Baker Mayfield, Bucs Get Good News About Shoulder Injury

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The most anticipated MRI of the year just came back – and it’s good news for quarterback Baker Mayfield and the Bucs.

The MRI revealed that not only was there no structural damage to his left shoulder – his non-throwing arm – but that the injury is deemed to be a low-grade sprain. The news was first reported by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on X.

The expectation is that Mayfield will miss Sunday’s home game in Week 13 against the 3-8 Arizona Cardinals, but could return the following week against the NFC South rival New Orleans Saints, who are 2-9, in Week 14. It will be a pain tolerance issue for Mayfield moving forward once he returns to practice, and ultimately to game days.

Bucs Expected To Start Teddy Bridgewater For Baker Mayfield This Week

With Baker Mayfield likely out for Sunday’s home game against the Cardinals, that means veteran backup Teddy Bridgewater will take over as the starting quarterback. Bridgewater came in the second half of Sunday night’s 34-7 loss to the Los Angeles Rams and completed 8-of-15 passes for 62 yards and was sacked twice. Bridgewater actually didn’t get to Los Angeles until around 10:30 a.m. on Sunday as he was in Miami attending a funeral of his mentor. About 12 hours later he was in the game starting the second half for the injured Mayfield.

Bridgewater is a well experienced quarterback in the league having played in 83 games and starting in 65 of them. Should he start on Sunday against Arizona for Tampa Bay as expected, it will be his first NFL start since the 2022 season.

The 2025 Bucs are 6-5 and still have a lot to play for, as the team can still reclaim the NFC South division crown. Obviously not having Mayfield would be a huge blow, but Todd Bowles is confident that they can win with Bridgewater if he has to line up under center this week.

“He’s a different quarterback (than Mayfield),” Bowles said. “So schematically we’ll have to do some different things for him to make him feel comfortable within the offense and do a lot of things that he likes to do. There’s some similar things but there are also some differences that way to make him more comfortable. He’s been here long enough to where if he had to go we can tweak it the right way where he can be successful.”