Bruce Arians: Baker Mayfield was better prospect than entire 2023 QB class

Despite three quarterbacks going in the first four picks of the 2023 NFL Draft, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians doesn’t appear to be overly impressed by any of them.

In fact, Arians isn’t convinced that Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson or Will Levis are better prospects than current Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield was when he come out of Oklahoma five years ago.

“I can say out of these four [quarterback prospects], I had Baker rated higher,” Arians recently said, via Pewter Report. “That’s an honest opinion. … He was super accurate coming out. You never had to worry about his height (6-foot-1) because his line was 6-foot-7, 6-foot-5, 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6, etc. That never was a problem.”

The Cleveland Browns took Mayfield first overall in 2018 in a class that was also perceived to have four future stars (Mayfield, Sam Darnold, Josh Allen, Josh Rosen) who stood out above everyone else.

But after four seasons in Cleveland, three of which resulted in losing records, Mayfield moved on. He signed a one-year, $8.5 million contract with the Bucs in mid-March — his third team in less than a calendar year. But Arians doesn’t hold any of that against him.

“He had a tough time playing hurt, and things didn’t work in Cleveland,” Arians added. “That happens to a lot of guys. Timmy Couch was no bust. Timmy Couch got broken the hell up in Cleveland.”

Mayfield, who went 2-8 as a starter with the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams last season, will compete with 25-year-old third-year QB Kyle Trask for the Bucs starting QB job in 2023.