Sleepless In Tampa
May 10th, 2024
Rebirth.
Recently, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht appeared on “Schein on Sports” and confessed he was so stressed by the possibility Mike Evans would bolt in free agency, it cost him a bunch of sleep.
Yesterday while appearing on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Licht once again talked about sleepless nights over his free agents, including Evans.
“Ugh, this year we had a lot of guys that were paramount to bring back,” Licht said. “I really had a lot of sleepless nights. We had to have [Mayfield]. We had to have him back. We had to have Mike back. We had to have Lavonte [David] back, in my opinion and in the opinion of everybody [at One Buc Palace] too.
“Not many quarterbacks would be willing to walk into the situation where you had the greatest of all time, Tom Brady, leave. And there is no doubt about that, he was the greatest of all time.
“For a quarterback to come in and be secure with himself and be confident that he can lead this team to wins — and he circled us. ‘I’m going there because I like that team and this is where I’m going to revive my career.’
“And that’s exactly what he did.”
Well now that Mayfield has revived his career, what can we next expect? Yeah, after throwing for over 4,000 yards in a season for the first time in his career, it’s easy to regress a little. It’s simple math. Doesn’t mean Mayfield will puke all over himself.
If Mayfield can actually improve with better stats, lead the Bucs to a better record and go deeper in the playoffs, maybe that will finally shut up all the NFL sophists who think Mayfield is little more than a UFL quarterback.
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Added:
May 10th, 2024 at 9:15 am
I think he’ll be able to produce more sustained drives this year. The defense did a great job of keeping teams out of the end zone last year, but our opponent’s time of possession against our D was out of control. This is one of the biggest reasons they’ve been pushing for turnovers and sacks. Give our offense one or two more possessions a game and the yardage and scoring opportunities will only go up.
May 10th, 2024 at 9:17 am
The same experts that thought BM was worthy of the 1st overall gah gah draft pick.. which ever way the wind blows.
But more importantly today is the first day for the 2024 draft picks and the future of the franchise.
Welcome to the Florida heat !
and it’s not even hot yet 🥵
May 10th, 2024 at 9:19 am
With the amount of money the Bucs are paying Mayfield and with the experience he already has, I would expect him to improve on his numbers last year. He was not consistently good last year and had a handful of clunkers, but also a few great games as well. In the regular season Im hoping for at least 30tds, 4000 yds, > 63% CMP and <11 INTs
I would expect him to be a top 12 qb (basically) every week .
May 10th, 2024 at 9:24 am
Hate Mayfield if you want but think about this. If he didn’t come back, the Bucs would have most likely had to move up in the draft from 26 to about 12 – 15 range? No Graham Barton, the loss of multiple other picks in this years draft and next years draft, and for what..? A shot a game manager JJ McCarthy? Welcome back Baker.
May 10th, 2024 at 9:25 am
I don’t care what industry you’re in, when you increase a guy’s salary by ten fold in 1 year, you shouldn’t expect a regression
May 10th, 2024 at 9:33 am
If the Bucs fix their interior offensive line and keep lineman out of Mayfields face and they can pair it with just an average (16th) run game Mayfield will have another career year.
May 10th, 2024 at 9:59 am
Another 500 yards of rushing and a 20% reduction in tipped passes will do wonders for the offense
May 10th, 2024 at 10:00 am
Maybe it will shut up the morons on this site too, Joe.
May 10th, 2024 at 10:08 am
You’re trolling on this one Joe. You chummed the water nicely, talking about Mike & Lavonte, before segueing into Baker. How difficult it must’ve been on Baker to be the poor QB who’d ‘be willing to walk into the situation where you had the greatest of all time, Tom Brady, leave’. Good choice not to add that the GOAT did have the worst year of his sterling career just before Baker arrived to rescue us.
Disagree that Mayfield has ‘now revived his career’. Yes he sh1t the bed with the Panthers (so have a number of other QBs?), but he did reasonably well filling in out in LA with the Rams on short notice. And the Rams weren’t having a great year themselves in 2022 (5-12).
Fact is that Baker, like all QBs, NEEDS a solid TEAM around him to be successful (yes, even the GOAT as we saw). Baker didn’t have that in Cleveland in 2021, nor in Carolina in 2022, and probably not in Los Angeles in 2022. Heck even here in 2023 Bucs were little better than an average team (9-8?).
IF he can stay healthy (I don’t take that as a given in his case), this SHOULD be his best year yet. Better OLine? Quality weapons? Better than average defense? Strong Special Teams? Just let Baker be Baker & we can very likely hit double-digits.
May 10th, 2024 at 10:13 am
4,000 yards is not what it used to be. And, now you even have an extra game… You barely, have to average much more than 230 yards passing per game. Any QB who stays ‘healthy’ for a full 17 game season should be able to get there, without much a problem. Especially, a group containing Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, & Rachaad White… Then, adding Mac & Bucky to it! I’m much more concerned with turnovers and sloppiness. The one thing you do NOT want is a Baker now believing he is Superman & can do anything. You want a Baker who is fully under control and plays within himself, & the team/offense protecting the ball.
