Baker Mayfield: Bucs Are A Winning Organization
March 20th, 2023
Parades matter.
Imagine a free agent during The Lost Decade of Buccaneers football ever pointing to Tampa and saying he wanted to play there because that’s the home of winners.
Things have come a long way in the past three seasons.
New Bucs QB Baker Mayfield stood before the local media today and emphasized he just signed with a strong and stable franchise that knows how to rack up big Ws.
Mayfield added that he and Tampa are an ideal fit.
“An organization like this, that’s had success, obviously, for a while and in recent years as well — it was important to me to be in a place that’s stable and knows how to win, knows how to do it properly,” Mayfield said. “You know, I’ve gotten to see different things from my journey that [are] not exactly how I drew it up. But it’s helped along the way, especially to make a decision like this. And I want to go somewhere that we can win right away, and this is that place.”
In reality, it is a dream landing spot for Mayfield. The team is solid, not great, and he is not lacking in weapons.
He already knows the offensive coordinator has an open mind, and he has an old and lasting bond with the head coach.
Then there’s the guy Mayfield allegedly is competing against for the starting job, Kyle Trask. Joe wouldn’t wager a nickel that it will be an authentic, clean-slate, no-in-house-favorite competition.
March 20th, 2023 at 2:22 pm
I think Trask serving a year as a #2 QB will be a good thing for his overall development. He needs a lot more reps.
March 20th, 2023 at 2:28 pm
I could see us using a 1st or 2nd round pick on a RB
March 20th, 2023 at 2:32 pm
LOL could have fooled us. Tom Brady brought in a winning culture. To a lesser degree Bruce Arians. Neither men are now hands on the controls. Brady is retired and BA is semi retired.
Its up to these guys to keep a winning tradition.
March 20th, 2023 at 2:33 pm
The past three seasons – 32 regular season wins, 2 division championships, 1 NFC championships and a Super Bowl victory…
Not too shabby.
March 20th, 2023 at 2:38 pm
Thank you, Tom Brady. We still have the worse winning percentage in NFL history and now players are referring to us as winning organization. I think that will be Brady’s legacy with the Bucs. He restored respect to an organization after our miserable lost decade.
I hate to make predictions so early, especially before the draft, but if you look at the entirety of the NFC it’s ripe for taking. Any NFC team should be looking around and having some optimism.
March 20th, 2023 at 2:52 pm
Trask starts by game 9
March 20th, 2023 at 2:53 pm
Mayfield is not scared. That reminds me of Brady.
We need to build the best offensive line in the game.
I suggest investing in a 1st round OG/C.
March 20th, 2023 at 2:55 pm
he has obviously not done his homework or watched last years games.
March 20th, 2023 at 2:56 pm
Let’s get baked!!!
March 20th, 2023 at 2:58 pm
and…
Free beer tomorrow
March 20th, 2023 at 2:59 pm
*were* a winning organization…
But hopefully we will be again soon!
March 20th, 2023 at 3:01 pm
If this team can get serious about building strength in the “Trenches” with solid backups and a middle of the pack running game we could be dangerous. Hopefully Jason will draft accordingly.
March 20th, 2023 at 3:06 pm
You got some great receivers Baker. O line will come together. Edmonds still got a lot of track left in him also. Deliver and become King of Tampa Bay baby!!
March 20th, 2023 at 3:08 pm
Mayfield will be the highest paid pine rider-Trask will prove out to be the better QB in camp.
March 20th, 2023 at 3:16 pm
Run ME run !
March 20th, 2023 at 3:21 pm
Please draft a young dual threat quaterback
March 20th, 2023 at 3:36 pm
There is absolutely no reason for there to be “an in house favorite” as Joe pretends. We don’t have a starting quarterback, and we need one. Whoever steps up and performs best will win the job, period. Whether it’s Mayfield or Trask.
Joe just has a hard on for Trask. Hard to figure how, as that is completely unprofessional for a sports journalist. Typical for a mindless fan, but journalists are supposed to be, well, professional, and not opinionated for opinionated’s sake.
March 20th, 2023 at 3:56 pm
Pic looks like Peter Griffin on Family Guy.
March 20th, 2023 at 4:14 pm
Come on…I feel like he is just telling us what we want to hear like some BSS artist
March 20th, 2023 at 4:15 pm
@marine – that is a small snapshot of the overall truth.
Fact: Licht has 3 winning seasons in 9
So much winning.
