Baker Mayfield Gets His Men
March 14th, 2025
Sage of Tampa Bay Sports Ira Kaufman likes to say one thing in particular about the 2025 edition of Baker Mayfield.
“He’s callin’ a lot of shots at One Buc.”
That may be a bit of hyperbole, but there’s plenty of truth to it. Mayfield got his offensive coordinator for the second consecutive season, and he got Chris Godwin back along with today’s news of receiver Sterling Shepard re-signing. And don’t forget Mayfield’s starting line is intact, though key O-line backups and Mayfield friends have left the building Robert Hainsey (Jacksonville) and Justin Skule (Minnesota).
Shepard, 32, was Mayfield’s college teammate and buddy at Oklahoma. He was drafted by the Giants and became a fan favorite up there, and he also was known for his supermodel ex-wife.
After various injuries, “Shep” was on the couch with no team last spring when Mayfield called him to see if he wanted a dance — a last dance? — with the Bucs.
He did.
Shepard got hurt in training camp and didn’t make the Bucs’ 53-man roster, but he was willing to play for practice squad money and got promoted quickly. Shepard finished with 32 catches for 334 yards with handful of big plays and stupid penalties.
The latter drove fans crazy, but there is no denying Shepard is a very solid option as a No. 5(ish) receiver.
He’ll compete with Trey Palmer and Todd Bowles-fave Rakim Jarrett for a spot behind Mike Evans, Godwin and Jalen McMillan.
Bowles talked about personally scouting receivers at the NFL Scouting Combine, though Joe is dubious after today’s Shepard signing and Godwin’s chatter about hard practice this August.
Joe agrees with Kaufman that Mayfield has a very heavy hand in a lot of things on his side of the ball. He should. He’s a young franchise quarterback the Bucs hope has at least another five seasons in Tampa.
March 14th, 2025 at 9:15 pm
Shepard re-signing has ZERO bearing on the Bucs draft plans at receiver. And re-signing Godwin may make it less urgent, but I have little doubt Licht/Bowles are still serious about taking a receiver. They need a guy who could be a real 1a/1b if Evans or Godwin go down. McMillan is great but he’s not a 1a/1b.
March 14th, 2025 at 9:19 pm
some of those penalties were bogus…. terrible calls.
March 14th, 2025 at 9:33 pm
He dropped a lot of balls too, some game changing
March 14th, 2025 at 9:46 pm
Are we keeping five again?
After losing Hainsey and Justin, I don’t think they can waste any pics on wide receivers
March 14th, 2025 at 10:14 pm
Plenty of wide receivers
Pick lb can de ol
March 14th, 2025 at 10:29 pm
CB LB DE and DL are musts in my opinion. Oline and reciever come next.
March 14th, 2025 at 10:40 pm
Wait – we have a “franchise QB” not named Brady?
Wow – I guess we do…… LOL
As a LONG time Buccaneers fan – it still seems kinda like the twilight zone the last few years with all this talent and real QBs and winning seasons and playoffs every year….. and of course our 2nd Super Bowl where we DOMINATED Pat Mahomes and Andy Reed……
God Bless Jason Licht! I hope he sticks around as GM for at least another decade…..
March 14th, 2025 at 10:50 pm
LB, CB…..WR next year….
March 14th, 2025 at 10:52 pm
Every year I have to keep reminding, that the draft is not the only be all and end all post free agency. There will be a huge quality glut of post-draft veteran cuts by every team, and between that, draft, etc…filling a backup C/G role, CB, ILB…won’t be an issue.
Getting a tested cheap veteran before camp at 2 of 3 of those positions is much preferred for 2025’s roster than a rookie fill-in after round 1 for example.
All will be good. Strictly the draft, isn’t the answer.
March 14th, 2025 at 10:53 pm
Quit showing Baker with trolling Italians. It wasn’t funny, and wouldn’t be okay with any other culture.
March 14th, 2025 at 11:29 pm
Palmer and Jarrett play timid like they were Kenny Bell meets Jaelen Darden. Shep may be a bonehead but he plays fierce. Bake will rein in his boneheadedness.
