Another Team (The Panthers) Chasing Baker Mayfield
April 28th, 2025
Joe and Sage of Tampa Bay sports columnist Ira Kaufman wrote earlier about the Falcons’ going wild using two first-round picks on edge rushers last week after signing accomplished edge rusher Leonard Floyd in free agency.
Even bad teams like Atlanta know winning division titles is typically a key to success, so getting to Baker Mayfield through Bucs offensive tackles Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke has to be a goal.
The Panthers are in a similar boat. Even with Jadeveon Clowney on their roster and Patrick Jones (7 sacks last season) signed in free agency, the Panthers drafted edge rushers with their second- and third-round picks. They also paid a handsome price to move up in the the third round to get their guy, Princely Umanmeilen out of Ole Miss.
You think the Bucs’ division rivals are making those moves if the Bucs’ offensive line isn’t loaded? It’s not a coincidence.
Carolina Panthers 2025 NFL Draft Picks
Round 1: No. 8 – Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona
Round 2: No. 51 (from DEN) – Nic Scourton, EDGE, Texas A&M
Round 3: No. 77 (from ATL via NE) – Princely Umanmielen, EDGE, Ole Miss
Round 4: No. 114 (from DAL) – Trevor Etienne, RB, Georgia
Round 4: No. 122 (from DEN) – Lathan Ransom, S, Ohio State
Round 5: No. 140 (from NYG) – Cam Jackson, DT, Florida
Round 5: No. 163 (from BAL) – Mitchell Evans, TE, Notre Dame
Round 6: No. 208 (from PHI via DEN) – Jimmy Horn Jr., WR, Colorado
April 28th, 2025 at 10:15 am
Does anybody ever really worry about Atlanta? Raheem is a Clown and will be exposed as such eventually. Go BUCS!!
April 28th, 2025 at 10:20 am
Other teams saw Philly’s Blueprint and tried to copy it while Licht is trying to field the 99 Rams offense
April 28th, 2025 at 10:26 am
Acting like there is one blueprint in the NFL to win is stupid.
Philly blueprint after losing 7 of their last 8 in 2023, was to draft two cornerbacks in the 1st two rounds.
Looks like the Bucs were closer to Philly’s blueprint in the draft last year than many of those other teams.
The truth is that in the NFL, there are many ways to win. There is not one simple formula.
How many years have the Joe’s prioritized trying to get one of the top edge guys?
How many Super Bowls for Joey and Nick Bosa, Hendrickson, Mack, Watt, etc.
Lots of ways to win.
BTW — we match up well against Philly.
April 28th, 2025 at 10:29 am
@ Truth be Told
I don’t know about that. If memory serves our Bucs got swept last year by Atlanta. I think it would be wise to take them seriously. Just like any other team in the NFL.
April 28th, 2025 at 10:30 am
Atl beat us last year and both Atl and Carolina just got better. Hope Walker and Roberts turn out to be steals in the draft. Think Morrison was also a good pick, now we just need Bowles to play more press coverages.
April 28th, 2025 at 10:36 am
When do the “Fire Bowles” trolls return from hiberbnation?
April 28th, 2025 at 10:48 am
I remember saying to myself all last year (and a couple times here on JBF.com) not to discount the Panthers.
Their overall season didn’t turn out that well, but Bryce Young started coming on strong at the end of the season. I personally think that with a solid O-Line and a couple of good offensive weapons, he’ll demonstrate why he was such a high draft pick.
Atlanta gave us a run for our money last year, as well. Both in our two individual match-ups and for the division title.
We had a great draft this year, but we can’t rest on our laurels.
Our offense is going to have to play at the same level it did last year and our O-line in particular will need to step up a notch to better protect Baker.
Our defense is going to have to up its game by several levels overall.
While I think we drafted better than Atlanta and Carolina, it’s obvious they drafted with an eye toward knocking us out of first place in the NFC South. They were not thinking “rebuild” with the way they drafted.
Like I said, we can still take the division this year (and more), but we can’t be complacent.
April 28th, 2025 at 10:54 am
Generally , I believe this was an extremely impressive draft class, a lot of quality players , maybe because of the extra year of covid eligibility , but a lot of teams , (on paper), improved themselves quite a bit. This coming season should be really interesting with a lot of surprises.
April 28th, 2025 at 11:01 am
Atlanta has our number lately even without those edge rushers, and with subpar QB’s. We always play down to Atl’s level, unfortunately.
