Add Jerrod Johnson, Antwaan Randle El, Jake Peetz To Interview List
January 28th, 2024
Houston QB coach Jerrod Johnson.
So NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport has reported two additional names to the list of interviewees for the Bucs’ open offensive coordinator position.
Joe wonders if the interviews will take place at the Senior Bowl practices at Jerry Jones’ palace in Frisco this week, as surely Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht and Bucs coach Todd Bowles will be there.
Per Rapoport, Texans quarterback coach Jerrod Johnson and Lions wide receiver coach Antwaan Randle El are scheduled. And Rapoport’s colleague Mike Garafolo added Rams passing game coordinator Jake Peetz as a candidate as well.
Johnson and Randle El are very interesting candidates to Joe.
Had for some reason Team Glazer decided to move on from Bowles this offseason, Joe was hoping Houston offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik might be Bowles’ successor. Obviously, Bowles is still here.
So why not grab Slowik’s right-hand man, Johnson, to run the Bucs offense?
Johnson has been around sharp cookies as an NFL assistant. He first broke into coaching working for Kyle Shanahan. It was Shanahan who begat so many good coaches, specifically Sean McVay. The McVay tree is impressive.
One of those limbs from the McVay tree is Minnesota coach Kevin O’Connell, where Johnson worked as an assistant quarterbacks coach in 2022. Then he jumped to Houston with Slowik, who also worked with Shanahan.
Johnson, who is also interviewing with the slimy Saints, would be a very forward-thinking hire for Bowles.
Randle El is intriguing as well. The former Bucs assistant wide receiver coach obviously played for and worked with Bucco Bruce Arians. Of course, Joe would love for the Bucs to revert to one of the best offenses in the NFL like they had under Arians, but we all know Bowles doesn’t want that.
As a result, Joe doesn’t know what sort of chance Randle El has with Bowles.
With Peetz, Joe hopes McVay rubbed off on him. Peets was a gopher working for Washington when McVay was an offensive coordinator there. He returned to working with McVay in 2022 after a season as LSU’s offensive coordinator.
(No, no. Peetz was at LSU before Jayden Daniels arrived.)
Between stints with McVay, Peetz worked one year with Nick Saban at Alabama.
It is heartwarming to Joe that the Bucs seem to be looking for guys from the McVay coaching tree and not “establish the run” primates like Artie Smith or Brian Schottenheimer.
January 28th, 2024 at 7:53 pm
I’m with you Joe. But then again I’m the huge “Air Coryell” fan.
I have a lot of respect for Bowles but I was never a fan of Woody Hayes either.
The old attitude 3 things can happen when you throw a pass and two of them are bad simply dances on my hot buttons. But then I’m the son of gambler. If the odds are right go for it!
January 28th, 2024 at 7:58 pm
I want to resign Baker to a fair deal between 25-30M a year, but my question to the people claiming he’s a top 10 QB deserving 40-45M a year, why are all the OC’s we interviewed taking other jobs? Doresy to Browns, Robinson to Falcons, Moore to Eagles. You’d think with a top 10 QB, weak division, last OC getting a HC job in a year, no state tax imcome tax and beautiful weather year round that these OC’s would be chomping at the bit for the job
January 28th, 2024 at 8:01 pm
If you’re wanting Baker back, then you absolutely don’t want a downfield attacking ‘Air Coryell’ system since Baker is way too inaccurate to run that, and it doesn’t really fit his skill set. Not bashing Baker saying that, just the reality of some guys being a better fit for some schemes.
The name I read elsewhere, that is very very interesting to me, is Brian Griese, the 49ers QB coach. Bowles wants to run, and that 49ers scheme would match what he wants to do. If Griese is involved with planning the offense, knows it inside and out, I’d take a serious look at him.
January 28th, 2024 at 8:01 pm
Who?
January 28th, 2024 at 8:03 pm
*Obviously, I meant Baker is way too inaccurate with downfield passing to run Air Coryell — or at least too inconsistent. Also, surprisingly, Baker didn’t really seem to have the arm I always assumed he had. It’s good enough, but I was always under the impression he had a cannon. Not sure if injuries caught up with him, or if I was a victim of the Baker Bois fake news agenda (they’ve been around since the beginning of Mayfield – they weren’t invented just to annoy Bucs fans).
