Dave Canales On His Former Quarterback, Baker Mayfield
February 5th, 2024
Former coach remembers.
Dave Canales may be gone but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know first-hand about players he left behind.
Yes, Canales, the former Bucs offensive coordinator, is now the leader of the Stinking Panthers. Those Bucs fans who followed him on social media likely quit last week as he began posting Stinking Panthers content. Yick.
On Friday, Canales hopped on “Good Morning Football” seen weekdays on NFL Network. There, co-host Kyle Brant asked Canales to break down Baker Mayfield.
Canales gushed about Mayfield. And why not, since Mayfield basically got Canales his first NFL head coaching job?
“What a stud!” Canales, ever the positive speaker, said. “You know, I didn’t know him [when Bucs signed him]. I just watched his story from afar.”
“The first thing we did was just sit down and spent hours getting to know each other. To hear the road, the journey he had been on.”
What Canales found was a quarterback who was introspective.
“When I got there in Tampa, in Baker, [I] saw this guy who was really self-aware and was reflective on his career on the challenges and struggles he found,” Canales said.
Canales then said he began a plan to utilize Mayfield’s strengths and a big part of that was his passion and drive. With Mayfield’s personality, Canales figured if he could somehow get Mayfield to enjoy football again, he might be able to unlock a star.
“For me, it was about bringing the joys and the passion of football back into his life,” Canales said. “He’s really such a vibrant, such a great leader.”
Those traits seem to be one reason the Bucs advanced to the divisional round.
“Especially in just terms of connecting with his guys and really reaching out and touching every part of the team, not just the offensive side,” Canales said. “We just had this tough, gritty guy that was willing to connect and that saw us through some times in the season.”
Though this segment aired before Mayfield won the precision skills competition for quarterbacks at the Pro Bowl, the win wouldn’t have surprised Canales.
“[Canales had to] make sure his talent was showcased,” Canales said. “This guy has no limitations to what he can do with his arm. Really creative in how he moves in the pocket and finds things.”
Canales then lauded Mayfield’s “aggressive style of play” and reminded Brandt that Mayfield won the scepter for “Angry Runs” in Week 1. Brandt loved Canales’ recall.
“He brings that mentality every day.”
It will be very interesting to Joe to see how Mayfield plays in his first season without Canales. The former Bucs offensive coordinator very likely has his gig because of Mayfield. And Mayfield might be signing in the next few weeks a nine-figure contract thanks to Canales.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:19 am
What a Soap Opera…..As the Bucs Turn.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:23 am
If Baker plays for us next year I expect the same.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:25 am
We should of Hired Canales!! we will regret it down the road…. very positive and uplifting towards his players. Far from Bowles lack of fire and emotion.. Go Bucs!!
February 5th, 2024 at 11:25 am
Pfft. What does THAT guy know
February 5th, 2024 at 11:26 am
Nice story Joe.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:30 am
So if Baker has even a better year this coming season is everyone going to say the new OC made Baker Mayfield. Rubbish, Baker Mayfield made Baker Mayfield.
February 5th, 2024 at 11:32 am
We will see next year who made who. Just like we saw with Belichek and Brady
February 5th, 2024 at 11:40 am
Still don’t sign baker. We’ll be mediocre for 3 years
February 5th, 2024 at 11:48 am
Canales sounds like almost everyone of Baker’s Bucs teammates. Yet, somehow on this blog there are the those who persist in doubting what coaches, players, and knowledgeable fans see. Generally, those who deny the obvious have a deep seated inferiority complex of their own. Not sure where Baker ends up next season but wherever it is, that team is going to have a genuine and talented football player.
February 5th, 2024 at 12:00 pm
Really….what is not to like about Mayfield?……he certainly is a leader that other players love and follow…..he’s pretty accurate and has a strong arm…..can scramble when necessary……has a good attitude…..should be affordable for us.
We need to improve our offense around him…..stronger middle…additions at TE & RB.
We have spent a ton of draft capital on our defense with not a lot to show for it.
February 5th, 2024 at 12:02 pm
“For me, it was about bringing the joys and the passion of football back into his life,” Canales said”
This is a clear provable example of Canales overselling himself
Baker is on record that he had a blast in LA and loved playing the game there. Canales can say he continued to let Mayfield enjoy football but he can’t claim to have brought the joy back to him.
Stop the cap,
February 5th, 2024 at 12:05 pm
Divisional game inside two minutes. Bad pass is intercepted. Game over.