We are a far better team and roster in my view, but they beat our a$$ twice last year (mainly because of Bowles’ crappy D). So, hopefully we are better this year.
April 28th, 2025 at 11:03 am
NO should be easy wins (if Bowles has finally figured out why his D sucked, like he says he has), but Atl and Car are gonna be dogfights.
April 28th, 2025 at 11:11 am
I don’t think the changes Bowles is making has anything to do with THE RIGHT PLAYER.
I think Bowles needs to rotate post snap better.
Cousins had a hole in mind every pre snap and threw the ball quickly.
I say Cousins because those 2 Atl games were outliers for him.
He sucked the rest of the year.
I trust Bowles and our defense will look wicked if he is right.
April 28th, 2025 at 11:13 am
NFC South definitely is. Quietly I think we have gotten the best pass rusher with David Walker. Time will tell, but while from a small school he held his own at the Senior Bowl
April 28th, 2025 at 11:20 am
For someone to suggest Atlanta has our number is just not accurate.
Bucs swept Atlanta in 2021, split in 22, split in 23, and got swept in 24(with the help of a famous non fumble that was a fumble). So Bucs record against Atlanta over the last 4 seasons is 4-4.
Divisional games are always hard fought and tight by nature due to the added importance and I do not expect that to change , but what I do expect to change is the Bucs pass defense will improve , therefore giving Bucs the edge.
April 28th, 2025 at 11:27 am
There is only 1 way to win in any league: score 1 more point than your opponent. I am curious to know what Bowels was talking about when he said he figured out something on defense that needed to be fixed. I believe our defense will be much improved if only because of health, that killed us.
April 28th, 2025 at 11:31 am
The league trends. RBs again have value. Edge is bigger than ever. Character is a prime consideration. And love for football.
Just stop changing the rules and kickoffs and making a sneeze an illegal hit.
April 28th, 2025 at 11:33 am
Atlanta and Carolina have improved, but so have the Bucs. Morrison is a legitimate lockdown corner, arguably the best in this class. He shut down Marvin Harrison Jr. when they played; watch the tape. He’s a top-10 talent, and without the injuries, he and Walker were steals. I wasn’t as high on Parrish as the Bucs were—I had him rated a round lower—but if they trust him on the outside, he’s also a steal.
Don’t get me started on Walker, though—it’s honestly embarrassing that we got him so late. Watch the Senior Bowl. If you’ve been watching football for any length of time, by the end of the game, you’ll be wondering, “Who is this Walker guy? He’s lighting it up.”
I swear Bassa would have been a steal in the 5th round; he’s a 3rd-round talent in a non-COVID draft. Then, to get Tez in the 7th round is insane—he’s way too athletic to go that late, regardless of how fast he ran. Remember, Bucky was also considered “slow,” but the 40-yard dash is more of a metric to gauge whether a player can score once he’s in the open field. Acceleration is different from speed, and both Tez and Egbuka have it in spades, along with crisp route running, shifty ankles, and a high football IQ. As someone already mentioned, he’s Bo Nix’s adopted brother.
This is a great draft, but I feel we only missed on Bassa because the Chiefs traded up to steal him from us. That one stings. Also, we missed out on Thor Griffith as a free agent. He’s going to be good, but didn’t get on the field due to NIL money and promises to recruits. When he did play, he was rated as highly as Walter Nolen, the Ole Miss DT, who is a first-rounder. Griffith excelled in both pass rush and run stop ratings accordingto pff, so I’m not sure how he hasn’t been signed yet. He only got an invite to Seattle, but mark my words, he’s going to make the league take notice.
April 28th, 2025 at 11:56 am
All this talk a lot of y’all do and we haven’t even made it to the NFC Championship yet. Get to the NFC Championship then talk your talk about how the bucs is so great and every one else is trash. We can barely win in a trash division. The truth is the truth I want my bucs to be a dominant team that dominates this division and not take all 17 games to win a trash division.
April 28th, 2025 at 12:12 pm
The Panthers seemed to have learned the lesson that Tampa Bay just refuses to acknowledge. The quickest way to shut down an offense is by applying pressure on the QB.
April 28th, 2025 at 1:15 pm
Oneil… agree to a point. I want us to own the div as well. We shouldn’t have lost a division game last year much less get swept by Atl… but we had key injuries that made it tougher. When we were MOSTLY healthy we beat the Lions and Eagles… so there’s that.
