New Buccaneers OC explains desire to work with Baker Mayfield

New Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Liam Coen spoke with reporters during his introductory news conference on Tuesday about why he wanted to reunite with quarterback Baker Mayfield this offseason. 

"He’s an igniter, and that’s the type of guy that you want to be around," Coen said about Mayfield, as shared by the JoeBucsFan website. "He came into our organization at a really difficult time, a time that we weren’t having a lot of fun. And he came in and made football fun for a lot of people at that time."

Coen was referencing how Mayfield joined the Los Angeles Rams in December 2022 when Coen was that club's offensive coordinator and when 3-9 Los Angeles was without injured QB1 Matthew Stafford. Mayfield ultimately helped the Rams win two of five games during his brief stint out West, and he clearly left an impression on Coen.

"And the opportunity to be around him potentially every day, to coach a guy that’s as competitive as he is, that has that moxie — I mean that’s fun," Coen added about Mayfield. "You can’t coach that. And when a guy has that ability and the ability to communicate with others, that’s something that I really wanted to be around. And that’s very intriguing for us."

Buccaneers senior advisor Bruce Arians, wide receiver Chris Godwin and offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs are among noteworthy people associated with Tampa Bay who have offered similar comments about Mayfield over the past year. 

While Mayfield is on track to reach free agency in March, it's believed that the Buccaneers listening to his recommendations regarding the hiring of Coen is a good sign that the club will try to lock the 28-year-old signal-caller down via a multi-year contract before the March 5 deadline for teams to use their franchise tags arrives. 

Retaining Mayfield's rights for 2024 via the tag would cost Tampa Bay roughly $35M, and doing so would prevent the Bucs from tagging a different free-agency bound starter such as wide receiver Mike Evans.