March 14th, 2025 at 11:32 pm
Shepard was ok I guess. Let’s see what the draft brings.
March 14th, 2025 at 11:53 pm
View from 132 Says:
March 14th, 2025 at 10:53 pm
You can’t be serious.
March 15th, 2025 at 12:22 am
Filthy Animal . What does that mean “trolling Italians”?
Is it something to do with the picture above of Mayfield doing the straight money gesture?
Very serious. Never heard this term before .
March 15th, 2025 at 12:25 am
Baker will be fine with any of the receivers on the roster, he proved that last year. It would be better with Evans and Godwin of course but Baker had the 3rd best scoring offense without them for quite a bit of the season. Baker is a baller and raises the level of play with his teammates when needed. Hopefully Grizzard will take the offense to another level and hang around for several years, long enough for 1 more superbowl.
March 15th, 2025 at 12:26 am
Maybe 2
March 15th, 2025 at 1:02 am
Baker is 1-2 in postseason play as a Buc.
That isn’t Franchise caliber in my book.
March 15th, 2025 at 2:00 am
BucHawk Says:
March 15th, 2025 at 1:02 am
Well, it’s a team sport. This is a d!ckhead comment. And your “book” sucks.
He’s given everything and clearly was not the reason for playoff losses. Defense has let them down consistently. If the defense steps up, they can win the Super Bowl with Baker. He’s a franchise QB. He’s not Josh Allen or Mahomes… But he’s in the next tier.
March 15th, 2025 at 2:07 am
He’s a fighter. He plays fearless.
We need some tough guys on offense.
March 15th, 2025 at 2:43 am
Baker pulled some more strings me thinks. Hope he tells his buddy to start getting his head in the game!
Scratching my head on this one though. Talented but cost us dearly on some stupid stuff last year!
Go Bucs!
March 15th, 2025 at 4:09 am
BucHawk, Baker had 2 playoff games his 1st year. 6 td passes and 2 picks. 14 qbs in the playoffs that year. Baker led ALL qbs in playoffs in td passes. 1st among all qbs. Baker only had 1 playoff game 2nd year. 2 td passes and 0 picks. Highest qb rating of 14 qbs. That would be franchise qb spelled with a capital F. Anyone who doesn’t understand the type qb we have doesn’t know alot about football. And FilthyAnimal, Josh Allen hasn’t won a Super Bowl yet. If Baker wins one first I’d consider him better than Allen. And I would no way trade him for Mahommes. Mahommes play is flattening out and Mayfield is still getting better. Because nobody works harder than Mayfield. Been that way since college. That’s why Mayfield went ahead of Allen in 2018 draft. And why he beat Mahommes in college. And why he’s going to lead this team to their 3rd championship.
March 15th, 2025 at 8:41 am
That’s not the straight money gesture. That’s the pinched fingers from Tommy “Cutlets” DeVito of the Giants. He was trolling Giants fans, which is fine, but to use that to do so is lame. That gesture is so common with Italians it’s an emoji.
March 15th, 2025 at 8:43 am
No reason to draft a WR. I’m sure we will grab someone in the 6th w potential but not a premium pick. First
3 picks need to be ILB and 2DBs one being someone that can play safety and we will probably grab another DL
March 15th, 2025 at 8:47 am
Foul on Kenton Smith for stating the facts…lol.
Excellent post…I’m sure there is at least 25-28 other teams that would love to have Baker as their qb
March 15th, 2025 at 8:51 am
Famu_Rattler Says:
March 15th, 2025 at 8:44 am
Fire the cannons…. We now have our before each game cheer slogan…..
“for the boat parade, for the boat parade, FOR THE BOAT PARADE…LFG BUCS”
Thank you Chris Godwin…. We do this to win a Championship…..
March 15th, 2025 at 9:05 am
Even though Shepard makes too many mistakes, I can’t help believing that if he was the receiver on the ill fated jet sweep, the results would have been a big gain as opposed to a fumble.
March 15th, 2025 at 9:05 am
Buchawk, try thinking a little bit. Like this, let me see, Baker had a 146.5 passer rating in the playoff game with Washington this year. That is getting awful close to a perfect game for a quarterback, did you know that? 158 is perfection. Very few quarterbacks have a passer rating that high in a playoff game, very few, but BAKER DID.
