Keegan-Michael Key hits with Baker Mayfield joke at NFL Honors

Keegan-Michael Key is no stranger to great sports humor — having been in a slew of memorable sports-themed sketches on the seminal Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele, such as the East/West Bowl, Excessive End Zone Celebrations, and of course giving Aaron Rodgers the nickname A.A.Ron.

But Keegan-Michael Key's latest athletic laughs these days are coming from his hosting duties at sports awards shows, most recently the 2024 NFL Honors on Thursday night. One of his best jokes centered on Baker Mayfield‘s resurgence playing for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past season. Mayfield was nominated for Comeback Player of the Year after leading the Bucs to the playoffs and a wild-card win, and Key gave Mayfield a shoutout during his monologue.

“Baker Mayfield is with us tonight,” Key began. “Baker, I've gotta tell you brother, I am very, very impressed by what you have accomplished this season… It's not often that a guy moves to Florida and improves his reputation,” which got big laughs from Mayfield along with the rest of the crowd.

“So… good for you, I'm proud of you,” Key added.

Kudos to Key for making the hot mess state of Florida the butt of the joke and not Mayfield, who really did deserve props for his efforts this season.

No word if Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — whose fondness for picking ill-advised fights with Florida criticizers has been well-documented — will take offense to Key's comments, but DeSantis would be wise to avoid a showdown with a comedian whose wit is as sharp as Key's.

Keegan-Michael Key also fired off some pretty good zingers about Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, Peyton Manning, Bill Belichick and the Carolina Panthers. It was all in good fun as the 2024 NFL Honors bestowed the biggest awards of the season on its athletes after a particularly exciting showing this year.