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The history between Baker Mayfield and the Bucs' Week Two opponent, the Cleveland Browns, is undeniable, but he says the best way to prepare to play his first NFL team is to spend the week locking in on the "little things"

Baker Mayfield's original entry into the NFL came in Cleveland in 2018, and it could hardly have started in a better way. The Browns made Mayfield the first-overall pick in a draft that saw five quarterbacks get taken in the opening round. A little over four calendar years later, Mayfield's time in Cleveland came to an end, and in a decidedly less happy fashion. After trading for former Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, the Browns unceremoniously shipped Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers in June of 2022.

Mayfield is not particularly shy about voicing his opinions or collecting nuggets of motivation, so it wasn't a surprise when he told former Cleveland teammate Jarvis Landry during an August podcast interview that Week Two was circled on his 2026 calendar. That's when the Browns were coming to Tampa, where he is now in his fourth season as the Buccaneers' starting quarterback.

Now that that week has arrived, however, Mayfield said the key to getting ready to vanquish his former team is to be very detail-oriented in his preparation this week, as opposed to focusing on any lingering animus.

"I think anytime there's history between a franchise, coaching staff, anybody, there's always…you want to come out on the winning side no matter what," said Mayfield on Wednesday. "Obviously, it's very different there, staff-wise and everybody, but yeah, I spent four years there. I'm going into Year Four here. I started my career there, a lot of ups and downs. For me, this week is [about] doing the little things right, continuing to just try and place the ball where it needs to go and obviously making the corrections I need to, ball security.

"Doing all the little things right. Taking it one day at a time and making sure you're up on the little details. That goes back to just obviously not coming out on the right side of the game last week. I'm really focused on the small details. When you do that, good things will happen on Sunday. So for me, focus on that and then when the lights come on, you get out there and play and it's time to let it loose."

Indeed, there is now quite a bit of time and distance between Mayfield and the Browns' headquarters. Perhaps things were a bit different when he faced Cleveland as the Panthers' starting quarterback just a few months after being traded. At this point, the Browns have a completely new coaching staff – though General Manager Andrew Berry remains – and just defensive backs Grant Delpit and Denzel Ward as former teammates still on the roster.

Between that shiny beginning and dark end, there were good moments in Cleveland for Mayfield. He threw for 27 touchdowns in his first year and was the PFWA choice for Rookie of the Year. In 2020, he led the Browns to an 11-5 record, racking up 2,563 passing yards and 26 touchdowns against only eight interceptions. That team went on to secure the franchise's first playoff win in more than a quarter-century, as the Browns battered the Steelers, 48-37.

"With any experience, there's ups and downs, good and bad," said Mayfield. "Ultimately, you remember the good more so than the bad. First time having a playoff win since '94 there, and going on the road and doing it in Pittsburgh. A lot of good memories there, a lot of teammates that are friends for life. But like I said earlier, it's a very different building now."

Mayfield has grown as a quarterback and a man since the Browns drafted him with the first pick nearly a decade ago. Some of that growth, some of the important things he has learned along the way, came while he was in Cleveland.

"A lot of things. I think probably the biggest one: Try to be the same person each and every day for the guys in the locker room, the people you work with, the staff that you're around each day," said Mayfield. "Some things are out of your control. If you try to get it fixed and you're not worried about the football aspects of your job you're probably letting some things slide and fall by the wayside. So I think controlling who I am each and every day, trying to lead the best way possible and control the offense, and ultimately win."

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Florida education leaders are putting new guardrails around the use of artificial intelligence in classrooms.

The State Board of Education unanimously approved two new sets of AI rules Wednesday — one covering K-12 schools and another for Florida’s state colleges.

Florida Commissioner of Education Dr. Henry Mack said the state is not trying to ban the technology.

“The policies set the guardrails. They don’t ban the use of artificial intelligence within the classroom at the K-12 level, but also the colleges,” Mack said during Wednesday’s meeting.

Artificial intelligence is already being used in Florida school districts. In Hillsborough County, for example, teachers use the MagicSchool AI platform.

Under the new K-12 policy, school districts across the state will have to develop local policies governing which AI tools can be used and how they can be used.