January 28th, 2024 at 8:09 pm
So, we interviewed 10 guys last year and got turned down by the first 9?
January 28th, 2024 at 8:13 pm
If QB coaches are the ones who normally become OC then the Texans QB coach is our best OC candidate so far
January 28th, 2024 at 8:15 pm
Yea fat Scotty. Exactly what happened 🙄who wants to catch a team that been in the playoffs last 4 years to 1,000 yard wide outs an OC just got promoted sure dude. Beat it
January 28th, 2024 at 8:17 pm
I wonder how much is Todd concern that this next OC will take his job if he is successful…. Seems they have passed on some quality options!
January 28th, 2024 at 8:19 pm
Dom Says
why are all the OC’s we interviewed taking other jobs?
……………………………………………….
This is the big leagues, they are telling them to make their decision before they walk out the door. Tampa Bay has their thumb up their butts and are not lining up interviews. Again, only 32 OC positions in the world and these guys are not in a position to go out tire kicking. Teams will move on without them.
January 28th, 2024 at 8:22 pm
Scotty in Fat Antonio Says:
January 28th, 2024 at 8:09 pm
So, we interviewed 10 guys last year and got turned down by the first 9?
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I heard they got turned down by 11 guys.
Everyone assumed that Bowles was going to get fired at the end of the year, so it’s hard to recruit people in that position.
Even with Canales getting a HC job, I still think that idea that Bowles will get fired is going to hurt recruiting people. Plus the Bucs are bringing back Mayfield, that is going to be a very very risky bet for a new OC since they won’t get any credit if Baker is an OK starter like this year, but if Baker busts, which is very likely based on the history of QBs in his situation, then the new OC will get the blame – and Bowles will almost certainly get fired as well.
January 28th, 2024 at 8:22 pm
Sounds like a good direction. Run an offense similar to this year’s and get BM6 and ME13 back too.
January 28th, 2024 at 8:26 pm
I’m watching the SF Dt game. Bowles defense is looking better than SF during 1st half. Just sayin! SF playing too much soft zone. They didn’t learn from Bucs 2nd half!
January 28th, 2024 at 8:27 pm
I have not looked but how many of these teams already have their QB situation settled for next season? Baker is not under contract and all we have is Trask. Yes what do we have to offer right now?
January 28th, 2024 at 8:28 pm
Oh and Evans may put the haul azz on it.
January 28th, 2024 at 8:39 pm
Baker has the longest recorded pass in the game. Ever. 70.5 yards. But, ya, he doesn’t have a cannon…
January 28th, 2024 at 8:40 pm
Jackieboy@ Randell Cuningham, Vick, Lamar, Allen, Cordell Stewart, to name a few. Guys the team relies on them running.
January 28th, 2024 at 8:57 pm
Let ‘em bake Says:
January 28th, 2024 at 8:39 pm
Baker has the longest recorded pass in the game. Ever. 70.5 yards. But, ya, he doesn’t have a cannon…
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As I said, maybe he’s lost distance on the ball because of injury. Also, the fact he was wildly inaccurate and just threw that out of bounds reinforces his deep ball accuracy issues.
Also, you should never quote PFF as a source, it rarely works out well. It’s kind of funny, if you go and search out the source for that claim is, it’s a PFF tweet, then literally the top tweet under it is someone asking how that’s the longest play when the day before PFF showed Rodgers throwing a ball 71 yards in the air, and doing it under pressure, and they have a video of that as well.
But, again, the point was that he’s not a good fit for a deep ball offense, but he was a good fit for the current offense, and if he is going to be back, they should just run this same offense again and not switch things up.
January 28th, 2024 at 8:58 pm
Here comes SF
January 28th, 2024 at 8:58 pm
Baker needs a good running game. Not a knock on Baker. We need someone that can between the tackles. Maybe White can do it next year as he seemed to get better at the end but I would hope they’re not counting on it.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:02 pm
I don’t care about either of these teams, but I’d really love to see the Lions lose, just so those idiots in Detroit can refill Lake Erie with their tears.
