Baker Mayfield To Earn Sort Of A Dubious Honor
August 30th, 2023
Week 1 starter.
Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield has been around the NFL block a few times. In a big-picture view, that’s not always a good thing for the 28-year old Bucs signal-caller.
Over at BSPN, Lindsey Thiry noted a not-so-endearing honor Mayfield secured last week when Bucs coach Todd Bowles named Mayfield the starter.
Thiry noted Mayfield will be a Week 1 starter for his third team in as many years. It’s a rare feat. That ties Mayfield with five other starting quarterbacks for the longest streak (three) of different teams in successive seasons.
Brett Favre is one of those quarterbacks, but teams don’t give up on QBs that quickly, specifically successful ones.
So it is now in Mayfield’s power to make sure he doesn’t set the record with a fourth team next year — unless Mayfield leads the Bucs to a lot of wins and some team throws a bank vault full of cash at him.
Joe thinks this is simple. If Mayfield plays well and leads the Bucs to the playoffs, he will stick around a few years. If Mayfield doesn’t do anything special and the Bucs struggle, Mayfield leaves and the Bucs draft a first-round quarterback.
August 30th, 2023 at 6:16 am
Johnny Wilson to the Bucs.
August 30th, 2023 at 6:37 am
Frozen,
Cause until extremely recently Kyle Trask barely belonged in an NFL uniform. Even still he’s barely holding on to a backup spot after being unable to beat out Ryan Griffin. No one in that building sees ‘Super Bowl champion QB Kyle Trask.” And that’s why he’s not the answer past at most this season
August 30th, 2023 at 6:38 am
Hopefully the third time is a charm.
August 30th, 2023 at 7:24 am
Joe keeps saying that if Mayfield doesn’t work out, then the Bucs draft a first round quarterback next year. That ain’t necessarily so, at all.
First, if Trask fails to impress the Bucs will start Kyle Trask, who has proven he has the abilities and the drive to succeed as a starting quarterback. Bowles and Canales have both stated that explicitly this past week.
Secondly, the Bucs have never, ever succeeded in developing and then holding on to a franchise quarterback drafted in the first round. Instead, the two Super Bowl winning Bucs teams were both quarterbacked by free agents – a 9th rounder and a 6th rounder.
The Bucs clearly have had vastly more success bringing in a capable free agent QB than in developing a first rounder.
And it ain’t just the Bucs who have trouble developing keepers from first round draft picks. Just look around at the wreckage of numerous early first rounders including no. 1 overall draft pick quarterbacks in the last half decade alone. The success rate is less than 50%. Mayfield is part of that stat, by the way.
So it is vastly more likely that if Mayfield fails to impress that the Bucs will then move to Kyle Trask, and only if he fails too will they go searching for a replacement, and then if they do that it is far more likely that they sign a free agent quarterback.
August 30th, 2023 at 7:36 am
Kind of off topic but..the mention of Brett Favre just conjured up memories of Sapp v. Favre on those cold winter Sundays of days past. LOVE. IT! A sincere thanks to the Joe’s.
August 30th, 2023 at 7:44 am
That’s an ignorant narrative from anyone who needs clicks or viewers.
He was traded from the Browns that drafted him because they made a trade so he asked for it ok fine.
Panthers decided to tank so who better to play than Sam Darnold!!
He spent the rest of the year with the Rams and they wanted him back. No one says it in that light because they are looking for clicks and viewers. I wouldn’t let that bother me before week 1.
August 30th, 2023 at 7:55 am
“Trask beat out Mayfield in training camp”
OMG, enough
August 30th, 2023 at 8:08 am
@ Frozen: “Trask beat out Mayfield in training camp.” AND..The earth is flat..I have proof, I just don’t want to show it. AND..There was no moon landing, it was filmed on a vacant lot in Hollywood. I have proof, I just don’t want to show it. AND..I saw Bigfoot piloting a UFO. I have proof, I just don’t want to show it. AND..the election was – you get the picture. Laughable.
August 30th, 2023 at 8:13 am
Gaytor bois feelings still hurt
August 30th, 2023 at 8:29 am
I wouldn’t say it’s a forgone conclusion that Baker does stay if he does have a successful year. It would not surprise me if he unded up back with the rams if Stafford retires at the end of the year. When baker joined the rams and led them to victory against the raiders…when they gave him the game ball he said “it’s good to be home”. Struck me as odd at the time as he is a texas boy. But then my wife reminded me baker and his wife married in Malibu. So I could see them longing for the LA lifestyle and big market opportunities it brings as well as a chance to be reunited with mcvey….the first and only competent nfl coach he has had in his career. With that in mind, I don’t see him sticking around with Bowles if Canales picks up a head coaching job next year. After suffering under hue Jackson, kitchens , Williams and ruhle in his short career…he will be very selective about which organization he hitches his wagon to. Ownership/coaching stability will matter more than $. But- he needs to ball out first or its a moot point.