Parents will also be notified when certain AI instructional tools are approved and will have to give permission before their child directly interacts with them.

State Board of Education member Layla Collins expressed concerns about students becoming too reliant on the technology.

“It should be a supplement. It should not replace learning good practices,” Collins said.

Mack agreed, saying the goal is to complement learning rather than replace it.

“We have to grapple with the deployment of technology in the ways that we have historically done,” Mack said. “We’ve never banned access to computers in the classroom, we’ve never banned access to the internet, and likewise we’ll never ban access to AI. It’s about using it prudently and effectively.”

Carol Gauronskas, vice president of the Florida Education Association, said she is pleased with the policies overall, but has concerns about how they will be put into practice.

“It will really be in the implementation,” Gauronskas said. “Will it just be more work on the district to provide what the State Board of Ed needs, or will it be something that is smoothly implemented? And with that then comes a learning curve for the students.”

School districts will spend the coming months developing their local policies. Mack encouraged parents to get involved in that process and work with their school districts and superintendents as those rules are written.

Florida’s state colleges will also have to establish policies spelling out when and how AI can be used. Students will not be allowed to use AI on graded assignments or assessments unless their instructor gives permission. Colleges will also have to establish rules addressing privacy, academic integrity and responsible AI use.

The goal: keeping AI as a tool for learning — without letting it do the learning for students.

TAMPA, Fla. — On Tuesday morning at Gandy Park South, the Tampa Bay Estuary Program set sail in search of solutions.

The program’s focus is on a five-year study, deploying multiple data loggers to collect information from seagrass meadows in Old Tampa Bay.

Each time it deploys, the team drops six different data loggers. Three data loggers are placed in areas with seagrass meadows, while the other three are released in areas without seagrass.

Maya Burke, Tampa Bay Estuary Program’s assistant director, said, “This study is specifically looking at super shallow seagrass meadows to see if those seagrasses are experiencing warmer temperatures, temperatures that are warm enough to maybe stress them out and either lead to mortality or slow down their recovery and growth.”

Burke believes it is important to look at the quantity and the quality.

“Seagrass is really the foundation to a healthy Tampa Bay. Not only does it help stabilize the sediments, store carbon, it is also helping to break up wave energy. And really importantly, it is where most juvenile fish spend some time of their life sort of hiding out, growing up, learning how to be before they head off into the Gulf of Mexico,” Burke said.

The site location is strategic because shallow waters can heat up faster.

Burke said the team is seeking temperatures that are above a thermal threshold of about 90 degrees Fahrenheit.

“And we definitely are seeing those kinds of conditions here in Old Tampa Bay,” Burke said.

Driven by the mission is volunteer Harry Cunningham, who sat behind the wheel Tuesday morning. He has dedicated hundreds of hours to marine life.

“The seagrasses are the most important thing out here. Without them, you wouldn’t have any life at all in the bay,” Cunningham said.

As a fifth-generation Floridian, he wants to protect the place he calls home. He hopes others can join the effort.

“I’m hopeful, and I think most of the organizations are hopeful that they’ll gain more volunteers, more people of interest, and more people that take care of the bay,” added Cunningham.

That’s why he joined the Tampa Bay Estuary Program 20 years ago.

On Tuesday morning, Cunningham led Burke and her colleague to the data logger sites.

“It’s basically like an Easter egg hunt for grown-ups, for scientists,” said Burke with a smile.

Burke jumped into the water and snorkeled to a data logger tucked away in the seagrass meadows.

“Then I’ll unscrew it. It’s a temperature logger that’s attached to a long metal anchor. I’ll be unscrewing that metal anchor from the sediment down there in the bay bottom, and basically bringing that back onto the boat so that my colleague Sheila can start downloading all of the information,” said Burke.

On the boat, the crew downloaded the data to their phones and conducted a salinity reading.

“We understand that salinity has a relationship to flushing, and that flushing that water circulation is really important component for water quality that we’re also looking at in this study,” noted Burke.

These details will later determine if seagrass can handle the heat.

Until then, the research pushes forward for another year. Once the study wraps up, the team will look at all the data to see if warmer water is causing extra stress.

If that’s the case, the goal is to keep monitoring the area and find possible solutions.

Burke, a native of Pinellas County, only hopes to see positive results.