Drdneast … I don’t think TB refuses to acknowledge anything. 1/3 of their draft went to edge rushers and 1/3 went to CBs. Those positions play off each other by helping apply that pressure on QBs. We just didn’t give up picks and reach for our 4 new draftees like other teams in the NFC south did.
April 28th, 2025 at 1:22 pm
“Todd Says:
April 28th, 2025 at 10:36 am
When do the “Fire Bowles” trolls return from hiberbnation?”
When Bowles insists on dropping Hassan Reddick into coverage rather than sending him to mangle the opposing QB.
April 28th, 2025 at 1:27 pm
I thought this as well, they both drafted two edge’s trying to get sacks on us LOL
April 28th, 2025 at 1:58 pm
@GENO
It’s insights like this that make you one of my favorite posters.
“Acting like there is one blueprint in the NFL to win is stupid.”
And you did a good job laying out the evidence to back that statement!
April 28th, 2025 at 2:06 pm
Chasing Baker Mayfield. If the line was doing such a great job why was Mayfield top 10 in getting sacked the most? If he had such a nice experience in the pocket why did he lead the league in INT’s.
If you are not willing to throw the line under the bus then you have to say the Lil B needs to step it up going forward.
Carolina has no where to go but up. Unless you believe that they like giving up over 400 yards a game on defense and getting gouged for 180 yards rushing. sure lets stay here at the bottom for the next decade. Panthers gave up over 200 yards 8 times in 2024 and were a couple yards from being 10. Only played the Bucs twice.
Canales is building to beat the Rams, Seahawks, 49ers, Cardinals, Dolphins, Jets, Patriots, and Bills in 2025. If they win 5 of those they will have plenty of juice to compete in the NFCS. Only 5 wins in 2024 but closer to 8 than 2.
April 28th, 2025 at 2:22 pm
the other guy is getting better too. i cant see a big differential as much as i like our guys.
what i like is more basic. we have a mostly proven staff that mostly got the players they wanted.
April 28th, 2025 at 2:25 pm
If Bowles doesn’t start dialing up pressure—press man, heat off the edge, and let the dogs *eat*—I’ll be the first yelling *fire him* even if we’re winning. Enough of elite offense carrying a soft, bend-but-don’t-break defense. Or maybe we stop calling him a defensive coach—his offense has been the better unit for years.
This draft made one thing clear to me: we’re here to win 35–28. Fine, but don’t give up 30 every week and call it “good enough.” Now, we’ve got Reddick, YaYa, Hall, Elijah, Walker, Braswell, Vea, and Kancey coming full force. And in the secondary? Izen, Winfield Jr., Smith, McCollum, Morrison, Parrish, Dean, and all those press corners and safetys should be a nightmare for opposing receivers. With all that talent, we should *absolutely* be running press-man coverage all day long.
We’ve got the bodies. We’ve got the attitude. Now let ‘em hunt.
Bowles, if you’re reading this (you’re probably not) to me it’s simple: let the dogs eat. Press man coverage, dial up the heat, and let Reddick, YaYa, Walker, Hall, Elijah, Vea, Kancey, and our press corners wreck QBs days. Enough of soft defenses—this team has the firepower to win 35–10. Let’s hunt for a Super Bowl. 🏴☠️ GO BUCS!! LFG!!
April 28th, 2025 at 2:38 pm
Josh … ‘Also, we missed out on Thor Griffith as a free agent. He’s going to be good. When he did play, he was rated as highly as Walter Nolen, the Ole Miss DT, who is a first-rounder. Griffith excelled in both pass rush and run stop ratings according to pff.’
Bucs lost our playoff game against the Commanders because our defense couldn’t stop them when it counted. We lost several other games for the same reason. But it’s NOT just caving in on the last drive; it was also how poorly we did on stopping 4th down conversions. Making those conversions keeps drives alive, and that most often results in points scored. Bummer.
On the season, the Bucs defense allowed opponents to convert a whopping 19-of-30 attempted 4th down conversions on the season, PLUS another 3-for-5 by Washington in the playoffs. That’s horrendous, and there’s a reason for it: We sucked at stopping them on the short stuff. We haven’t had a year that bad since back in the Mike Smith days.