Just think about it… you have the misfortune of having to live in Detroit, this Lions team is the best thing that has ever happened to you in your miserable life, you have a huge lead and you’re booking your tickets to the SuperBowl (only to find out the airlines don’t accept EBT cards), and then, poof, it’s all over, it’s back to your awful existence.
I’d love to see it happen.
Plus, if the Bucs can’t win the SB, I’d like to see Lynch get SB win as a GM.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:03 pm
Bowles is taking his time with the hire, he said that in his presser so I personally don’t think that’s a good thing because all the most qualified guys are going to be gone. We are going to end up with a guy that doesn’t know what he’s doing and it’s going to get both of them fired next season because our schedule is really tough. I just have a feeling we’re going to have an OC this time around that’s not going to know what he’s doing. 🤷🏻♂️
January 28th, 2024 at 9:11 pm
Proudbucsfan Says:
January 28th, 2024 at 9:03 pm
Bowles is taking his time with the hire, he said that in his presser so I personally don’t think that’s a good thing because all the most qualified guys are going to be gone.
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Yeah, I agree with that completely. Plus Bowles should get credit for making the pick last year. Who knows, maybe Bowles is a savant at picking offensive coordinators. Sometimes defensive guys like Bowles can pick those guys on offense since they know what schemes give him the hardest time.
In any case, Bowles should get the benefit of the doubt based off last offseason.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:13 pm
Ken Dorsey hired as OC for Cleveland.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:14 pm
Rod
AGAIN you let your emotions and feelings, I’m trying to give you the benefit of the doubt, make you create a BAD series of posts!!!
We can start with OPINION… YOURs…Baker has a weak arm and isn’t accurate downfield. MINE…Baker seemed like he had a cannon to me, but regardless of that how many freaking deep bombs did he have dropped. It was a NEW offense with a run oriented OC!!! Do you deny that?
NOW lets go from OPINION TO FACT!!!
FantasyPro’s Advanced Analytics has Baker as the 10th best..statistically QB for Deep passing in 2023!!!
Baker threw freaking 12 TD passes of 40 yards + 2nd only to Purdy’s 14
He threw 5 50+ TD’s second only to Tua’s 7.
Just google Rod!!! Here’s a generic take from NFL opinion people.
Baker Mayfield has an elite arm. It’s elite. It’s one of the stronger arms in the NFL.May 24, 2023
I’ve read this over and over. Don’t need to call you any names Rod…other than WRONG!!!
January 28th, 2024 at 9:18 pm
Well beSIDES that….
January 28th, 2024 at 9:21 pm
Rod, did you see the Hail Mary against buffalo? 65 yards. If he’s lost strength , it sure is hard to detect. We can disagree on his accuracy, but his arm strength isn’t an issue. As the search for the oc drags, Bakers chances of staying dip slightly..Atlanta gives him a familiar face at oc, a better run game, a better schedule next year to succeed, and two guaranteed wins vs panthers and a Bucs team rudderless at qb…. His negotiating position strengthens everyday this search lags…
January 28th, 2024 at 9:21 pm
All of the guys that they are interviewing know what they’re doing. There is a lot of young talented coaches. It’s really more about finding the right fit for your team. This time last year nobody knew or even heard of Canales. It’s going to be okay.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:24 pm
@NE Boy – So no more disputing that Andy Reid is a better head coach than Bill Belichick without Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes on their teams? 😂 And you still didn’t provide a definition for what you consider a “running quarterback”, you just stated players who you think are “running quarterbacks”. And for some reason you called Josh Allen a running quarterback when he threw for 29 touchdowns in the regular season, 5th most of all NFL QBs. Both Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen can beat you throwing from the pocket because they can read defenses, throw accurate passes, and create enough time for their receivers to get open by running around behind the line of scrimmage.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:26 pm
LoL LIons losing for bad play calling and stupidity.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:29 pm
I’m pretty sure Christian McCaffrey wouldn’t be averaging 4-5 yards per carry if he was getting hit before he could even cross the line of scrimmage like Rachaad White was all season and Joe would be calling him a misplaced slot receiver
January 28th, 2024 at 9:31 pm
stpetebucfan – Where did I saw Baker had a weak arm? I said he doesn’t have a cannon like I expected. Josh Allen has a cannon. Mahomes can whip a ball 80 yards in the air. Stafford has, or at least had, a top arm. Guys like that are elite. Bakers arm would be more in the 2nd tier. Again, not a criticism, but I had always heard he had a top flight arm, and if he does, he didn’t show it this year as he often underthrow guys and I really can’t think of any deep ball that left you going, ‘ooh’.
