Buccaneers hopeful Baker Mayfield can be replacement for Tom Brady

It's still early days into their first regular season together, but Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht sounds hopeful that quarterback Baker Mayfield can serve as a long-term replacement for retired legend Tom Brady. 

"You can't just pluck a Tom Brady from a tree," Licht recently told Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. "But right now, we're really excited. [Mayfield has] a lot of people around town, a lot of fans. ... He's not doing it in a fake way. He feels accepted and wanted. And we all just want to win."

Brady retired "for good" this past February and never indicated he'd return to the Buccaneers for another season as he did in March 2022. Licht ultimately signed Mayfield to a one-year "prove it" contract in March to have the first overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft compete for the starting job with 2021 second-round choice Kyle Trask, and some saw the club's offseason actions as proof that it was "tanking" the 2023 campaign without Brady. 

Mayfield and company never received such a memo. He guided the Buccaneers to a 3-1 start and, per ESPN stats, is coming off the club's Week 5 bye ranked sixth in the NFL among qualified players with a 70.1 adjusted QBR, eighth with a 101.5 passer rating and seventh with a 69.6% completion percentage. 

Licht assumed Mayfield possessed the right mentality to potentially replace Brady atop the depth chart after both the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers previously deemed the 28-year-old surplus to requirements. 

"He has an eternal chip on his shoulder," Licht said about his QB1. "Now he wants to resurrect his career. Everybody was counting him out and saying he sucks."

Former NFL quarterback and current trainer/coach Jordan Palmer offered similar comments earlier this week about Mayfield's ability to silence doubters when he's "counted out." As of Thursday afternoon, OddsChecker listed the Buccaneers as three-and-a-half-point underdogs for this Sunday's home game versus the 4-1 Detroit Lions. 

One may want to think twice about betting against Mayfield and his Buccaneers at any point this fall.