Mayfield Says He Booked Flight to L.A. Before Rams Claim

The quarterback bet on himself ahead of his awe-inspiring debut with the franchise.

NFL fans may have seen the beginning of the Baker Mayfield resurgence on Thursday night, as the new Rams quarterback led the team back from a 16–3 deficit to beat the Raiders in the closing seconds, just over three days after he was released by the Panthers.

Mayfield showed very few signs of having limited time with his new team’s playbook as he engineered two fourth quarter touchdown drives to give Los Angeles a 17–16 victory over Las Vegas. The highlight came with just 10 seconds remaining when he delivered a pinpoint pass to Van Jefferson for a game-winning 23-yard score.

Carolina released Mayfield on Monday at the quarterback’s own request, following a disappointing tenure that saw the Panthers fire Matt Rhule and flip-flop between signal-callers throughout the first 13 weeks of the season. The move sent the former No. 1 pick to the waiver wire, where all of the other 31 teams had a chance to claim him. The Rams, positioned as the No. 4 team in the waiver order, ultimately won out.

• Get your seats to Los Angeles Rams games with SI Tickets

Though it was not certain thing where Mayfield would end up, the 27-year-old said after Thursday’s 17–16 victory that he had an inkling that the Rams would claim him before Tuesday’s waiver deadline. So much so, that he made travel arrangements before the day’s waivers were processed. 

“I took a gamble, I booked the flight before the waiver wire went through,” Mayfield told the Amazon Prime postgame crew.

Mayfield’s bet surely paid off in more ways than one. The Rams claimed the fifth-year veteran on Tuesday afternoon and were able to incorporate him into the offense enough to have him engineer a remarkable fourth-quarter comeback just 48 hours later.

Mayfield finished his first game a Ram 22-of-35 passing for 230 yards and a touchdown—the game-winning strike Jefferson. With starter Matthew Stafford on injured reserve for the time being, Mayfield is well-positioned to build upon his awe-inspiring debut in Los Angeles over the next few weeks.