Pro Bowl inside two minutes. Bad pass is intercepted. Defense has to save NFC from losing the whole Enchilada.
Put Mayfield on a team with fewer weapons or a poor defense in 2023 he’d be lucky to get signed at all this season.
February 5th, 2024 at 12:15 pm
Anyone who recognizes a win in the pro bowl as “the whole enchilada” deserves to be listened to, lol.
February 5th, 2024 at 12:20 pm
4 years, $175 million. $125 guaranteed.
Cut Trask as he is not even a capable back up. Sign Joe Flacco as backup.
February 5th, 2024 at 12:23 pm
Gee, what a shock, the head coach of a divisional opponent says nice things about a player he will face at least twice each season.
February 5th, 2024 at 12:25 pm
Dang,D Cone, don’t give up your day job, you aren’t worth a crap at being a
fortune teller ! From a true fan- “GO BUCS” !
February 5th, 2024 at 12:25 pm
Baker made the Pro Bowl. Period. End of sentence. Full stop
February 5th, 2024 at 12:29 pm
D Cone: I can’t keep from laughing when you talk about Mayfield. I get it, you hate the guy. But your hatred, along with the other Baker Haters, doesn’t mean anything because Baker will soon be signed to a multi-year deal. Live with it.
February 5th, 2024 at 12:53 pm
Canales is trying to drive Mayfield’s price up, so the Bucs allocate a disproportionate amount of chees to the QB position.
If Mayfield was smart, he would not grab as much $$$ as he can to help surround himself with solid players. That was the “Brady Way,” and it worked.
The “Watson Way” is a disaster.
Joe commented on another thread that both good and bad QBs suck up a lot of cap space. Greed, or lack thereof, is the difference.
I want Mayfield to get paid, but I also hope he’s not greedy.
February 5th, 2024 at 1:02 pm
TampaBaybucfan, I was with you until the “ We have spent a ton of draft capital on our defense with not a lot to show for it.”
Vea, Kancey, YaYa, Winfield, 3 starting caliber CBs, even Hall has kinda cemented his place as the next Gholston. We even have some backups who could develop into starters. Britt, Dennis, etc. So come on, man. It’s pretty hyperbolic to imply that we have not drafted well on D. Sure there have been clunkers, JTS and White among others, but this is just a bad take.
February 5th, 2024 at 1:09 pm
What’d everyine expect Canales to say to the guy who got him his HC gid?!
@Chief – those numbers look pretty close!
Careful with the guarantee…augment with some incentives, sounds pretty respectful…all in how it’s structured. Many of us who have been watching this team for decades, don’t need to see any more.
Trask fans can go into hibernation, the narrative changed and it doesn’t matter to us that you’re shifting into negotiation phase of your depression stage.
like the GOAT said: LETS GO!
February 5th, 2024 at 1:12 pm
@TampaBayBucFan: It’s simple, Baker cannot make a bad team beat a better team all by himself. The people who believe any QB can are delusional, but they believe that Mahomes is undefeated every season, and Brady never lost a game…
February 5th, 2024 at 1:20 pm
Ahh, what would Dave Canales know, when ignorant Baker haters and Trask lovers assure us that Mayfield is trash. Of course ignorant anonymous internet trolls know more than Canales. Obvious.
February 5th, 2024 at 1:22 pm
In public at least, Canales says positive things about people and players. No reason for him to throw Baker under the bus, and many reasons to tout him. Not a story if you know Canales.
February 5th, 2024 at 2:06 pm
LMAO I knew there would be “excuses” for Canales remarks. He “had” to say that. No he didn’t. He had to make sure not to diss Baker but not gush!
“Get your weight up!” Who can forget that right in front of the Bucs bench after he ran over a defender.
Just be prepared to take the bad with the good. Baker plays with wreckless abandon. How long can he stay healthy? How long can he maintain such an excellent 28-10 TD to int ratio. And Puhleeze stop with the “dropped ints” he should have had. How many tipped balls “fell into defenders hands”? I don’t know and who freaking cares. It WAS a 28-10 ratio. Even Bowles can live with that. Again…He finished his rookie year with 3,725 passing yards, and surpassed Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson for most touchdowns thrown in a rookie season with 27. He had 14 ints that season. So he’s improving there.
