Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield shares encouraging injury update ahead of Panthers game

A Wednesday update revealed that Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield was practicing while wearing a protective glove on his throwing hand amid his attempt to return from the dislocated thumb that has kept him out of action since Week 3. 

It sounds like Mayfield feels confident he'll be good to start when the 1-5 Buccaneers play at the 3-2 Carolina Panthers this coming Sunday.

Baker Mayfield "improving" ahead of pivotal game at Panthers

"Feel good, just improving," Mayfield said during a Thursday news conference, per Myles Simmons of Pro Football Talk. "Never really missed time because of injury. So, not fun. You always want to be out there with your guys. But just doing the rehab process as much as possible each and every day and trying to recover as quick as possible. And take it one day at a time. So, it’s been feeling better and better. But that’s the frustrating part. It just takes time with an injury like that. But we’ve gotten it to a place where it’s strong enough to be able to play."

Undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels has served as Tampa Bay's temporary QB1 since Week 4, and he has won one of three starts. On Wednesday, Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles suggested that he would keep Daniels in the lineup through this weekend if Mayfield's throwing ability seemed to be impacted by the thumb injury and/or by the glove during practices. 

"Truly, when you’re throwing with a glove, you’ve just got to get used to it," Mayfield explained. "Just changing your release points. Can’t grip it as hard because it’ll stick to the glove — different things like that. So, just getting a lot of reps, getting practice with it, getting used to it. So, it feels fine. But, training staff, equipment guys are doing an incredible job of — we went through all the scenarios, all the different things to possibly wear, and ended up being able to stick a pad on the backside of the thumb to prevent it from bending backward again. So, they’ve done an incredible job helping me out get to where I’m at and ready to practice and go."

Baker Mayfield had this one concern about playing with thumb injury

Recent stories have mentioned that the Buccaneers could become sellers ahead of the Nov. 10 NFL trade deadline if they lose to Carolina. As of Thursday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Buccaneers as three-point underdogs against the Panthers. 

Meanwhile, Mayfield insisted he is "very confident" he'll be able to adequately grip the football at Carolina's Bank of America Stadium.

"I think I was more so concerned about the impact of getting the ball from under center with [Graham Barton] sending it back there," Mayfield added. "It feels fine gripping it and throwing it. It’s just the impact stuff. That was really what my concern was, and it’s felt great so far."

The "so far" line indicates that Mayfield may have a hurdle or two to clear before Bowles reveals the identity of his starting quarterback for the Carolina game.