of my career.” The game means nothing, I mean, they’re not going to the playoffs, but Baker was like, “Shoot, I’ve got nothing to lose.” He was so fired up. He compared it to winning the Heisman. It’s obviously not the same accolade, but in that moment, the excitement, it was really a special night.
Mayfield: To say it was a weight lifted off my shoulders truly doesn’t do it justice. I could physically feel a weight come off. Finding a joy in football again, it had been a few years. In 2021, I was banged up all year, and ’22 was not very fun until I got to L.A. … After the game, you would think that was our Super Bowl. It was awesome. I needed that, but they did too.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!
