Emily Wilkinson says a simple Google search nearly torpedoed her relationship with Baker Mayfield before it ever really started.
Wilkinson, now married to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback for seven years, opened up on Netflix’s “Quarterback” about the awkward beginning of their story. A mutual friend named Patrick introduced them in late 2017 and told her Mayfield was “totally chill.”
Wilkinson did what plenty of people would do before a first date: she looked him up. What she found was not the clean-cut football résumé Patrick had apparently hoped she’d see.
“I also knew nothing about Baker,” Wilkinson explained. “And Patrick, the guy who set us up, said: 'Just Google him, you'll see tons of stuff'. Patrick was hoping I was going to see that he won the Heisman and that he's this great, stand up guy.”
Instead, the first headlines that popped up centered on Mayfield’s February 2017 arrest in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he faced misdemeanor charges of public intoxication, disorderly conduct, fleeing and resisting arrest.
“When I Googled him, I saw that he got arrested in Arkansas,” Wilkinson added. “I saw that he did some very profane things on the sideline of the Kansas game.
[And] He stuck the flag in the middle of Ohio State. The top five headlines were not favorable.”
The Kansas incident came during Oklahoma’s November 2017 game, when Mayfield grabbed his crotch and shouted obscenities toward the Jayhawks sideline after players declined to shake his hand before kickoff. Earlier that year, he had also stirred outrage by planting an Oklahoma Sooners flag in the middle of Ohio State’s turf after a big win in Columbus.
Even with that first impression, Wilkinson kept the date alive. The two started dating in December 2017, only days after Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy.
They married in July 2019 and now have two children: daughter Kova Jade, born in April 2024, and son Maverick Thorne, born in April 2026.
Wilkinson’s story lands at a tense moment for Mayfield and Tampa Bay. He’s in the final year of his contract with the Buccaneers, where he has rebuilt his career after difficult runs with the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams.
According to NBC Sports, Tampa Bay is in “no rush” to extend him, while Mayfield has set a deadline to get a deal done before training camp begins.
If no agreement comes together and the Buccaneers don’t use the franchise tag, NBC’s Mike Florio reports that the Pittsburgh Steelers “should be ready to make a move.”
Pittsburgh is expected to need a quarterback in 2027 after Aaron Rodgers is set to retire from the sport.
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