Feisty Baker Mayfield
May 24th, 2023
Scoffs at oddsmakers.
When Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield was in Cleveland, he was not bashful about sparring with reporters, especially those he thought either had an agenda or were just flat out wrong.
That feistiness came out yesterday after the first OTA practice open to the fourth estate.
JoeBucsFan.com columnist Ira Kaufman asked Mayfield about how there is zero buzz about the Bucs nationally, which is a sign folks think they will be awful. Then Ira mentioned how Vegas oddsmakers had no faith in the Bucs, either.
Joe thought Mayfield’s response, though measured, was perfect.
“I played in this division last year and I am pretty sure the Bucs won it,” Mayfield told Ira. “So I don’t really care what the people in Vegas putting odds on it [think] because it’s May.
“We haven’t played a real snap of football. There is a long way to go before that. It’s just the time of year where everybody is pretty bored and they don’t really have much to talk about and it makes it fun.”
Joe loved it.
And Mayfield is right. It doesn’t matter what dudes in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas or Pittsburgh think. It’s what the Bucs think internally, both players and suits.
Mayfield is in a contract year. To hear some, Mayfield is entering the crossroads of his career. You don’t think he’s motivated to get the Bucs to the playoffs?
May 24th, 2023 at 6:28 am
This has always been Mayfield doesn’t mean he performs on the field.
May 24th, 2023 at 6:33 am
We know Joe, Maybefield could sneeze and Joe would find it amusing.
I don’t get Joe’s new found love for hot garbage (Maybefield), I guess Brady’s retirement has cause you to lose your mind a little.
May 24th, 2023 at 6:33 am
Honestly, I don’t want to see Mayfield do bad. I’m just tired of my team taking a gamble and losing.
I for just once want our own franchise QB. I guess I’m burnt out to the point of anger. Watching others have success with finding their QBs and being in contention year after year eventually gets your Attention.
ESPECIALLY after a “taste” of what that’s like after 3 STRAIGHT YEARS of WINNING the division title as well as a SUPER BOWL in those 3 short years. ALL the PRIDE I witnessed in myself and ALL of my brother and sister fans for Really the FIRST TIME EVER…
Sure we’ve won a Bowl before BUT the very next year we fell on our faces. This last time was FAR DIFFERENT. Far BETTER.
I got a taste. And NOW I KNOW! I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK TO THE DEN OF DEPRESSION!
And I’m willing to FIGHT FOR IT! I AM AND WILL DEMAND FAR BETTER!
And so should you. Didn’t you LOVE that feeling of happiness, glory, and PRIDE? Didn’t it feel SO GOOD when Brady went out there and WE ALL KNEW we had a PROBABLE chance of WINNING? You KNOW it did.
Why aren’t we ALL fighting harder for that? Do you Really want to go back to not only irrelevantcy, but even worse being A JOKE? NO CHANCE, weak and dismissed instead of Feared and STRONG!
Does Baker strike fear in any of our opponents? Trask “Might”, but does Baker?
I think THAT is where we need to start asking ourselves. Do you WANT to be HAPPY and STRONG with division titles and Super Bowls or do you WANT to be SAD and live in fear in the Southern Basement known as the Den of Depression?
SHOULDN’T WE ALL DEMAND OUR OWN FRANCHISE QB instead of settling for Maybe’s and probably not?
You Tell Me.
May 24th, 2023 at 6:54 am
Hey @ obvious , what the heck are we going to do? Watch and bitch a out the results is all we can do. I hope we have a great year but I to am a lifelong fan and I’ve seen all of the bad years of football. It would be awesome if we were contenders this year all the pieces are there, but that has happened a whole lot. Most recently do you remember the bust Winston turned out to be? That was a first round supposed to be franchise qb and look what happened? We might have made the first round 1 year but that was it. We as fans have no control and that’s OK. I’ll watch and hopefully I’ll be watching the bucs in January
May 24th, 2023 at 6:59 am
Hey OBVIOUS we have no control as fans you get that right? We can demand all we want and they can still do whatever they want.
May 24th, 2023 at 7:27 am
He just got here and you call it a contract year?
What you call feisty could also look like snarky, and he kept that up the whole time Cleveland went down the tubes.
I want to see what he can do for the team, not what he says he will do for the team. He has always talked a big game, the reality has always been less impressive.
May 24th, 2023 at 7:40 am
Wow. Joe has a man crush on Mini Mayfield.
