Baker Mayfield is known for being a lot of things. He’s a Heisman Trophy winner. He was the No. 1 Overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. In 2020, he led the Cleveland Browns to their first playoff appearance in nearly twenty years. Most recently though, he became the starting quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After there was much speculation that he would replace Tom Brady after his retirement, it was announced that he’d be the new QB on Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2023. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles announced that Baker would lead the team after there’d been discussion about whether it would be him or Kyle Trask. “[Kyle’s] gotten leaps and bounds better than he was in the spring and he’s continuing to get better and we’re excited about him. But Baker’s our guy right now, experience-wise and just understanding the playbook just a little bit better,” he said, per USA Today.
While he’ll soon be known as the new Tampa QB, to one person – his wife, Emily Baker (née Wilkinson), Baker is known as a devoted husband. For more than three years, Baker and Emily have forged a life together. As Baker begins his next chapter with a new team, here’s what you need to know about his better half.
Emily Wilkinson was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on April 4, 1991, per Clutchpoints. She attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2013 before heading west to California.
Baker and Emily first met in 2017, thanks to a mutual friend who introduced them to each other. Emily was living in Los Angeles at the time and was wary of dating a “punk football player,” she told ESPN in 2019. She ignored Baker’s advances for months, but he didn’t give up. He followed, unfollowed, and re-followed her on Instagram, just trying to get her attention. In December, they finally exchanged messages. He begged her to meet him before his final college football game at the Rose Bowl. She agreed.
“I was assuming he’d be the typical playboy athlete,” she said. During the date, Baker didn’t talk at all about football. Instead, he was interested in learning more about Emily, asking her questions about her family, her plans for the future, and what makes her tick. A day after losing the Rose Bowl and ending his college career, Baker texted Emily that he was going to stay in Los Angeles. Three days after that, he moved in with her and her brothers. Six months later, they were engaged.
Emily has previously worked as a bartender and a patient coordinator. “I’m excited to say I’m only leaving Galanis Plastic Surgery because I’ll be starting a new adventure with this guy in Cleveland,” Emily said in 2018, per TMZ. When Baker played for the Cleveland Browns, she worked with Cleveland’s 3News as a special correspondent.
During the 2022 offseason, the Browns traded Baker to the Carolina Panthers. In July 2022, she shared a photo of their dog, Fergus, posing next to a box of Carolina blue roses. “Fergus says, ‘Go Daddy and go Panthers!'” she captioned the shot. As of Summer 2022, Emily works as an internet personality, repped by The Talbot Collective.
Baker and Emily tied the knot on July 6, 2019. “A year ago today, you asked me to spend forever with you, and next weekend we officially say ‘I do.’ I am truly the luckiest girl in the world,” Emily captioned a June 30, 2019 Instagram post. On July 6, 2022, she celebrated their wedding anniversary with a photo of them on a beach. “Happy #3 to my partner in crime! It’s been a wild year of growth both individually and as a couple, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Love you!”
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