August 30th, 2023 at 8:46 am
Maybe Bucs can send Trask to Arizona in a trade for Kyler Murray. Cardinals might even pay most of the money. Seems that is what teams tend to do with #1 Picks from Oklahoma after four years, get to the point where they have just had enough, and are happy to get rid of them. Arizona is tanking for Caleb but Trask might give them reason to think twice.
August 30th, 2023 at 8:50 am
I agree with Beej … enough already. The decision has been made on who our starting QB will be, and that’s Baker Mayfield. Certain individual players may not be our favorites, but we’re all Bucs’ fans … and we all want to WIN. Personally I don’t care at this point if he’s on his 50th team; until Baker shows that he can’t help us win, I’ll be rooting for him to succeed.
As important as the starting QB is to any team’s success, winning isn’t all about that 1 player as we all know. Baker can only play as good as the players who surround him & the coaches who design & call the plays. We’ve got some ‘old’ but LOTS of ‘new’ to root for this year. I for one can’t wait to see how all of this comes together early-on, and how it grows as the season progresses.
We MIGHT be looking at a young Bucs’ team very similar to what we saw back in the middle-90’s … strong defense but hopefully with a more ‘complementary’ offense. I’m old-school admittedly, but I believe that you can still win with that approach, even in today’s NFL. But it has to be well-coached, on both sides of the ball, and it takes a whole TEAM of hard-nosed players playing their hearts out to pull it off. No excuses; Buckle up.
August 30th, 2023 at 9:02 am
Dwayne Cone – stop being ridiculous. The Bucs ain’t trading Kyle Trask to anyone. He’s ready to be a starter today, as stated this last week by Bowles and Canales, and nobody including the coaches knows if Mayfield will pan out or not, and even if he does he has an injury history that made him ineffective his last season with the Browns, so obviously, the Bucs are in an envious position with two starting caliber quarterbacks on the roster. If they traded Trask, who is one of the lowest salaried veterans on the roster, it would make no sense at all.
August 30th, 2023 at 9:06 am
Jeff’s Grandpa – you’re a piece of Nole work, you are.
Nole girls still gloating that their non-Nole quarterback with five years experience barely beat out a former Gator quarterback with no experience for the starting job.
As if anyone who is serious about NFL football – which excludes the Nole girls – gives a rat’s rear end what school a player played at before becoming a Buc.
I am not a Gator. I am a Bucs fan, unlike you.
August 30th, 2023 at 9:10 am
@ Frozen: BAKER IS BETTER. T-shirts are on there way.
@ Lt. Dan: Very funny piece. But the earth is really flat, right?
August 30th, 2023 at 10:06 am
“The Bucs have never drafted and developed a franchise quarterback” doesn’t mean they won’t.
The Bucs had never won a game… until they did.
The Bucs had never won a cold weather road game… until they did.
The Bucs had never won a Super Bowl… until they did.
The Bucs had never returned a KO for TD… until they did.
Just because something had never happened before doesn’t mean it never will.
August 30th, 2023 at 10:11 am
[Once again, claiming someone is a felon who has nerves been charged is a good way to get permanently run. Joe us in a relatively good mood this morning. – Joe]
August 30th, 2023 at 10:56 am
No…not illiterate. Not an FSU boi. Actually a Gators fan. But I also live in reality. Trask is leaps and bounds ahead of where he was, probably thanks in great part to Canales.
Baker is a better fit in this particular offense what with bootlegs, play action roll outs and possibly having to run for his life on occasion. At least until the right side of the O line gets it’s feet under them. And….the better QB was crowned.
August 30th, 2023 at 11:03 am
Noted Joe, but I didn’t claim anyone was guilty of anything.
@Pewter Power, you can see the events that transpired with Maybefield that way or;
CLE – chose a QB with questionable character and after missing a lot of time over a known commodity (my guess they knew he was a bust) and traded him for pennies (NFL teams agreed with the bust tag).
CAR – gifted Maybefield the QB1 and after he did his best to destroy the team (1-5 record and horrible play) they chose to cut their loses and the team flourished after Barker’s release.