May 24th, 2023 at 7:44 am
4 teams in a little over a year is a bad sign.
May 24th, 2023 at 7:58 am
Jalen Hurts was considered a bust by all the “experts” after his first two seasons, 2020 and 2021. He then blossomed his third season, 2022, and went to the Super Bowl, losing only by a last second field goal.
Why is Joe so averse to the Bucs having the patience the Eagles had with Hurts and doing the same with Kyle Trask? Why is Joe so obsessed with Mini Mayfield, who is here on a one-year contract, is not going to win anything this season, and is likely gone next season?
May 24th, 2023 at 8:08 am
There have been plenty of stories throughout the years of vet QBs coming into their own. Baker is talented enough to lead a team to the playoffs but he should not be expected to do it on his own.
I hope he’s got a big chip on his shoulder this year.
May 24th, 2023 at 8:35 am
My biggest fear is that Mayfield has some success this year and the Bucs do make the playoffs. Then the team and a bunch of fans are going to want to sign Mayfield to a multi year deal and then he goes back to his normal.
May 24th, 2023 at 9:04 am
Doesn’t even matter what they THINK, it only matters what they do. That’s the beauty of pro football.
May 24th, 2023 at 9:25 am
Bowles beware Mayfield pushed for Hue Jackson firing and Freddie Kitchens firing I am not sure about Gregg Williams he was a interim head coach.
May 24th, 2023 at 9:58 am
There is a reason why Joe has *often* referred to the quarterbacks who should be available in the first round next year. Currently, Mayfield is the Bucs starter and currently, he is their best option (unless you want the Bucs to tank which Joe is not morally opposed to).
Is Mayfield the next Brady? Hell no. Has Mayfield played well before in the NFL? Yes. He’s also a name, having won the Heisman and led a team to the playoffs. People like quarterbacks and like names.
Joe will always write about the quarterback, good, bad or indifferent because he is the quarterback. There is a reason NFL requires the starting quarterback to speak on the record so often.
It’s not like the Bucs went out and signed Stewart McClown — which they once did before.
May 24th, 2023 at 10:01 am
Joe goes to open practices for a reason.
May 24th, 2023 at 10:04 am
Sure you do. If you don’t like the direction or makeup of a team, you don’t have to buy tickets, you don’t have to buy gear and you certainly don’t have to watch games.
Thanks to the magic of NFL Sunday Ticket and sports bars, no one is forced to watch any team they dislike or are frustrated with. #Merica!
Owners will get the message.
May 24th, 2023 at 10:22 am
I will always love the Bucs, because I was born in Sarasota and my dad had me in a creamsicle onesie when I was born.
You have to either suck bad or get lucky to have a Franchise QB, and even then we took what we thought was the best QB one year with the first pick, only no QBs that year were any good.
Just good enough though to not have a high draft pick.
Quit griping all the time and watch it unfold.
Anybody think Trevor Lawerence is gonna win a SB?
Why then do we want to waste capital on a flop?
Caleb Williams is the best QB I have seen since Maholmes and we might have a chance at him, because of our situation.
And remember, we are here after winning a SB in the last three years.
How quick people forget!!
May 24th, 2023 at 10:26 am
Joe Says: “Joe goes to open practices for a reason.”
Right. Trask sucks. We all read your posts. That’s why the Bucs passed on both Will Levis and Hendon Hooker in the draft and didn’t take a quarterback in any round. Because the only quarterback on their team at the time sucks. Just like Johnny Manziel and Jameis Winston were the Second Coming. And yet yesterday Trask was lighting it up at the OTA. LMAO.
May 24th, 2023 at 10:38 am
You heard it hear first Mayfield is the starter. Apparently there is no competition trade Trask and be done with it. Why draft a quarterback in the 2024 draft when this organization has no patience to develop one. When you draft a quarterback in the second round and have absolutely no patience or maybe its coaching inability to develop him what are you doing. This team will suffer for this reason for years just like we did pre Brady.
May 24th, 2023 at 11:08 am
Joe is correct, Baker has played well in the type system Canales is installing; bootlegs, play action, timing passes. Shined in 2020 and the first games of ’21 until he was dinged up. ’22 looked like crap in the Panthers statue QB game, did well with McVay’s motion offense. Hopefully Trask shines in this QB friendly system as well, and there are 2 good options at QB
May 24th, 2023 at 11:23 am
Joe, I appreciate you taking the time today to put a face on it.