Also, as for stats… There were only 9 QBs who played 17 games — and Baker was ranked 10th … except he wasn’t tenth, on their list, he’s 12th. Also, I’m looking at their stats now, and all those show is the number of pass attempts, not completions.
But stats or not, just watch the games, Bakers arm is fine, it’s just not impressive. Again, that’s not a diss, I just had heard he had an elite arm, and he doesn’t, and his accuracy issues on deep balls is why you don’t want to run a deep ball offense if he’s staying.
Now, if you want to switch back to an Arians style offense, I’m all for that, so long as we bring in a guy who matches that style … maybe a guy who the Saints are about to release.
But Bowles wants a boring, run first offense, where the QB’s top job is to protect the ball, not score points. So that’s what the Bucs will run. And I’m fine with that, you can win with a 20-ish type offense like the Bucs had this year, so long as the defense is good.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:31 pm
Kyle Shanahan is an offensive genius
January 28th, 2024 at 9:34 pm
Why isn’t Fox showing all the idiots in Detroit crying right now? They have a whole stadium of those people and they refuse to show us the good stuff.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:36 pm
It’s easy to accuse coaches of being too conservative, and lauding the ones who take risks – but MCDC has cost Detroit a Super Bowl berth with his risk taking tonight.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:39 pm
Looks like Randel El will be available to interview this week after the Lions grabbed their ankles after halftime tonight. What a turnaround by SF and a choke by Detroit.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:39 pm
This game is basically over, if it was Bowles, the’d just run the clock out.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:40 pm
If you’re the Lions, you could just take a knee, and finish the game with all three timeouts, which are yours to keep. Who wouldn’t take that deal?
January 28th, 2024 at 9:47 pm
Alright, now there is no reason to use your two timeouts, at least you can take those back to Detroit with you.
January 28th, 2024 at 9:48 pm
I did Jackieboy@ go ba k and read the post. Hey did Bowles coach the 2nd half of the Lions game?
January 28th, 2024 at 9:58 pm
I think baker mayfield can run the Air Coryell offense. He wasn’t able to show that he could this season because our OC kept wasting our first and second downs running between the tackles to force baker mayfield in obvious 3rd and long situations. We’ve seen baker connect with Mike Evans on deep passes and virtually make every throw required to run a vertical offense. I’m not sure if we have the offensive line to protect baker long enough for receivers running deep routes to get open though
January 28th, 2024 at 9:58 pm
Bucs better make a decision soon, odds of baker and even Mike Evans gets lower and lower each day that one isn’t signed.
January 28th, 2024 at 10:02 pm
Goff played incredible and Campbell lost this game, there is no room for geeks in football. I find it hard to believe the odds of making a 4th & 3 or 4 are better than kicking a 48yd FG. 2 4th & over 2 yds and he went for it in FG range. I’d be pissed if I were a Lions fan.
January 28th, 2024 at 10:05 pm
@NE Boy way to wait until the game was over to give your opinion in hindsight. Hey does any team want to hire bill Belichick sorry as to be their head coach? 😂
January 28th, 2024 at 10:13 pm
Detroit fans burning down the city yet
January 28th, 2024 at 10:18 pm
I definitely 100% would have kicked the FG. Lions haven’t scored all half. You are trying to shift momentum. You haven’t made any other 4th down tries. Why would you go for it there?
January 28th, 2024 at 10:27 pm
Better grab Lewis now while we can. Seems like everybody else is going elsewhere.
January 28th, 2024 at 10:28 pm
that was 2 well coached teams….
Sure wish the Bucs could be one too!
