Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield Claims Father’s Company Stole $12 Million in Lawsuit

Getty Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Over the course of 4 years, from 2018 to 2021, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield and his wife, Emily, claim that a company run by Mayfield’s father stole $12 million of his money then reneged on an agreement to pay back those funds at the beginning of 2024, according to a report from ESPN’s Jenna Laine.

The company, Camwood Capital Management Group, lists Mayfield’s father, James W. Mayfield as the founder and senior managing director.

“The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Texas on Nov. 22 on behalf of Mayfield, his wife, Emily, and their company, Team BRM, LLC (TBRM),” Laine wrote on November 26. “It alleges that Camwood Capital Management Group and its subsidiaries obtained $12 million from the Mayfields between 2018 and 2021 without their knowledge or consent … The two parties reached a confidential settlement effective Jan. 23, 2024, in which Camwood Capital would repay a total of $11,741,000.00, plus interest, in installments starting Sept. 30. The suit states that the defendants were also obligated to refinance an existing loan to free up capital to repay the Mayfields and to provide them access to the defendant’s books and records. The suit states that none of those obligations were fulfilled.”

Financial Struggles in Past for Mayfield’s Father

This isn’t the first time Mayfield’s father’s financial struggles have come to light.

In an ESPN profile of Mayfield written by Tim Keown before Mayfield’s junior season at the University of Oklahoma in 2016, Mayfield disclosed that financial difficulties had hit his family when he was a senior at Lake Travis High School in Austin, Texas, in 2012.

“You’ll learn how the little-rich-boy theme collapsed in Mayfield’s senior year, when his father, a private equity consultant, hit hard times and had to sell the family home,” Keown wrote. “… Baker, big brother Matt and their parents moved from rental to rental — four in Baker’s senior year alone.”

It was also Mayfield’s father who talked him out of taking a scholarship at a smaller Division I school and walk on at Texas Tech, where he was the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year in 2013.

Mayfield transferred from Texas Tech to Oklahoma, where he was a 3-time All-Big 12 pick, 3-time All-American, 2-time Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and won the Heisman Trophy as a senior in 2017 — the first former walk on to win the Heisman.

Tracking Mayfield’s Rollercoaster NFL Career

Mayfield was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns and signed a 4-year, $32.6 million contract.

The Browns exercised an $18.58 million option for Mayfield before the 2021 season … then traded him to the Carolina Panthers before the 2022 season in order to trade for Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson and sign him to a fully-guaranteed, 5-year, $230 million contract extension widely viewed as the worst contract in NFL history.

Mayfield lasted half of the 2022 season with the Panthers before asking for his release and finishing the season with the Los Angeles Rams, where he managed to play well enough in relief of injured starter Matthew Stafford to secure a 1-year, $3 million “prove-it” contract with the Buccaneers in 2023.

Mayfield responded with a career year, leading the Buccaneers to an NFC South Division title, making his first Pro Bowl and signed a 3-year, $100 million contract in March 2024.