Bucs' Zampese: Browns 'Mucked It Up' Trading Mayfield — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Ken Zampese, Tampa's senior offensive assistant and Cleveland's QBs coach in 2018, told ESPN the Browns 'had the guy' in Baker Mayfield and 'mucked it up' by trading him in 2022, ahead of Sunday's Week 2 matchup.
- Baker Mayfield went 29-30 as Cleveland's starter and led them to a 48-37 wild-card win at Pittsburgh in 2020 — the franchise's first playoff victory in 26 years — before a torn labrum, knee and foot injuries, social media death threats, and public criticism from Odell Beckham Jr.'s father derailed his 2021 season.
- The Browns traded Mayfield to Carolina in July 2022 after signing Deshaun Watson to a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract; Mayfield learned of the Watson pursuit via social media while recovering from shoulder surgery.
- After brief stops in Carolina and with the Rams, Mayfield signed a one-year 'prove it' deal with Tampa in 2023, won an NFC South title plus a wild-card upset of Philadelphia, claimed another division crown in 2024, and signed a three-year, $165 million extension despite an injury-marred 2025.
- Deshaun Watson is 9-11 in just 20 games as Cleveland's starter, underwent a second Achilles surgery after re-rupturing the tendon in January 2025, and last week threw one touchdown and one interception while being sacked five times in a 34-10 loss at Jacksonville.
- Todd Monken, Cleveland's new head coach and Mayfield's offensive coordinator in Cleveland in 2019, said he wishes he had coached Mayfield better and praised his competitiveness as 'elite level' and 'everything you're looking for in a player ... just in a human being in general.'
- Mayfield fumbled three times in Tampa's 33-27 Week 1 loss at Cincinnati and told the '4th & South' podcast he had this Week 2 game circled since the schedule release.
Why it matters: Cleveland's fully guaranteed $230 million Watson bet has produced a 9-11 record in 20 games and two Achilles surgeries, while the discarded Mayfield has delivered two NFC South titles and a $165 million Tampa extension — the Week 2 reunion crystallizes just how lopsided that 2022 swap has become.
Ask SkimNews