January 28th, 2024 at 10:39 pm
Capt’n Munch: The more I read your BS about Baker having a weak arm (yeah, you’re calling it weak), the more I understand how pissed off you must be about his success this year. It must really drive you crazy to think that he’s going to be the Bucs QB for the foreseeable future. I don’t know whether I should laugh at you or just feel sorry because you’re so pathetic.
January 29th, 2024 at 12:38 am
Dom Says:
“why are all the OC’s we interviewed taking other jobs?”
I think it is probably the perception Bowles is not part of the youth movement with these new hot offenses. All this talk of needing history with Arians and Bowles as being important to the team would give many the impression they need the crack the club. Secondly, the players. The team has not had much run success while not yet signing their starting QB or pro bowl receiver. I would not want to be OC of a team led by Trask and no Evans. If the team wants to win over these coaches, they need to show stability and stature with playmakers on the offense.
January 29th, 2024 at 1:01 am
Rod Munch Says:
Just think about it… you have the misfortune of having to live in Detroit, this Lions team is the best thing that has ever happened to you in your miserable life, you have a huge lead and you’re booking your tickets to the SuperBowl (only to find out the airlines don’t accept EBT cards), and then, poof, it’s all over, it’s back to your awful existence.
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Wll I give you onc thing. You are consistent at beign an idiot. Its not jsut football.
January 29th, 2024 at 1:09 am
We are sure as hell not missing any Rooney rule candidates this time around.
Hire the best man for the job…Quickly!
Go Bucs!
January 29th, 2024 at 1:12 am
These names are a lot more promising than the first few names we heard last week
January 29th, 2024 at 1:15 am
WyomingJoe Says:
, the more I understand how pissed off you must be about his success this year. It must really drive you crazy to think that he’s going to be the Bucs QB for the foreseeable future.
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WJ I tried to tell you Rod is just a more verbose form of David ( now writing under the Milton username) and his tell has always been the more upset he is at being wrong is the more he writes as his form of therapy to cover it.
there is something he hates more than Baker though and its that fans of Baker are going nowhere and that he has ben disppalced as a major voice in the comment sections.
IF you want to silence him more than he already has been – just invite Brown’s fans o r ex brown fans to be fans of the bucs and post here. More readers for the joes and more dilution of Rod’s foolishness. Win win.
January 29th, 2024 at 1:18 am
Brad Idzik is the guy that should get the OC job. The guy is a an actual real genius. The smartest person on the coaching staff. It would be stupid to let Canales take him to Carolina. Bowles should deny his interview with the panthers.
January 29th, 2024 at 3:53 am
‘Of course, Joe would love for the Bucs to revert to one of the best offenses in the NFL like they had under Arians, but WE ALL KNOW Bowles doesn’t want that.’
I love it when experts tell me what I (and everyone else) think. But no Joe, we DON’T all know that Bowles doesn’t want ‘one of the best offenses in the NFL’. Todd Bowles DOES however want to WIN. The major difference between him & all the quasi ‘experts’ is that HE has to deal with reality. You know, little things like having to develop tons of rookies (many undrafted BTW), having to deal with injuries, having to deal with some underperforming veterans. Tiny things like that.
Bowles obviously has a different view than BA regarding what it takes to WIN. Without (1) an elite QB; and (2) an elite defense, BA went 7-8-1 in 2016 and 8-8 in 2017 with Arizona, and 7-9 in 2019 with the Bucs. He might’ve risked it, but there are no biscuits there. But 2 years with Brady as his QB and an elite Bucs’ defense (led by Todd Bowles) in 2020 & 2021 and BA was able to bring home the bacon with his attack philosophy. Sure is easy to cherry-pick results to suit one’s argument.
Appears to me that Todd Bowles is striving for a TEAM that pretty much mirrors what San Fran ran this year: Very ‘balanced’ overall (offense #3, defense #3). Not dependent on an ‘elite’ QB (like Mahomes) to run their offense, but does require a ‘good’ QB who can push the ball down the field without making a bunch of turnovers in the process. Both Purdy & Mayfield do that fairly well … Purdy just had the better supporting cast. One, maybe two, quality drafts and Bucs can develop something along the same lines.