“I watched our community follow the science, make investments in wastewater treatment, and I watched the water get clearer,” she said. “So clear that in 2016, we actually had as much seagrass resources here in Tampa Bay as we did in the 1950s. That’s a big deal. That’s actually an international success story, and I don’t want to see us lose all that progress on my watch.”

Residents who want to follow the data in this study, can click here.

The Tampa Bay Estuary Program encourages any volunteers to head to its website. You can also purchase a license plate tag, which helps fund their community grant programs.

The Floriland Office Center, a well-known Tampa commercial property built as a mall in 1972, has been sold.

The buyer is the Tampa Bay Christian Academy, which will move its campus to the site, says the commercial real estate firm Franklin Street.

According to Hillsborough County property records, the school paid $12.8 million for the property.

Franklin Street represented the seller, a Delaware LLC that bought it in 2015 for $14.76 million, and announced the deal. The Tampa firm will also manage the property for the school.

Tampa Bay Christian, the firm says, chose the site because it needed to find a space that could accommodate its current 600 students as well as amenities like a cafeteria, outdoor recreation space, offices and classrooms.

The new space will allow the school to increase enrollment when it moves from its current home on Rome Avenue in Seminole Heights about three miles away.

Tampa Bay Christian has begun moving into the space, but it’s “a gradual move,” a Franklin Street spokesperson says.

The purchase, says Franklin, required tax-exempt bond financing because the school operates as a nonprofit funded “substantially” by the state of Florida with no tuition paid out of pocket by families.

That financing structure carries its own set of requirements distinct from a typical real estate closing, the firm says.

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According to its 2025 Form 990 posted on the nonprofit research company Candid GuideStar’s website, Tampa Bay Christian has $3.95 million in assets.

The Floriland Office Center at 9039 Florida Ave. is just off Interstate 275 at Busch Boulevard. The 160,000-square-foot center first opened as a mall but facing stiff competition from newer centers around Tampa, it closed in 1990.

Over the years, it became an office complex. Today, it has eight existing nonprofit tenants that will share space with Tampa Bay Christian when the school finishes moving in.

The school, the building’s owner, is taking 96,000 square feet; Ultimate Medical Academy has about 25,560 square feet; and the remaining tenants take up about 38,440 square feet.

“This transaction is representative of two converging trends in Tampa’s commercial real estate landscape,” Anthony Suarez, associate director at Franklin Street, says in a statement. “Adaptive reuse of aging retail and office assets for educational and institutional purposes and the increasing difficulty of finding large-scale infill sites in the urban core (are) both prevalent within the region.”

Franklin Street’s Suarez and Pat Kelly represented the seller and Franklin Street Property Management will manage the facility for the school.

TAMPA, Fla. — Everyone remembers how last season ended: an overtime loss to the Canadiens and a fourth consecutive first-round exit.

Now the countdown to a new season begins. Media day signals a fresh start, a new beginning, even if the memory of how it ended still lingers.

“It’s been the theme for our group and myself the last couple of years; it definitely tests you mentally, how you’ve got to start from scratch,” said Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh at the team’s media day Wednesday.

A fresh start is exactly what Bolts captain Victor Hedman is excited about after missing 49 games last year, including the final 22 and all seven playoff games due to a personal leave of absence.

“Super excited. Excited to start a new season and put the other ones behind us and, yeah, just excited to get out there on the ice tomorrow with the guys and get to work,” said the Lightning captain.

One of the new guys joining Hedman is veteran defenseman John Carlson, who signed a two-year deal with the team in July. At 36 years old, he is still considered one of the best offensive defensemen in the league.

On the ice, a new collective bargaining agreement will bring a shorter training camp and two fewer preseason games, making ice time more valuable than ever for players fighting for a roster spot.

“There isn’t a lot of opportunity to get guys seen, so they’re going to have to make the most out of every rep in practice and every shift they do get in games in order to make a good impression,” said Lightning general manager Julien BriseBois.

For years, the Lightning have begun the season with one of the best rosters in the league, but after four straight early exits, it’s a reminder that games are not won on paper and talk is cheap.

For the Lightning, this season is about more than a fresh start. They feel they have plenty to prove.