May 10th, 2024 at 10:14 am
Mayfield is a modern day Jeff Garcia…IMO. Feisty, smart, tad undersized, accurate…..you can with him. Can you win it all….possibly but as a long time fan, if we’re consistently making the playoffs, I have no complaints. Playoff football generally means as a fan you had an entertaining 17 game season with the added intrigue of the possibility of winning it all. If you’re not making the playoffs, then your season likely sucked and there’s zero chance of a championship. Been there, done that….i really like our chances with Mayfield.
May 10th, 2024 at 10:27 am
Bobby M
Agree with your comparison to Jeff Garcia. He was the first player to come to my mind as well watching Baker. But that’s because they play a similar style.
While not playing the same ‘style” game as Rich Gannon I hope Baker has a similar renaissance here in Tampa as Gannon had in Oakland after 12 forgettable years including one missed totally. Year 13 he exploded and ended up with an SB appearance and 2 AP MVP awards.
It’s still a team game and given all that the Bucs faced last season there first without the GOAT I think Baker showed his grit.
This season it appears there is an upgrade in the OL, the D is rounding into form, TL kept all the necessary stars including LVD.
As always the wild card is injuries and reading D.R. that’s his concern as well as he has identified lack of depth a remaining issue. Let’s keep our fingers crossed and address depth next year.
May 10th, 2024 at 10:53 am
You mean the morons who were on this site long before Baker arrived? The morons that have been loyal Bucs fans for decades in some cases?
It’s really nice for Joe’s clicks that all you nomads flocked in. I bet he loves it. It explains why we see so many articles trying to sell Baker to the locals. If he leaves, his posse might leave too. I get it, Joe.
May 10th, 2024 at 10:59 am
10-7
May 10th, 2024 at 11:03 am
Joe wants everyone to say Mayfield is great. He’s not. Never has been. He is what he is. A middling journeyman who might squeak a team into the playoffs.
May 10th, 2024 at 11:19 am
realistic-optimistic Says:
May 10th, 2024 at 10:53 am
Maybe it will shut up the morons on this site too, Joe.
…….
Thanks for confirming what you are.
May 10th, 2024 at 11:22 am
MelvinJunior Says:
May 10th, 2024 at 10:13 am
4,000 yards is not what it used to be.
…….
Yet less than a third (10 qbs, so you don’t have to break out your calculator) were able to surpass 4k yards.
May 10th, 2024 at 11:45 am
Baker did well last year with the worst run game in the league and defenses ignoring play action. If the run game even becomes average, the passing game should improve with some effective play action.
May 10th, 2024 at 12:18 pm
Baker could just as easily progress as regress. I agree there are natural regressions that come with age and injuries, but Baker isn’t there imo. Progression is more likely due to the fact we have an OC that’s not trying to figure out his role, there’s familiarity between Baker amd Coen, guys seems to be more involved in the offseason this year, and we have some great rookies that can make an impact early.
May 10th, 2024 at 2:33 pm
Baker Mayfield is definitely a top 20 NFL QB. Probably even top 15. Some may even consider him top 12…………..
May 10th, 2024 at 4:56 pm
@BakerFan – Who started all 17-GAMES, Big Guy!?
@realistic-optimistic – You hit the nail on the head. It’s VERY weird/strange/odd for a grown ADULT to follow around so obsessively, being SO in looooove with ANY professional athlete, like THAT… I just hope (for their own sake) that it is a family member, or something. That’s the only thing I can come up with, concerning a few of these… Otherwise, it is just plain SAD. And, they’re looking, watching, literally, all day, just waiting for ONE remark that could be construed as hating Baker… Then you are a “TRASK-lover” hahahah Lmao. Just Pitiful. They are completely, unhinged. LoL
May 10th, 2024 at 5:12 pm
There were only THREE who didn’t, who played in 17-games. Baker just barely, got there in the very last game of the season at 4044… And, that was on a team that was always trailing in the second half against prevent defenses, etc. Heck, Stafford had like 3,995 in just 15-games on a bum shoulder and bad neck too, @BakerBoi
May 11th, 2024 at 4:37 am
I agree that Baker was the right QB for us after Brady. The team and coaches respect him as well as others around the NFL. And most of we fans love him! He will have even a better season this year.
May 11th, 2024 at 5:21 am
Addition by subtraction will help significantly. Canales being gone will do wonders for the offense. Gone are his utterly predictable and unchanging personnel groupings, no use of motion, refusal to set offense up with super easy sight audible throws like smoke screens, lack of running to perimeter, and predictable play calling. Coen will look like Don Coryell when compared to Canales.