At the 2024 Pro Bowl Games, Pewter Report caught up with the one and only Scott Van Pelt from ESPN. Van Pelt is known for being on air late at night as the anchor for the flagship SportsCenter program, but he was in the morning sunshine at Camping World Stadium to discuss some football.
Specifically, he was asked about Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield and his play this season. He gave a thoughtful and insightful response.
Scott Van Pelt: “I Was Thrilled For Baker”
To begin with, Scott Van Pelt was thrilled to see Baker Mayfield come out swinging this season after being backed into a corner. A corner of whether or not he was still a starting-level quarterback. He responded convincingly, and that is something Van Pelt digs.
“I was thrilled for Baker because what – four teams in 19 months?” Van Pelt said. “You find yourself in a spot where you go from being number one to, ‘Is this the last chance you have?’ In this league where quarterback play is so, so spotty and sketchy, I don’t think it was as dramatic as that.
“Like a last chance, but it might’ve been a last chance to be a starter and he had a career-high in yards and touchdown passes. I just dig when a guy kind of gets backed into a corner and then comes out swinging, but that’s a guy who – that’s what he does. That’s all he knows to do is swing.”
Baker Mayfield Has Come Out On The Other Side Showing That He Can Still Do It
Whether Baker Mayfield gets a big contract with the Bucs remains to be seen, but the team took a big step in that direction by officially announcing on Saturday afternoon that Liam Coen will be the offensive coordinator. To Van Pelt, that was the first step in sorting Mayfield’s future in Tampa Bay.
“I’ve seen the conversations about trying to get something figured out long-term,” Van Pelt said. “Obviously, he’d like to know, ‘Who am I going to hear in my ear? Who’s going to be calling plays?’ You want to sort that stuff out.”
Coen is someone who Mayfield has worked with in the past, back when Mayfield was in a middling stretch of play. Going from being the first overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft to struggling with hanging onto a starting job is not easy.
Still, Mayfield’s journey is something that the ESPN anchor and Monday Night Countdown host sees as beneficial in the long run. In fact, Van Pelt compared him to another quarterback who just made it to the NFC Championship game.
“Many times, the same thing happened for [Jared Goff] I think this year,” Van Pelt added. “Goff got traded for a guy that went and won a Super Bowl. He was a guy that [Los Angeles] wanted to move on from and what does his coach [Dan] Campbell say? ‘You’re good enough for bleeping Detroit.’
“I love a guy who was “the guy,” maybe hit a pothole, and then you come out on the other side and show you can still do it. To me, there’s a lesson to that for everybody, and good on him.”
With how he fared this season, Baker Mayfield is well on his way to securing a big contract and in the process earning the right to continue proving that he can be productive.
Scott Van Pelt ended his remarks by saying that he hopes that Mayfield can keep it up. “May it continue.”
If he can, he may just end up as the subject of conversation late at night.
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