Then he had a completion percentage of 83.3. That’s almost 20% better than Mahomes had in the playoffs. Now do you “think” he played up to the franchise label?? Baker isn’t the problem. It’s like Bowles said “Baker is the reason we are in the playoffs”. And I think the coach knows a little more than we do.
March 15th, 2025 at 9:14 am
In the superbowl Hurts had a passer rating of 119 and a completion percentage of 77. Mahomes had a passer rating of 95 and a completion percentage of 65. Do you think those 2 are worthy of your book definition of a franchise quarterback?
Baker 146 & 83
Hurts 119 & 77
Mahomes 95 & 65
Which is worthy in your book?? 🤔
March 15th, 2025 at 9:38 am
Out of the 12 quarterbacks that played in the playoffs the highest passer rating other than Bakers 146.5 was Josh Allen’s 135. Justin Herberts was 40. Jordan Loves was 41. Jared Goffs 59. So, if you want to claim a quarterback didn’t live up to the franchise label it sure wasn’t Baker. There were plenty other quarterbacks that played a lot worse. 12 others to be exact.
March 15th, 2025 at 10:24 am
Trolling Italians ??? Man !!! I’m kind of scared to eat pizza tonight !!! Who knows I may be holding it wrong or something !! Wow !! I’m just gonna stay inside this weekend. Seems like the safest bet not to offend anybody.🇺🇸🍺🇺🇸
March 15th, 2025 at 11:10 am
Another 5 seasons of Baker? Did I read that right? Oh boy…
March 15th, 2025 at 11:30 am
Baker Feisty Mayfield has made a fan out of this long time, long suffering Bucs fan. And Ungodly CG14 coming back? I am one happy camper fan. Go Bucs!!
March 15th, 2025 at 11:37 am
For all the Baker Haterz it appears the standard is perfection, a Superbowl ring or fire them. Ok just be consistent. Mahomes needs to go. A pick six to a rookie from a small town in Iowa is unacceptable. Herbert? Who is this guy? 0-2 in the playoffs fire him. Allen no Superbowl ever. Fire him. 2-3 fire them all.
March 15th, 2025 at 11:38 am
If the defense has 3-5 additional INTs or takeaways and baker has 3-5 less INTs or giveaways during the season that will be great. If they can have a similar ratio in the playoffs then the SB is not out of reach.
March 15th, 2025 at 1:55 pm
Sorry baker post season is 2&3 he went to playoff in Cleveland also u haters r all the same this guy had 2 seasons in Tampa with stats any qb wud kill for in the NFL what jokers on this site & his 3 losses in playoffs were so close it cud of went seither way so STOP the nonsense
March 15th, 2025 at 2:04 pm
Buchawk says as u can read there are many on this site that appreciate our qb they respond to u r stupid posts with facts maybe u will come with real facts next time u print stupid stuff on this site,this site is moron free!!
March 15th, 2025 at 3:25 pm
Baker Mayfield has choked the last 2 years in the playoffs with turning over the ball in close games . We could have closed out the division in Dallas but he fumble the game and lost the game. He threw a pick on the last drive against the lions. And he also fumbled the ball against Washington that changed the momentum of the game. Baker had a good regular season against teams that was setting up their draft picks so they were trying to lose and make it look like they were trying to win . It’s NFC Championship or bust no more excuses for Baker Mayfield. Garden Mitchew led the Colts to the playoffs so just going to the playoffs and getting knocked out in the first or second round is not good. It’s NFC Championship or bust at least no more excuses!!
March 15th, 2025 at 3:30 pm
I’m sorry it was 13 others besides Baker….
To be exact.
March 15th, 2025 at 3:38 pm
Yeah playing better than all 13 other quarterbacks is really choking. If being involved in a fumble was the standard of choking, mahomes would be a choker because he fumbled on a jet sweep just like Tampa did only his receiver ran the route right. I think the guys at pft and a coach know a little more about football than onei does and they all agreed it was McMillans fault, so….