January 29th, 2024 at 4:28 am
Dom … ‘why are all the OC’s we interviewed taking other jobs? Dorsey to Browns, Robinson to Falcons, Moore to Eagles.’
The places where they went make perfect sense IMO.
1 – Ken Dorsey to Browns: Dorsey played for Cleveland (years ago) so there’s that. He got fired by the Bills last season after a 5-5 start under Dorsey (the Bills focused more on the ground game after that as they made their run to the postseason with a 6-1 finish under Dorsey’s replacement, Joe Brady). Browns have decent talent on offense for Dorsey to work with.
2 – Zac Robinson to Falcons: relationship with Raheem (Falcons’ new HC) made that a no-brainer for both; besides, Falcons have a lot to talent to build around.
3 – Kellen Moore to Eagles: Moore was Cowboys OC (with very good results) prior to last year’s stint with Chargers (bad fit there BTW). Lots of similarities between those Cowboy teams & today’s Eagles’ team.
Same with Brad Idzik moving to Carolina. Relationships count, and apparently he & Dave Canales have a good one.
Worst thing the Bucs can do right now is hire the wrong guy. Have no problem with Licht & Bowles taking their time to make sure the ‘fit’ is close to perfect. They made a good decision hiring Canales last year after a dozen interviews with others. They earned the right to make sure this one’s just as good.
January 29th, 2024 at 6:24 am
Ha ha ha! Super funny that Munch is accused by an honoree fanboi of being in his emotions yet he goes into his emotions trying to show why STATISTICALLY why Baker is so great, the typical bag of tricks fanbois use and of course the elite of the fanbois jump up here to espouse their opinions. Keep tagging them Rod we’ll see how actually good/ bad Baker will be this year
January 29th, 2024 at 7:18 am
Kyle Shanahan is proof a very good offensive coach can put anyone at QB and succeed.
January 29th, 2024 at 7:33 am
Alex van pelt alresdy.
January 29th, 2024 at 7:55 am
The only reason these new names were added is because while the Bucs have been sitting on there hands all the best OC’s have been scooped up. Who has actually interviewed so far because none of the big names came here.
January 29th, 2024 at 8:36 am
Baker was the last choice with no other options because the Browns have such a bad rep..Go with what works. Take the last choice of everyone Alex Van Pelt because he was fired by the Browns. It should be clear by now how wrong the Browns are all the time. Scoop up all the Browns rejects. Think about it. Alex went through 5 QBs and was 11-6 this year but did not call plays except in the 2021 thrashing of Pitt in the playoffs because back stabber Stefanski was in quarantine. Stefanski called a disasterous playoff loss to Houston. He got rid of the guy who is a better play caller than him. Right out of the ruthless dictator playbook. Van Pelt will fall to the Bucs and it will be a huge success.
January 29th, 2024 at 9:08 am
Pretty hard for us as outsiders not interviewing them to gauge any of these coaches as coordinator who haven’t coached at the coordinator level.
Working for a guy, who himself had success, doesn’t translate to much in my book. Arians won a Super Bowl as head coach, does that mean Bowles, or Leftwich, would? (sadly no)
January 29th, 2024 at 9:19 am
Rod Munch Says:
January 28th, 2024 at 8:01 pm
If you’re wanting Baker back, then you absolutely don’t want a downfield attacking ‘Air Coryell’ system since Baker is way too inaccurate to run that, and it doesn’t really fit his skill set. Not bashing Baker saying that, just the reality of some guys being a better fit for some schemes.
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Here’s a newsflash for you…. the Air Coryell system was also run in Washington for years under Joe Gibbs… you remember him… John Riggins, George Rogers, Timmy Smith, Ernest Byner, Clinton Portis… with QBs like Joe Theismann, Jay Schroeder, Doug Williams, Mark Rypien,and Mark Brunell. I don’t think you realize that his system is all about deep bombs and 20 yard crossers… it isn’t… unless you want to look at what Mike Martz did… but the Coryell system was a lot of establishing the run, play-action, and mixing it up. Mayfield has plenty of arm.
