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NFL personnel evaluator compares Baker Mayfield to Hall of Famer
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield. Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

NFL personnel evaluator compares Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield to Hall of Famer

Both the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers discarded current Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield in 2022. Neither Cleveland nor Carolina has a proven long-term option at the position on its roster heading into the 2025 season. Meanwhile, league executives, coaches and scouts recently surveyed by ESPN ranked Mayfield as the NFL's 10th-best quarterback. 

One unnamed NFL personnel evaluator who spoke with ESPN about Mayfield compared the 30-year-old to Hall of Famer Brett Favre. 

"He honestly reminds me of Favre a little bit as far as style of play," the personnel man said about Mayfield. "He's got a moxie to him, like, '(Expletive) you, I'm on the attack.' And defensive guys feel that presence."

Like Favre before him, Mayfield can sometimes be a gunslinger who is willing to put his body on the line in attempts to help his team win games. With Mayfield on the roster, Tampa Bay has claimed back-to-back division titles. Per StatMuse, no quarterback has thrown more regular-season touchdown passes than Mayfield (69) since Week 1 of the 2023 campaign. Thanks in part to his performances, former Buccaneers offensive coordinators Dave Canales (Carolina Panthers) and Liam Coen (Jacksonville Jaguars) earned head-coaching jobs. 

According to Pro Football Reference, Mayfield ended the 2024 regular season ranked third in the league with 4,500 passing yards, tied for second with 41 passing scores, third with a 71.4 percent completion percentage and fourth with a 106.8 passer rating. Additionally, he's become the undisputed leader of Tampa Bay's offense and could receive a big-money extension from the Buccaneers next offseason. 

"Fearless as a thrower and a runner," the personnel evaluator added. "He's got on-field leadership where teammates want to support him. Much better arm than given credit for. Good mover in the pocket and can rush for yards. Attacks the third level of the defense. When he's got time [in the pocket], he's as good as almost anybody right now."

As of Monday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Mayfield-led Buccaneers seventh among the betting favorites at +1300 odds to represent the NFC in Super Bowl LX. At least some people within the Browns and Panthers must regret Mayfield-related decisions made by those franchises in 2022. 

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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