Veteran quarterback Baker Mayfield went from undesirable to undeniable pretty quickly after leaving the Carolina Panthers. His latest primetime heroics in Week 2 put the exclamation point on what fans have known all along.
Mayfield is a guy — one of the NFL's premier closers under center. And the Panthers' previous regime mismanaged him horribly.
The Panthers were struggling to find the correct answers at football's most important position. Releasing 2015 NFL MVP Cam Newton set off a chain of events that played a leading role in Carolina's rapid descent to rock bottom under David Tepper's ownership. Some would say the club is still trying to figure things out, although Bryce Young is not a lost cause just yet.
Baker Mayfield continues to make Carolina Panthers pay for their incompetence
Mayfield was acquired via trade from the Cleveland Browns after Sam Darnold couldn't meet the required standard. It brought fresh optimism among the team's long-suffering fan base, but the Panthers ended up splitting reps between the two at training camp despite the No. 1 pick's late arrival. This was organizational malpractice of the highest order — a microcosm of how disorganized and incompetent the previous head coach, Matt Rhule, was during his disastrous tenure.
The signal-caller struggled over the opening few games, and Rhule was mercifully fired. Steve Wilks came in as interim head coach and almost immediately reinstalled Darnold. Mayfield became surplus to requirements soon after, and his career has been on an upward trajectory ever since.
Carolina's division rival, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, is benefiting greatly from the Panthers' useless strategy. Mayfield is their franchise player, and his rousing effort to snatch victory from the Houston Texans' grasp on Monday Night Football only lent further weight to these claims.
Mayfield was flawless down the stretch. He made things happen, was composed and decisive in equal measure, and always came through in big moments. The Buccaneers are now 2-0 with a tight grip on NFC South supremacy. The Panthers are 0-2 and staring down another losing campaign after their dramatic loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
This was a toxic environment, so Mayfield never stood a chance. Coaches and front-office personnel were more concerned with preserving their jobs than with doing the right thing. The Panthers made the Oklahoma product look like a down-and-out, washed-up quarterback no longer capable of being an NFL starter. And that just wasn't the case.
The worst part? Mayfield is going to make the Panthers pay for their lack of conviction for a good while yet.