For those questioning Mayfield’s arm strength…. i never realized he had such a strong arm until he got here. I never saw evidence of it but then read about his Combine ball velocity (one of the best ever since they started measuring) and his record for longest air yards completion. Then watching him fire rockets that should have been intercepted but weren’t because they were thrown too hard… tells me that Mayfield has plenty of arm strength. Way more than anyone we’ve had here in a long time.
January 29th, 2024 at 10:05 am
The lack of long ball accuracy is a myth. The over throws were early in the season when everyone was still not in sync. In 2020 Baker was the most accurate long ball guy in the NFL. Just look at that 65 yards in the air that fell right next to Godwin in the endzone vs Buffalo. Chris just had to look one second earlier and it was a walk off TD.
January 29th, 2024 at 12:08 pm
I don’t know if anyone else saw it but on that play where the Lions tight end caught the ball wide open with no one between him and the end zone, he didn’t instintively run at first. I saw some hesitation and then he started to take off but that gave the defender an angle to push him out at the 2 yard line. I believe Detroit ended up kicking field goal unless that was the drive they got the touchdown on the 4th down throw in the back of the endzone.
And then all of the stupid, dumb-ass taunting penalties. That team played a very undisiplined game. Flowers should be more aware when you are reaching the ball out that these tacklers tackle the ball at that point. Detroit shot themselves in the foot last night. The Niners were ripe for the taking.
January 29th, 2024 at 1:58 pm
Brandon – Grandpa, we’re talking about the modern ‘Air Coryell’ system, you know, the one ran by Arians, which was the reason it was brought up. Winston and Brady both lead the NFL in deep ball passing. That is not a strength of Baker.
It’s really remarkable how many clueless fans there are that have no idea what they’re watching. Baker is much better in a quick paced tempo short ball offense, since once you get past about 10-12 yards, his accuracy goes to hell, and he’s scattershot. That doesn’t mean he misses everything, he can certainly make some good deep ball throws, but you also have games like the first one vs Detroit where he missed, what, three deep balls where guys were wide open which basically lost the Bucs the game.
If you’re a Baker Boi, you should want him to be in a system that highlights his abilities, and that doesn’t mean never throwing the deep ball, it just means don’t put him in an offense where you’re saying take 7 step drops, sit in the pocket, and launch the ball deep, that’s not what he’s good at.
January 29th, 2024 at 2:33 pm
@RodMunch
One fundamental requirement for deep ball accuracy is that the QB must be able to square his shoulders, plant his back foot, and have room to step up unimpeded to launch the ball. Baker did that frequently and repeatedly at Oklahoma, and in 2020 for the Browns. Both teams had great pass protection. His completion percentage at OKLA was in the 68-70% range, on all throws.
This year, Baker’s been lucky to not have someone draped all over him as he throws. Improve the pass protection, and Baker’s accuracy will return. Most of the time he had to duck under a rusher before standing, trying to set his feet, and throw.
His arm strength and accuracy are fine – his pass protection, not so much.
January 29th, 2024 at 7:49 pm
LANshark – Again, his arm strength is fine, I only said I had heard he had a top flight elite arm, and that isn’t true, or I saw zero evidence of it. But saying that doesn’t mean I think arm strength is an issue, it’s accuracy.
Also, this year, on MOST of those deep ball misses, he had plenty of time to set his feet and make the read and just flat out kept missing deep. Then in other games he looked fine. That’s the biggest issue with Baker, he’s completely inconsistent game to game. For example, he had the best two games of his career vs GB and Jacksonville, then followed it up with his two worst games of the season vs the Saints and Panthers.
Again, I’m fine with Baker coming back, but I’m also saying they need to do what let him have the success he did have this year, and not plop in a brand new offense, certainly not a high risk Arians type of offense. Baker looked, by far, best this year when he was playing in a tempo short passing game offense. That’s not an offensive statement about him having a noodle arm, because that’s not the case, but he’s best suited for the short pass offense where he can move around some, and make accurate throws. Again, sitting back in the pocket, throwing it deep, that’s where Baker did not look good all that often – he was very inconsistent. But in the short game he generally did his best.