February 5th, 2024 at 2:08 pm
Sorry Bucs fans, The Steelers are coming HARD for Mayfield. He’s going back to the AFC
February 5th, 2024 at 2:11 pm
Baker Mayfield does an excellent job. We all make mistakes in life but it’s learning from them and not repeating them that makes someone worth keeping around. BM seems to bring a lot of ” get er done” to our football team and I’m A with more of that next year. Fack Dave Canales he is no longer our friend and he wasn’t all that bright from my perspective. How about added a fullback(as a blocker)when your doing so much running? Or moving one of our ineffective tight ends into the back field? Maybe some different running approaches. It didn’t work the first 5 times you did it so why not change it up? That is stubborn and unwilling to change in my book. Go BUCS!!!!!! We are better now off without DC
February 5th, 2024 at 2:35 pm
So many haters…….no worries though the Steelers are coming HARD for Mayfield. He’s going back to the AFC North.
February 5th, 2024 at 2:42 pm
The last thing Canales did was to showcase Baker’s talent. Baker survived in spite of Canales’ poor play calling. Think Baker has a chance to be better next year under the new OC.
February 5th, 2024 at 2:43 pm
If we were to draft a quarterback at twenty six Bo Nix might be an option if the cards are dealt in our favor. He has a lot of experience (being in college for so long and being part of winning teams). If you watch his film he is a younger version of Baker himself. Very mobile, pretty strong arm, not a rocket but very accurate. Needs to put more zip on the ball if not he will be intercepted rather easily at the NFL level. Bring on the guessing, we have a few months until the draft.
February 5th, 2024 at 3:07 pm
PewterStiff Arm,
Correction. Baker Mayfield has a rocket arm. He throws it at times so hot and hard that it is hard for receivers to hang onto. The only player in the NFL who might have a stronger arm is Josh Allen.
February 5th, 2024 at 3:11 pm
Regardless of what happens with Baker and the Bucs, he gained a fan in me. Getting a closer look at him this past season, showed me how likeable he is. Great demeanor on and off the field. It shines through his play, you can tell that no one on the field wants it more than him. Who doesn’t want that guy on his team!?
I didn’t know what we were gonna get with him before the season. I was trying to stay super optimistic, just hoped he was healthy and injuries were what previously held him back. He exceeded my expectations. (For the record one more time, seems like a paradox now, the Bucs did not)
February 5th, 2024 at 3:25 pm
Man, Canales’s approach soeaks to me. I used to teach flying. Other instructors would send students to me if they were about to quit. I could sorta succesfully turn people around sometimes. And always my first goal ws to sit down, talk to them and see why they wanted to fly. It was friggin expensive to learn. Now its worse. But usually first flight out we’d go have fun. Reignite their passion for the learning. See if they wanted to do it and if they had the drive and passion for it. Then after a fun lesson or two get them back into the work. But always return to the why, to the fun of it. Sounds like that’s what Baker needed. And the cance to score 100mm for three yrs of work…
February 5th, 2024 at 4:08 pm
Enough of Canales and his self-help style 🙂 I wish him medium luck!
February 5th, 2024 at 5:42 pm
Told you all at the beginning of the year Baker was the real deal check the record. I am glad most of you all have opened your eye. GO BUCS
February 5th, 2024 at 5:51 pm
@PewterStiffArm – Baker is only 5 years older than Bo Nix.
There is a reason Bo played so long in college, it starts with his low draft grades, multiple years. Hed be a goood backup in the NFL.
February 5th, 2024 at 6:04 pm
Brady’s last pass as a Patriot. Wild card round at home (no crowd noise). Pinned deep, down one score and less than 2 minutes to play. Sounds exactly like the Lions game, right?
Brady not only threw a pick but it was a pick 6 that cemented Tennessee’s victory and eliminated the Pats. That’s normally where Brady shines but it wasn’t to be. It happens. The next year he won a SB with the Bucs and proved his doubters wrong. Seems he wasn’t washed up yet as BB thought.
Mayfield led 2 drives like this in the regular season and the D gave up the 42 second drive to Stroud and I think the other was Atlanta that we lost on a last second FG? Seems so long ago (or maybe I’m trying to block it from my memory..lol).
Anyway, Mayfield’s pick sucked to be sure but it happens to even the best QBs.
February 5th, 2024 at 6:26 pm
I watched Canals interviews. He seems to think he will have time to sit down for hours with individual players and devise schemes to suit them. He talks a good game but I am sure he doesn’t know HC duties.