Jeremy, not all of our draft picks are going to be a Winston result. HOWEVER, our team DOES have a problem developing quarterbacks! You know REALLY the blame lies with the coaches… “THIS TIME” specifically Bowles. He took Brady for granted and didn’t seem to have a clue that he was dragging us all to the deep end of the pool. Either he was unaware (likely) that Brady was not going to save him for another year, or he “didn’t have the vision” to forsee that he BETTER hedge his bets and develop Trask SOONER rather than later since he’s desperate to save his job (also likely), and he seem to miss the part where we WOULD NOT have the MILLIONS of dollars needed to purchase a Strong replacement since he didn’t bother to develop Trask. Not going to get into the WHOLE debacle of last years lack of filling needs ON BOTH LINES! (Licht)
Also, I hear a tell that the owners of the Buccaneers DO IN FACT read this “Joe Bucs Fan” web site.
And actually that Would Not surprise me if they do. In fact it’s “LIKELY” I would say since NO OTHER site is like this unique web site. What other site invites the fans to voice their opinions? Well I’ll tell you. NONE!
So yes. I DO BELIEVE that messages are getting through to players and ownership. Let me ask you. If you’re “them” where would you go around here to get the feel for how the customers feel about the product???
And if you have so many saying they are OKIE DOKIE about the “journeyman product” then WHY SHOULD THEY TRY HARDER TO BRING IN A TRUE FRANCHISE/ DYNASTY TYPE QB?
Heck if I’m them, I’m not feeling any pressure to TRY HARDER to put a dream senerio on the field!
Joe’s ABSOLUTELY RIGHT… If they aren’t selling the product (shirts,tickets, etc) you know “butts in the seats”, THAT WILL GET ANY BUSINESSES ATTENTION.
They read the comments here. And if too many are as I said, “OKIE DOKIE” with a subpar product (as TOO MANY have been saying and supporting) then they may get the impression that YOU and I don’t need or DESERVE better.
I don’t know about you, but I DO NOT want them to take their eyes off the PRIZE!
A FRANCHISE QB! Buccaneer born and bred Winner.
Starting with, NOT WAISTING HIGH VALUE, SECOND ROUND GOLDEN PICKS!
May 24th, 2023 at 11:42 am
Mayfield rated THE greatest college qb since 2000 by Sports Illustrated. I’m hoping he’s finally in a good situation and not have to play another season with a torn shoulder. If this all comes true, all of these haters who haven’t truly followed his career will look really stupid. We’ll see…
May 24th, 2023 at 11:48 am
More than 50% of quarterbacks drafted among the first five draft choices fail! It is the most difficult position to evaluate. It is always a crapshoot. The Buccaneers have made the playoffs 3 years in a row. Outside of Brady and gronkowski, the Buccaneers core remains. Outside of the quarterback position, the Buccaneers personnel is about as good as any other team, the running back is reasonably uncertain. The national storyline is just image. The fairest thing to say is there are question marks. I’m buccaneers could win anywhere between 5 and 11 games. Most likely is 8 or 9. As for Trask, is a strong arm and is highly competitive. That is all we know. Brady backups never play. At some point this year he will be in a game that matters in all likelihood. Then we will see.
May 24th, 2023 at 11:50 am
Can anyone just give Mayfield a fair shake and put past prejudices aside. Everyone and their mother was saying the same thing about Geno last year and we see how that turned out. Let’s be real bucs fans and support ourcteam
May 24th, 2023 at 12:00 pm
Fully healthy and with the right OC (i think TB have it now) he can do good things for TB, he is not a top 5 QB, but, he dont have to be since most of the top 10 QBs are in the AFC.
May 24th, 2023 at 12:38 pm
Mayfield isn’t Brady. Bucco Bruce Arians and his long-bomb tactics are long gone. This will be a ball-control team, and Mayfield fits that type of scheme. He’s never thrown for more than 4000 yards, and his Cleveland teams were run first. Cleveland never had Evans, Godwin, or a top 10 defense. Carolina and LA last year are throwaways – they were both very bad teams. Get used to zone running and play action. It is what it is. BTW, the Preseason NFL Power Rankings last year had the Bucs at 2, the Rams at 3, the Eagles at 15 and the Jags and Giants in the bottom 6. Sportswriters don’t know anything.
May 24th, 2023 at 3:51 pm
the vegas over/under doesn’t mean vegas thinks that will be the number, it means vegas projects bettors will think that’s the number