A Hidden Factor On Baker Mayfield
March 23rd, 2023
Sean McVay influence?
Joe can’t believe he hadn’t put together the math on this.
No one truly knows what to expect from new Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales. This is his first season running an NFL offense and calling plays. A lot of folks think Canales is just going to run Seattle’s offense, which uses a quarterback outside the pocket somewhat regularly.
Well, Seattle’s offensive coordinator last year was Shane Waldron. Waldron, from 2018-2021, was in charge of the Rams’ passing game under Sean McVay.
So Waldron ran sort of a form of McVay’s offense in Seattle, with pretty good results.
Why does Joe bring this up? Well, NFL Network analyst Bucky Brooks pointed out how Baker Mayfield had some of his best NFL success playing for McVay for five games to close last season.
So the way Brooks looks at it, he believes Canales will run a lot of stuff he learned from Waldron, who learned his offense from McVay.
That, Brooks said this week on NFL Network’s “Total Access,” means Mayfield is in a really good place with the Bucs.
“This is a great fit for Baker Mayfield,” Brooks said. “Remember last year he played for Sean McVay and that system. Well, Dave Canales, new offensive coordinator, came from Seattle and [Seattle offensive coordinator] Shane Waldron who came through McVay.
“And so, six degrees of separation, he is playing in an offense familiar to him.
“[Mayfield] is also playing with two big-time weapons on the outside, Chris Godwin, Mike Evans.”
Brooks also believes Mayfield is quite adept at throwing long passes, so he hopes Canales takes advantage of that.
Joe has a hunch the offense will be more productive this season than last season. Of course, that’s not saying a whole lot.
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March 23rd, 2023 at 12:24 am
Great article! Thank you!
March 23rd, 2023 at 12:30 am
That is a hell of a connection, fingers crossed this system/QB works
March 23rd, 2023 at 12:36 am
Yeah.. Canales verbiage and plays may be somewhat similar to what Mayfield was learning for the Rams the last few weeks of the season which means Baker should be ahead of Trask at learning this system… Baker showed some success already in this type system….
One of the main mysteries – can Canales call plays in game speed to be as successful as his colleagues have previously done?
March 23rd, 2023 at 12:51 am
I am excited for this coming season, and think Baker will do well here in Tampa.
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:01 am
Boom or bust.
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:03 am
I mean great but what doesn’t make sense is they hired the coaches before they got Mayfield. They are having a quarterback competition between 2 very different players that ostensibly require very different personal and game plans to thrive (Trask pocket v Mayfield creativity). I’m not getting a feeling there is a lot planning here at all.
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:11 am
Lots of talk. But I get it. That time of year. Go UConn. Big$ if so. 😂
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:20 am
How many of those 5 games did he win?
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:22 am
His best nfl season was a 60% losing record. yeah, we’re doomed.
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:24 am
lambchop Says
“Boom or bust.”
Doom and Bust 😉
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:31 am
Jack has a hunch the offense will not be #2 in passing again next season
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:42 am
Might as well bring back Scotty Miller and Perrimen. I think they both had great moments and overall potential as deep threats
March 23rd, 2023 at 2:04 am
This is not exactly forensics Sherlock Holmes. Yes, Canales worked under Waldon, Waldron came from Rams, Mayfield played for Rams. Of course there’s a connection. And it is not “hidden”.
March 23rd, 2023 at 2:29 am
Mayfield is mostly terrible. He is charismatic and that probably helps a little. We are doing a good job into talking ourselves into him being not so terrible. Guess it shows really how incapable/not ready/not starter material Trask might really be.
March 23rd, 2023 at 2:36 am
The real question is whether Rah Rah Canales can be as good as Liam Cohen bringing out the best in Mayfield, and whether Canales, who has never done the job, is as good as either Cohen or Waldron as offensive coordinator.
March 23rd, 2023 at 4:55 am
By the time the first real game is played we will be out of lipstick for this Pig. Mayfield? Bowles game planning? Bowles real time blundering? Cobbled O line? Broken back D? Plan 9? Magic 8 Ball say Outlook not so good. Plan for the worst and hope for the best.
March 23rd, 2023 at 7:08 am
Sounds like the Bucs are only one great left tackle, one solid swing tackle, one great defensive tackle, three good backup defensive linemen, plus a starting safety and a miracle comeback from Shaq Barrett, away.
March 23rd, 2023 at 7:26 am
“Shane Waldron who came through McVay.”
There were several regular commenters on this site that acknowledged this connection right after Canales got his job. Also paired with his “just be a point guard take” in reference to the QB being a facilitator to take pressure off signal callers to just distribute the rock to the talent we have on hand.
This is going to be a new playbook, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Canales doesn’t take some of what our guys knew in BAs system and integrates some those concepts into his scheme moving forward. There’s a way for both Mayfield & Trask to have some semblance of familiarity with what Canales is cookin. We really won’t know until the regular season kicks off and we’re past the vanilla that usually comes w/preseason games
March 23rd, 2023 at 7:32 am
Bonzai wrote:
“His best nfl season was a 60% losing record. yeah, we’re doomed.”
Wrong. His best NFL season was 2020 when he went 11-5 and won the wild card round of the playoffs. Considerably better than the GOAT’s last season with the Bucs, and just the same as the GOAT’s first season with the Bucs.
