Baker Mayfield took a leap of faith in booking a flight to Los Angeles on Tuesday before the Rams had officially claimed him off waivers but perhaps more impressive were the hurdles the former Carolina Panthers quarterback had to overcome before winning with his new team nearly 48 hours after walking into the building.
After defeating the Las Vegas Raiders in a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback on Thursday night, Mayfield told Amazon’s Tony Gonzalez that he had booked a flight before the waiver wire went through.
But he offered more details to NBC’s Peter King, telling him that the Rams were fourth in the claiming order behind the Houston Texans, Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos.
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"I got the ticket and I got the insurance on the flight just in case," Mayfield said of the 4:48 p.m flight out of Charlotte. "I honestly was just waiting in the airport for a phone call, hoping and praying the call was from a Los Angeles number."
He told King he got the call at 4:10 p.m. from Rams general manager Les Snead and was on his way. The only problem? Mayfield couldn't download the condensed game plan that was sent to him on the flight.
"Plane Wi-Fi was not friendly on that one, so I was pretty stressed out."
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Mayfield landed late and had a 90-minute meeting at the facility to end a rollercoaster of a day. He had limited reps on Wednesday and just a day later he got the chance to play – going 22-for-35 with 230 passing yards, including the go-ahead touchdown pass to Van Jefferson with 10 seconds left to cap off an eight-play, 98-yard drive to win it all, 17-16.
"Crazy as it seems, this might be number one, to be honest with you," Mayfield told King of where that moment ranks in his career.
"With 48 hours from getting here till game time, this is number one for me. It’s not just the moment. It’s everything that led up to it. It’s just special. Unforgettable."
Mayfield requested to be released on Monday last week after Panther’s coach Steve Wilks informed him they would be going with Sam Danrold as starter with PJ Walker as his backup in Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks.