March 20th, 2023 at 4:16 pm
Duane it’s a head shaker for sure
March 20th, 2023 at 4:25 pm
Only 10 teams have won more Super Bowl games than the Bucs in their history.
Only 3 other teams have 100% Super Bowl appearance wins.
Only 1 other team has played in more than one Super Bowl and never lost.
12 teams have never won a Super Bowl.
4 teams have never even played in one.
As fans, we are disappointed and even disgusted easily, but let’s not forgot that most of us fans have seen 2 Super Bowl wins in our lifetime.
Bucs are winners. Simple as that.
March 20th, 2023 at 4:43 pm
So that was a slam by Baker on someone. Assuming it wasn’t on the Rams. So it was either Cleveland, Carolina or both.
March 20th, 2023 at 4:44 pm
We are America’s Team to loathe. Why you ask?
We live in paradise, have the greatest governor in the country, and the hottest chicks wearing summer clothes year round.
We were winners long before Brady or the Bucs
All you northerners have been flocking here since I was born here in 1968
It’s just now the secret is out 👍👍👍
March 20th, 2023 at 4:45 pm
Bucsfan13, well said. Two Superbowls almost a couple decades apart, with horror before and in between is hardly what I’d call a winning organization. I think we’re on the precipice of another dark age. Crappy NFC south not withstanding.
March 20th, 2023 at 5:36 pm
@optimisticbucfan
Here’s another fact. 6 years into his tenure as GM Jason Licht had turned a perennial loser into a Super Bowl champion.
March 20th, 2023 at 5:47 pm
Redeemer, you know how many fans would give up the left nut to get TWO superbowls? The big score board is NOT regular season wins, it is the hardware that matters. Alot of teams are looking up at the Bucs bro. Like look and Dallas for the past 25 years, Pittsburgh isn’t exactly ready to win the dance and NE is a shell of what it was. Your team is not the crappiest, enjoy being a fan a little ffs.
March 20th, 2023 at 5:49 pm
Redeemer … ‘I think we’re on the precipice of another dark age. Crappy NFC south not withstanding.’
On looking at our current roster, I’d probably agree with you. Except for one thing: it’s still a WORK IN PROGRESS, and because of that there’s always HOPE (hey, it’s all I’ve got to hand onto). Thankfully our first real game of 2023 is still almost 6 months away. A lot will change in that time & any number of players might develop into quality starters & depth.
Bucs main problem right now is that we have no money to fill in the remaining holes (we don’t even have enough to sign our draft picks … yet). Spotrac shows us as being $766K UNDER our adjusted 2023 salary CAP with 55 players under contract (that doesn’t include paying LVD or Gaines yet). Two things leap out when you look at it a little closer:
1 – Bucs’ Dead CAP right now is $73.6 mil (roughly half of which is Tom Brady’s $35 mil CAP hit dating back to last season). To put that in perspective, Bucs lead the league BY FAR in Dead CAP (the next closest ‘competitor’ is Philly with $54.7 mil). The NFL average is $20.3 mil, and only 12 teams are over that. We blew that out of the water.
2 – Bucs have 55 players on our roster right now, BUT … only 35 of those have any real experience it looks like. Assuming that all of those 35 make the roster, we’d still need to add 16 more after LVD & Gaines are added to make the 53 that we need. We’ll probably end up keeping about 6 or 7 of our 9 draft picks, and I’m sure that we’ll add several from the guys on our current roster who don’t have any experience. But that still probably leaves us several short … with no money yet … and with an extremely young (aka inexperienced) roster.
It’s wonderful for folks to say ‘In Licht we trust’, but this mess is the result of some really questionable management decisions in 2022 (not 2020 or 2021). The majority of our $73 mil Dead CAP this year ($52.8 mil) can be traced directly back to adding 5 players last season: Brady, Fournette, Hicks, Mason & Julio. Bowles took the hit for the 8-9 season, but reality IMO is that the team of veterans pulling the wagon were too far over the hill to really do us any good. It’ll take several years now to exit the CAP he11 that’s resulted. Whether we can cobble together enough of a team to win anything substantial in the meantime is anybody’s guess.
March 20th, 2023 at 6:10 pm
I will defer any and all judgement until after the season and let’s see WHAT THE BUCS RECOD SAYS THEY ARE…….last year, they were Losers who backed into the playoffs…….Todd Bowles record says he’s not a very good head coach and last year’s record, well, he managed to have a losing season with TOM BRADY at QB…..speaks volumes…
March 20th, 2023 at 6:11 pm
We might be nearing a dark age. On the other hand, we might be ascending to a new peak. The glass is half full; on the other hand, the glass is half empty.