LAR – didn’t have any QBs at the time so they were forced to play him and he did about two good things (horrible numbers against bad teams), but good enough for them to offer him the backup gig to a real QB in Stafford (not Maybefield’s preferred gifted QB1 job so chose to go elsewhere).
TB – gifted Maybefield the QB1 and showed us that was the case from the moment they announced they agreed to sign him. So here we are hoping for a miracle. Go Bucs!
August 30th, 2023 at 11:06 am
I think there are a good amount of Gator fans that get embarrassed every time the occult of Trask comments on here. Personally I don’t give a spit where someone went to college once they are a Bucc. The whole thing is stupid.
August 30th, 2023 at 12:12 pm
Waaaaa
August 30th, 2023 at 12:46 pm
If Mayfield does well this year, why would he want to leave? Seriously? The Bucs would make a nice offer and he would be playing on one of the youngest teams in the league. Have you seen the other cities in the league? New Orleans, Atlanta, Philly, L.A., Baltimore, they’re all sh!tholes. Why would you move your family from beautiful Florida to some hole like Cleveland or Chicago? He didn’t have a choice where he was drafted but if he does well this year, he will have a choice to stay. I hope he has a great season and Team Glazer pays him to stay.
August 30th, 2023 at 1:14 pm
K_bassuka- hope that cynical take isn’t your way of life. I’m not his agent so I’m not promoting him but one of us is wrong I guess we’ll see soon.
CLE- no insult Deshaun Watson is better, that’s why he got that contact
CAR- got the first pick in the draft and didn’t have to jump up far to get it, they tanked and you know Sam Darnold isn’t better. Baker was gifted that job because he sucked.
LAR- no franchise is forced to do anything so apparently they thought he was the best option. There are always free agents to choose from.
TB- Baker wasn’t gifted the job, Trask just wasn’t good enough to beat him out which is why he sat behind Ryan freaking griffin and Blaine freaking Gabbert.
August 30th, 2023 at 1:46 pm
@Pewter Power – I do agree that Watson was a better QB but nevertheless they didn’t and still don’t know what the new Watson is going to look like. Especially after missing a a full season.
CAR – that’s a weak comment on your part. They had the 2nd best record in the NFC South. Thankfully for us they started Maybefield the first 6 games (1-5). 7 teams had worse records than them and they were tied with another (record wise) 5 teams. So, no they weren’t tanking just like any of those other 5 teams.
TB – I get it why some of you are so in love with the Maybefield move and I’m not saying that he is not better or that he didn’t outperformed Trask in practice, all I know that from day 1 the Bucs media team treated Maybefield as the QB1. That’s even before the guy signed his contract. To me he was gifted the job regardless of the fake competition the team claim they were in.
Again, it is what it is now. Go Bucs!
August 30th, 2023 at 4:14 pm
@Bussuka – you couldn’t not comment for like hour. Seriously, give it a rest. You are a joke on here. We’ve all seen your same points over and over again.
And to the point – Wolford repeatedly was talked up as the best QB during camp, and his PFF score was signficantly higher across all games than Trask.
Compound that with national and local media also reporting that aside from a few practices in the middle of camp both Mayfield and Wolford outplayed Trask. If you read Joe’s camp reports, Pewter Report, follow Twitter and other people seeing practices, you can’t come away thinking Trask “outplayed” anyone.
I’m not a Trask “hater” – he seems like a nice guy. I don’t follow college football. I actually am very proud for the guy to improve so much he can be an NFL backup, potentially. Based on ALL reports,Mayfield won the competition (holistically) and Wolford was the second best quarterback.
I have, however, learned to really dislike his fans, because of commenters like you.
August 31st, 2023 at 2:27 am
Please name the othr four if you are gonna quote this record.
Go Bucs!
August 31st, 2023 at 12:44 pm
Mayfield has potential.
Best of luck to him.
Godwin and Evans stay healthy.
Let’s go Bucs!!!
August 31st, 2023 at 7:39 pm
I never liked Mayfield. Even coming out of OK. I thought he was overrated and full of himself. Arrogant for no reason. The Heisman don’t mean squat when it comes to the NFL. However, as a DIEHARD Bucs fan, it behoves me to get behind him and support him and the rest of the boys. We gotta get behind him and hope for the best. I wanted Trask (I’m a Nole fan through and though) but here we are. One week away. Let’s turn Ray Jay out this season. I have a suspession that we will have a solid season. I was listening to BSPN on the way home and they were bashing us on Canty and Carlin. Screw the national media. We get enough negativity from them so let’s turn that narrative around.