February 5th, 2024 at 6:57 pm
JK,
I agree with you regarding Mayfield and the Steelers. They know what he can do after the 2020 playoff annihilation that Mayfield delivered as a Brown. It would be absolutely poetic for Baker to stick it to the Jimmy Haslam Browns 2x per year for the next ten years. To make that happen I believe Baker would take a discount to $35Million per year. That’s the only discount he will take, for everyone else $40M/yr. Steelers are a terrific organization with a great coach. Steelers offense was a mess in 2023. They need Baker to get them organized.
February 5th, 2024 at 6:59 pm
Baker was a top 10 QB in the NFL this year and his team ended up top tier as well. Out of the top ten QBs in the NFL only 2 had less interceptions than Baker(Dak and CJ Stroud, who was Best in that regard) Baker was top 7 in TDs and 9th in yards passing with a team full of “dropsies” this year. He set more records, won more awards. His playoff stats are even better. The people on here riding that “he throws ints” are morons, plain and simple. Baker was third best among the top ten QBs in that regard while throwing 28 TDs! If I remember right, only one non top ten QB made the playoffs. Anyone commenting that Baker is anything less than a top tier talent is saying very publicly, that they know nothing about QBs and are dumber than rocks. That said, The BUCS and some other teams around the NFL are working to get him signed, we should have a chance to see what level he rises to with real talent around him…either with the BUCS, Steelers, or conceivably even a path to Dallas. Right now football fans know that the BUCS are in the driver’s seat, and we hope they make it happen.
February 5th, 2024 at 7:00 pm
A mighty amount of cash and ink for coaches and players that beat a bad Eagles team after winning the worst division in football by tiebreaker. People need to forget this whole squad. It was a lost year that went better than expected but was nowhere close to beating the 49ers or Chiefs (or Ravens or Bills or…)
Move on.
February 5th, 2024 at 7:27 pm
What does a new jersey jackass know nothing!
February 5th, 2024 at 7:29 pm
Bad eagles team weren’t they 11&6 so now an 11 win team is mediocre are u serious then 9&8 needs to b in the pee wee league with that stupid analysis
February 5th, 2024 at 7:34 pm
Sasbucks,
You really get it but the answer to your question of who wouldn’t want Baker on your team is Jimmy Haslam, Browns owner. This silver spooned stooge signed DeShaun Watson to a fully guaranteed 5 year deal at $235Million. This happened after Baker played the entire 2021 season with a torn up left shoulder. Watson who took off the entire 2021 season with Houston because he didn’t approve of the way Houston management was remaking the team. Houston got last laugh because they have a terrific young QB in CJ Stroud. Meanwhile Watson has collected $90Million from Haslam having played in a total of 13 games in 2 years. The only justice we need now is Baker to the Steelers to stick it to Haslam forever. None of this is Watson’s fault by the way. He just exploited the most inept owner in professional sports.
February 5th, 2024 at 9:49 pm
So when it comes down to it… Baker has really only played 2 seasons of his NFL career on a team that was avg or better while he was healthy. Both times playing good enough to get them to the playoffs. I know of 20 non playoff teams that would love to have been in that situation.
February 5th, 2024 at 10:02 pm
nice one gipper
yes broncos in same quandey, WT
Haslems kids calling the shots i guess,
February 5th, 2024 at 10:04 pm
im guessing thy’re all on board. Think they can win. thats big. TEAM
February 5th, 2024 at 11:51 pm
I hate that he left, because I like a few years of stability, something Baker has never had in his entire career, but I think we have a better OC in place now. Let’s not forget the Bucs did not even score 20 points a game. It’s not like he was a world beater as an OC.
Must re-sign Baker, Evans, Wirfs, Winfield, LVD
Send Shaq, White, Gage, either Dean or Davis walking.
Need to get rid of one of those CBs, because, as much as I like them more than most fans, they can’t stay healthy.
I would love for Shaquille to stay, but that needs to be a massive restructuring because he is way overpaid at this point
Absolutely must find a center in the draft or free agency. A good one in free agency is usually as hard as finding an edge rusher though
February 6th, 2024 at 10:34 am
It’s gonna be a long offseason.
February 6th, 2024 at 7:12 pm
Yall got a good one in Baker, as a Jets fan that lives outside Cleveland, I have always believed in him ! Get him signed, he’ll play hard no matter what !
February 7th, 2024 at 6:49 am
Canalas is dead to me. I hope he falls on his face.