I know — I love going out on a limb.
March 20th, 2023 at 7:43 pm
Defense, a question. Do you think if they were in a tougher division, would they have used a different approach this off-season? I say yes. You know how these owners covet home playoff games. Imo that’s the goal they’re after. Is it attainable, I doubt it. Just wondering what you think.
Mike C. The cowboys have won 5 superbowls and appeared in 8. You people amaze me sometimes. The Steelers are a benchmark franchise and are competitive nearly every year. Defending the wretched record and ownership here is tantamount to brainlessness. We’re called fans for a reason. That means we care. Blind faith is idiotic. Not sure about you, but I enjoyed winning the last few years. So what if we had to borrow someone else’s quarterback. Jesus Christ
March 20th, 2023 at 8:01 pm
Baker talking baked
March 20th, 2023 at 8:06 pm
Redeemer … I doubt that being in a different division would’ve made any difference personally. Bucs are backed into a corner after our 2022 extravaganza. We had no choice but to let Donovan, Fournette, Brate & Mason walk because we had to clear up that MINUS $58 mil deficit in salary CAP by March 15th just to avoid penalties.
Re-signing Dean wouldn’t have been possible without restructuring a number of contracts (Godwin, Davis, Vea, Jenson, etc) so we really didn’t have any choice there either. Looks to me like there’s really only one more arrow left in the quiver: to give Mike Evans a new contract so we can clear another $15-$20 mil this year to pay for LVD & Gaines, sign some FAs to fill holes, and sign our draft picks. There are only so many ways you can skin the cat (cats don’t like that expression I’m told).
March 20th, 2023 at 8:23 pm
Defense, I get your reasoning. I would’ve let LF, Mason and brate walk regardless. Don’t forget, extending Evans will leave dead money at the end also. I’m conflicted defense. Giving Lenny that deal was a mistake then. They should’ve let him sign with the Patriots, which I believe would’ve facilitated a trade for Damian Harris. Idk. It’s my firm belief that think they can win a bad division. I would have taken a much more heavy hand to clear the books. I did like and was very surprised at the dean signing. Imo he could have gotten multiple millions more on the market.
March 20th, 2023 at 8:54 pm
Redeemer … The fact that nothing’s been done yet with Mike Evans gets me wondering if maybe he doesn’t want a new deal. Maybe he thinks he can do better elsewhere (Bucs don’t exactly have a ton of money to throw his way).
Unless we give him a new contract though, we’re screwed. How else are we gonna get under the CAP enough to (1) pay for LVD & Gaines; (2) sign at least a half dozen quality FAs we’ll need just to field a halfway respectable team; and (3) sign our draft picks?
There are 2 more possibilities that COULD be done, but I have my doubts that the Bucs want to move in that direction. One is to sign White to a long-term contract, but that’d be devastating to next year & beyond (assuming he holds firm to his $20 mil a year notion) because that’d be a big can to kick down the road. The other is to do a new contract for Carlton Davis to clear some CAP $$$, but since he’s already restructured, his CAP hit isn’t that large anyways ($7.5 mil) so the gain ends up being minimal.
Humorous (?) thing is that the Bucs can’t even cut anyone to save $$$ (except for Succop) because all the high $$$ guys also have high associated Dead CAPs. Even trades wouldn’t help enough. Nope, we’re screwed. It’s just a question now of how well these coaches can get a few high talent players & a LOT of meh talent guys to come together as a team this year. Todd Bowles & company certainly have their work cut out for them.
March 20th, 2023 at 10:45 pm
Baker being Baker
Backhanded shots at the Browns and Panthers
Come on man.
You’re no victim. You got picked #1 and then got a lifeline in Carolina.
March 20th, 2023 at 11:08 pm
I wish only the best for this team. I do think they can be successful…but not with Baker as starting QB. Not a chance.
How anyone could believe differently is beyond me. Baker has already had plenty of chances and blew every one of them.
Even if we emd up with the best offensive ine in the NFL, he’ll blow it. Lots of picks. Lots of batted-down passes. Lots of big talk with no results.
He calls himself a leader…yet his teams wanted him gone.
We had better hope Trask pulls a Tom Brady and refuses to let Baker get that starting spot. Otherwise, we’re looking at some bad football this year.