But it’s even worse than allowing 19-for-30 last year because we did much worse in our losses. Not being able to shut down opponents in our losses killed us (duh). Opponents in our 7 losses attempted 10 of the 4th down conversions … and made 8 of them (80%). Add in the playoff loss (Commanders went 3-for-5), and in our losses opponents made 11-for-15 … 73.3% of their 4th down conversions … almost 3 out of every 4).
The percentage is obviously ridiculously high, but it’s what that percentage translates into that really counts … POINTS. Those 4th down conversions … 11 successful … kept 9 drives alive, and resulted in 55 POINTS (7 TDs and 2 FGs). And those 55 points cost us BIG-TIME in those 8 losses (to include the playoff loss).
So the BIG question becomes … Will our Bucs do appreciably better this season at stopping those 4th down conversions considering the changes we’ve made in talent? Obviously only ‘time will tell’ but i sure would’ve been a lot more confident with TWO Vita Vea’s out there instead of ONE on those 4th downs.
And BTW, it wasn’t JUST our passing game that sucked in those 4th down conversion situation; our run defense did too. Even more-so BTW. Our run defense gave up 4 TDs & 1 FG in those 4th down conversion situations, while our pass defense gave up 3 TDs & 1 FG. One of the key reasons that I’m such an advocate for MORE BEEF (to much better deal with 4th down conversions for one thing).
April 28th, 2025 at 2:46 pm
Ah I love this. It’s like another fish swam in to get shot in the JBF barrel.
“Chasing Baker Mayfield. If the line was doing such a great job why was Mayfield top 10 in getting sacked the most? If he had such a nice experience in the pocket why did he lead the league in INT’s.”
Wow a perfect example of some of the negative nellies here. “lead the league in ints.” Yep he TIED Kirk Cousins for that honor! Of course Kirk played in 3 fewer games. That’s one int ahead Geno Smith! EIGHT other QB’s were only 4 ints behind him with 12. Of course some of them also did not play the same number of games.
As usual it only took Fameis 12 games to reach that 12 mark, Brock Purdy did it in only 15 games, Anthony Richardson matched JW’s achievement with 12 in 12 games. There are more examples, bottom line, Baker’s number was not THAT out of line especially when you consider…
That same OL protected well enough for Baker to complete FORTY ONE TD PASSES!!! That’s just two behind the “great” Joe Burrows and tied with “legendary” Lamar Jackson!!! It’s 13 more than Josh Allen and Aaron Rodgers and FIFTEEN more than the best QB in the league Mahomes!!!
That same OL also gave the Bucs the 5th ranked rushing team.
I don’t know why guys want to work soooo very hard to find fault where there is none!! Do these guys consider themselves Bucs fans. Was it an honest mistake?
April 28th, 2025 at 3:22 pm
Fan of the South. You’re funny. Sometimes dummies are funny. stpetebucsfan, let’s defend those sack numbers a different way. In the 2024 regular season Mayfield was sacked 41 times. Caleb Williams 68 sacks, CJ Stroud63, Sam Darnold 57, Hurts51, Daniels 51, Geno Smith50, Joe Burrow 48, Patrick Mahommes 47, Herbert 45. Fan of the South. You lost all credibility with me along time ago. Stupid Stat manipulation and you’ll have lost all credibility with anyone who knows a lick about football.
April 28th, 2025 at 3:37 pm
Exactly — Defense Rules! Hopefully, Desmond Watson isn’t just a publicity signing because he’s over 400 pounds. While Watson may not have standout tape, his physical traits and coachable aspects offer potential for development. The 6-foot-6, 464-pound defensive tackle from the University of Florida impressed scouts with his athleticism during his pro day. He bench-pressed 225 pounds 36 times — the highest at the Combine — and ran a 5.93-second 40-yard dash, showcasing surprising speed for his size. A 250-pound linebacker would need to run a 40-yard dash in approximately 4.35 seconds to generate the same kinetic energy. Someone can check my math; I think that’s right.
Similarly, Sanders’ speed and experience across multiple programs could translate well. Personally, I hope Shilo Sanders pans out as well — we could use another safety. Hopefully, he’s better than people think, and getting out from under his dad’s and brother’s shadow helps him become the player he’s capable of being.
At 6 feet, 195 pounds, he ran a 4.52-second 40-yard dash at Colorado’s pro day. He recorded 67 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, and two fumble recoveries in his final season at Colorado, despite missing three games due to a forearm injury.
He’s not slow or a bad player; he just had that LaVar Ball factor, where it’s like, is he worth the drama?