Is Baker Mayfield The Bucs’ Answer At QB In 2023?

Baker Mayfield has been around the block in terms of playing quarterback in the NFL. His career began starting four straight years with the Cleveland Browns after being selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, and overall his time in Cleveland was solid. Mayfield finished with a record of 29-30, 14,125 passing yards (fourth in Cleveland history), 92 passing TDs (fifth in Browns history), and 56 interceptions (eighth most in Cleveland history).

He finished second in voting for the NFL Rookie of the Year Award in 2018 and his best season came in 2o20 where he finished with 3,563 passing yards, 26 passing TDs, and only eight INTs. The Browns also not only made the playoffs for the first time in a long time with Mayfield at the helm, they also were able to snag a playoff win with Baker against the rival Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Grass Is Not So Green On The Other Side

After his time with the Browns, Mayfield was shipped to the Carolina Panthers and did not have a good stretch to start off the season. He would finish his time in Carolina with seven games played, a record of 1-5, 1,313 passing yards, six Passing touchdowns, and six interceptions.

Mayfield would then request and be granted his release from the Panthers after being bench midway through the season and would land with the Los Angeles Rams where he would see some improvement from his time earlier in the season. Mayfield would finish with 4 Passing TD’s, and 2 INT’s, but did finish with only a 2-3 record in 5 games in LA. However, Mayfield’s only win did come with a beautiful game winning drive against the Las Vegas Raiders after only being with the team for only a couple of days prior to the matchup.

While some may look at Mayfield’s time in the 2022 season as a disappointment (and for the most part it was) it is also important to remember the context of the situations that Mayfield was in that could have possibly led to his struggles last year. Mayfield was placed on a Carolina Panthers team that would wind up with the first round pick and enter full rebuild mode after the season after trading away star players Christian McCaffery and DJ Moore, and also fired their head coach Matt Rhule midway through a lackluster season.

He would then end up on a Rams team that was without a large majority of their star players (Cooper Kupp, and more were out by the time Mayfield got to LA) and was also already towards the bottom of the league in terms of record by the time Mayfield arrived. While these reasons are not totally why Mayfield struggled throughout last season, they certainly did play a part and shows that if Mayfield is able to have a solid team around him, improvements can certainly be made.

What Baker Mayfield Can Be For The Bucs

Baker Mayfield is entering the best situation he has had in a long time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has the passing targets (Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin), the offensive line pieces (Tristan Wirfs, Ryan Jensen and other high level investments from Jason Licht), and a solid defense to compliment the offense (Vita Vea, Lavonte David, Devin White, and more). He also has the benefit of having first time offensive coordinator Dave Canales coming in with an offense that will hopefully benefit the quarterback and compliment the strengths of the position.

With Mayfield as the team’s starter, the Bucs are getting a player who has experience both in the regular season and a bit in the playoffs as well. Mayfield has shown that he can be a solid quarterback and can win football games if he is able to have good pieces in place and he should have every opportunity to perform well if/when he is named the starting QB of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.