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Is Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield In The MVP Discussion In 2025?

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Adam Schultz | Last updated Jul 15, 2025 10:40 AM ET

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are regarded as one of the genuine contenders in the NFC, and possibly in the broader Super Bowl chase, largely thanks to Baker Mayfield and the offense that general manager Jason Licht has assembled.

Coming off a 2024 season that saw Mayfield lead an offense to have the fourth-best unit in football (29.5 p/g), while throwing for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns and having a completion percentage of 71.4 without Chris Godwin after Week 7 and missing Mike Evans for a month, Mayfield's numbers could have been even better.

So how good could Baker get in 2025 with the addition of first-round pick Emeka Egbuka and the expected improvement from Bucky Irving and Jalen McMillan?

What about an MVP candidate?

“Mayfield has found the fountain of career renaissance in Tampa," NFL.com writes. "After producing his first two career Pro Bowl campaigns in each of his two seasons with the Bucs, Mayfield is playing his best ball and could be a bona fide contender to pull off something the G.O.A.T. was unable to do: win an MVP with the Bucs.

"Mayfield produced career highs of 4,500 passing yards and 41 passing touchdowns in 2024 under Liam Coen, who's now the Jaguars' head coach. If he continues his glory days in Tampa, Mayfield for MVP might well be a very real campaign in 2025.”

Now, for this to have serious legs, we imagine that for a start, the Buccaneers would have to be in the race for the No. 1 seed in the NFC, with say 12 wins, plus Mayfield would need to put up similar numbers to last season, while reeling in the interceptions.

That is a lot, but that is what we think would make Baker a legitimate MVP contender, and considering Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Patrick Mahomes (maybe) and Joe Burrow will all be in contention, Mayfield is going to have to have one hell of a season to be in the conversation with that quartet.

Can he do it? His numbers last year suggest yes, but to improve on that? That's a tough assignment.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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