And your problem with that is?
March 23rd, 2023 at 7:48 am
@Duane
Mayfield also set the record for air yardage on a pass that season with a hail mary pass that traveled 70.5 yards. It was a good laugh running into that, because you’d figure a Josh Allen or Pat Mahomes would have that notch on their belts, but nope it’s Baker lol I still only kinda trust him
March 23rd, 2023 at 8:18 am
Our biggest failure last year was game planning. Every team we met had different strengths and weaknesses but we didn’t game plan to take advantage of them. Instead, we came into every game with the same plan, making us quite predictable. This was apparent both offensively AND defensively.
Until that madness is changed, I have a hard time anticipating wins.
Just sayin……
March 23rd, 2023 at 9:33 am
It gets die to this for me, Mayfield was the best/cheapest option, that also had starting experience.
He runs a fast break offense and Mayfield will be the point guard. He’s not especially accurate, our OC has never called plays in an actual game environment.
The defense has had more subtractions than additions – but it may have enough to defend against the poor talent at QB in the NFC South.
But hey, we won the conference while going 8-9 during Tim Brady’s worst season of his career with an OC that was in over his head.
5 wins seems realistic, and with some luck, 8 wins may happen, and it may be enough to take this division, again.
What do you expect after maxing out your credit card to go to the Super Bowl?
After this season, we stand to be able to afford some additions – and maybe Mayfield will stay upright for an extension?
If our o-line succumbs to the injury bug again – we’ll need both QB’s – and that won’t be a good thing. Hopefully Canales will be able to put together a line and a backfield from many parts already assembled, that will be able to get some push in a run-centric offense.
Mayfield, playing at his best maximizes the offensive talent we currently have. The defense will once again need to get some stops – something they haven’t been able to do with any consistency these past two seasons.
There ain’t no money, the window is closing, ain’t we played just well enough last season to knock us into an average draft position this year.
The cavalry ain’t comin’ till 2024.
I’m just setting my sights on being competitive. Asking for more is setting yourself up for unrealistic expectations.
March 23rd, 2023 at 10:20 am
Six big passes does not a season make. Fitzmagic always had at least six big passes to start a season, we know what happened after that.
March 23rd, 2023 at 10:49 am
The NFL is unpredictable. The Bucs will be an interesting team next season with all of the subtractions and the additions of draft picks.
If they can coach this team up and get more hustle and physical play from their offensive and defensive line, they can be decent.
If they are bulldozed at the line of scrimmage it doesn’t matter who is throwing and who they are throwing to.
Just get younger and stronger on the lines and it will be a surprise team. They need to draft all “NFL ready” lineman, just going for versatility and specialists is the wrong way for them to draft. I’ll happily watch a young player who maybe doesn’t have the highest of ceilings but is fundimentally sound and strong over a freak athlete like JTS who was a project and is still light years behind being “NFL ready”.
Likewise with Devin White, a freak athlete who was overdrafted and had Licht thinking he was the next Ray Lewis.
Give me a Wirfs or Marpet type guy that works harder and is smarter over these athletic guys that don’t understand football.
March 23rd, 2023 at 11:29 am
Bloweszo would miss the water if he fell out of the boat.
March 23rd, 2023 at 11:37 am
There’s so little difference between NFL offenses. It’s more up to the play callers and players themselves. Practice will also be key. It was pretty clear last season that we simply did not practice running the ball, or at least did not practice well. Can Canales run an NFL offensive practice? That’s where you earn the respect of the players because they will practice together 30-40 times before they ever play a game. So, we will see.
March 23rd, 2023 at 12:21 pm
Let’s hope that Baker works out in Tampa as a mid-to-long-term solution at center. If not, we can always look to the draft. Goats can only be secured once in a lifetime and we got our money’s worth wit TB12. That’ll be a very high bar for Baker. Go Bucs.
March 23rd, 2023 at 12:28 pm
Of course it’s going to be better than last year. this team will be good. Watch out!
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:13 pm
A BIT OF A STRETCH
Leftwhich and Bowles came directly from BA’s tree and they sh** the bed.
March 23rd, 2023 at 1:18 pm
There should be no big mystery as to what sort of scheme the offense will be trying to run: the zone-blocking scheme that the Shanahans ran. All one had to do was look up all the candidates being interviewed. The majority of them coached the zone-blocking scheme that McVay learned from Kyle Shanahan, who of course learned it from his dad. Keenan McCardell coached under Kyle Shanahan in Washington and Kubiak (obviously a Shanahan disciple) and O’ Connell (coached under McVay) in Minnesota. Klint Kubiak obviously ran the same system his dad Gary learned from Mike Shanahan. Even the Bengals QB coach learned under Zac Taylor, who coached under McVay in LA. Thomas Smith coached under McVay. The only exceptions seem to be the Giants QB coach and Monken. The only mystery is whether or Canales will be a competent enough play caller of the scheme.
March 23rd, 2023 at 4:43 pm
Year after year, the team with the least injuries goes the farthest in the season. 8 of 10 teams don’t have the depth to overcome injuries to star players. All in the NFL are professional athletes. If the TB defense and o-line stay healthy, conference championship game is reachable. Mayfield is certainly good enough to win.
March 24th, 2023 at 12:50 am
Baker will do it, he doesn’t know how to fail