March 15th, 2025 at 3:41 pm
Oneilbuc-Why do you lie all the time? Baker didn’t fumble against Dallas. That was Rachaad. Stop your nonsense and lies. We don’t care if you have to lie to feel better about yourself.
March 15th, 2025 at 3:45 pm
🤥 oops
March 15th, 2025 at 7:13 pm
Allen choked against Chiefs. Firs him. Mahomes choked against a slow rookie from Iowa. Fire him. Herbert. What a hike. Fire them all. Perfection or the bench.
March 16th, 2025 at 9:02 am
This is what I be talking about now y’all trying to compare him to Mahomes ? Let me see Mahomes has 3 rings and Baker Mayfield has never played in a NFC Championship game oh ok . Again he chokes in big moments and until he stops doing that we ain’t winning a Superbowl with him. Again it’s NFC Championship or bust and if he chokes again the bucs need to move on after this year. Draft a quarterback next year and let Baker be a bridge quarterback until the young guy is ready.
March 16th, 2025 at 9:20 am
Mahomes is old for a running QB. The choke against a rookie CB is a sign of decline. Fire him now. It is a Super bowl every year or bust. Quit lowering your standards for some QBs but not others Oneilbuc. Perfection for all or you are out.. No exceptions for past performance.
March 16th, 2025 at 9:40 am
No we won’t compare him to Mahomes with exception of stat performance because he left Mahomes in the dust. The part we won’t is where Mahomes has been in the perfect system, the Andy Reid system, since being drafted. In that way there is no comparison because Baker was sent to quarterback hell just like Watson and Winston and what happened to their career? Oh yeah you never hear about them. Now Baker he is breaking records and building a team to go to the superbowl. And oh yeah there IS NO UNIVERSE where 146.5 passer rating is choking. Not to mention NO ONE even come close to him in the playoffs. And we’re not even going to talk about his playoff leading 83.3 completion percentage. You just hate him due to some game in college where he tore you a new one and you just can’t get over it.
March 16th, 2025 at 9:57 am
Baker, Baker the head coach maker!!! 🤣
March 16th, 2025 at 10:41 am
The problem is obvious. You few haters were so wrong about Bakers abilities you feel embarrassed and you should be. You were so wrong time and again. And now he is playing so good you don’t have much to complain about all season long. So here we are at the end of the season and you haven’t had a good cut at Baker for a long time so you are looking and hoping every week for something, anything to complain about. Well there it is, a fumble. To the ignorant, they believe you when you say it was Baker because they just don’t know football. But to anyone that has coached or played they see right away McMillan was deeper than the 1 yard required for the jet sweep to work right. To those that know the sport, they see Baker having the league leading passer rating and completion percentage as that he is the franchise quarterback Tampa needed. So next year we will see Baker continue to run one of the leagues hottest running offenses and make a deep run into the playoffs and who knows, if they can cut out just half their self inflicted mistakes make it to the superbowl. So you haters just take something, relax and sit back and watch the Heisman winning, 2 times Mahomes beatin, ESPN voted college quarterback of the 21st century, #1 drafted, 2 time pro bowl quarterback prove you wrong even more in 2025. Get used to it
March 16th, 2025 at 1:25 pm
Shep definitely had an off-year. He’s so much better than he showed last season. I hope he gets back to his normal self next year. I’m very excited that they resigned Godwin. I didn’t think that would happen. Go Bucs!
March 16th, 2025 at 1:26 pm
👍 Davyboy
March 16th, 2025 at 1:59 pm
Fanbois and OneilliLoveShamelessJameissBuc are so irritating. Just keep regurgitating the same ol slop. Sensitive little girls.
Oneill Baker was the top reason for our wins and was very uniform in his play unlike 2023 and Jalen caused that fumble not Baker . The defense was the main reason we lost most of our games. You are the biggest clown in the highest order up here you should just leave. Baker fans even though I do finally like Baker he did throw the game ending int against Detroit but I have nothing bad to say about him last year. He was great. It is obvious to me Cornbales and Bowles held him back in 2023. Can’t you guys just ignore these guys who refuse to see how great Baker was last year??? If Bowles can repair our defense to at least respectable I see us going even further with Baker