PFF Tribe: Baker Mayfield Barely Above Average
May 23rd, 2025
The PFF tribe weighs in.
The drums have sounded and have since gone quiet. The PFF tribe has spoken.
The unquestioned arbiters and gatekeepers of the game have ruled: Baker Mayfield is barely an above-average quarterback.
Barely.
If one considers average to be perfectly in the middle, then Mayfield is just a hair above average. Noted football sophist John Kosko of the PFF tribe decided to rank each and every starting quarterback in the league.
Kosko has Mayfield in Tier 3B, ranked at No. 13.
Mayfield has pulled off a remarkable career turnaround. After bouncing back in 2023, he delivered the best season of his career in 2024. He’ll now be working with his third offensive coordinator in three years in Tampa Bay — and his fifth since 2022 — but the struggles of 2021-2022 feel firmly in the rearview mirror. His 2024 campaign also featured one of the wildest plays of the season, completing a pass with one of the league’s top pass rushers [San Francisco’s Nick Bosa] draped all over him.
Above-average isn’t a horrible ranking for Mayfield. But Joe would take Mayfield over Geno Smith (No. 10). And Joe could easily be talked into taking Mayfield over Justin Herbert (No. 8).
Joe’s a big fan of Herbert but he may be a bit overhyped. In a head-to-head matchup last fall in Los Angeles, Mayfield smoked Herbert.
Joe would also take Mayfield over Jordan Love (No. 12) for the same reason. In December 2023 on the frozen tundra in Green Bay, Mayfield easily outdueled Love in the winter elements Florida teams loathe and the Packers eagerly embrace.
No, Joe doesn’t think above-average is a bad placement for Mayfield. Joe could easily see Mayfield at No. 10, though.
May 23rd, 2025 at 8:10 am
The fact that Mahomes is #1 tells you all you need to know about their rankings.
May 23rd, 2025 at 8:31 am
I love bulletin board material like this, forward this to Bake.
May 23rd, 2025 at 8:49 am
Mayfield has pluses and minuses.
The positive outweighs the negative, but just barely.
20-17 is his record as a Bucs QB including playoffs.
And in the worst division in football.
I’d say their evaluation is spot on.
May 23rd, 2025 at 9:08 am
Baker is a B\B+ talent with A++ intangibles.
GO BUCS
May 23rd, 2025 at 9:13 am
Well Joe, IMHO Baker is going to be the league MVP this coming season remember what I say MVP 2025
May 23rd, 2025 at 9:18 am
He’s better than Love, Purdy, Smith, Stafford at this point of his career, and Hurts (The Eagles as a team won that Super Bowl, not because of Hurts). I’d put him neck and neck with Goff.
May 23rd, 2025 at 9:19 am
Mahomes is definitely the ultimate clutch player, but hard to give him number 1 just based on years past. He had no real weapons, a shody O line and their defense had more to do with their record than years past. He is probably still the best but his pedestrian numbers don’t give much to go by.
This tie if ranking is as useless as draft grades, power rankings and strength of schedule for 2025. Based on Baker’s stats, he’s closer to top 5 than middle of the pack. This is his year to prove he’s a top QB. If our 2024 pass defense is even middle of the road, his pass stats are 10-15% better with more drive opportunities.
May 23rd, 2025 at 9:24 am
The Athletic podcast said he was the 19th ranked QB, which is just lunacy.
May 23rd, 2025 at 9:34 am
On that list, Baker should be #6. Purdy? Geno? Goff? Stafford? Nah. And Jayden Daniels had one good year. Let’s see what happens.
May 23rd, 2025 at 9:42 am
I would have him higher but the turnovers last year are the real turnoff.
Maybe they all arent his fault but sometimes when you gamble you lose. You cant tie for the league lead in turnovers and expect people doing ratings to just ignore them.
I think Baker is perfectly capable of joe burrow type numbers if he has healthy targets and now more targets, and that includes lowering the INTs
May 23rd, 2025 at 9:43 am
Not sure why anyone pays attention to what these “experts” allege. Here is what we know for sure. Mayfield has thrown for more TD passes in the last two years combined than any other QB. Mayfield had a year last year that only 4QB’s in NFL history have achieved. Greater than 40 TD passes, greater than 70% comp percentage, and greater than 4500 passing yards is not the stuff of an average QB. Ask Mayfield’s receivers if they think he is “average.” The PFF data is biased no matter what anyone says. There is a high degree of subjectivity that goes into those ratings.
May 23rd, 2025 at 9:55 am
Baker is the QB1 of the soon to SB Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Once that is accomplished all the pre season BS fake news hype will vanish like farts in the wind
They will then spend the next off season explaining all the non QB reasons the Bucs won,
Sick of the brainless muscle mouths of the fake news always damning Baker with faint praise and Baker gives it back to them with every win and TD pass. Oh yeah he has managed to throw more TD passes than every guy on the list since the beginning of 2023.
Not bad for a so called 3tierB mediocre ranking.
Who do you think is right?
May 23rd, 2025 at 10:01 am
F them they thought Brederson was horrible. By the way, how many of Baker’s picks were thrown because he basically had no choice? I know he’s ended a few games with picks when he was out of chances and had to float a ball up above Mike or whatever. How many were his fault were any on target but still picks? I don’t know where to look up ‘expected picks’ vs. actual ones
May 23rd, 2025 at 10:24 am
Two quarterbacks in Bucs history succeeded with an honorable mention for Doug Williams long ago… Brady and Brad Johnson. Baker either wins a title or he’s solidly in group of forgotten Bucs QBs like Jeff Garcia or Steve DeBurg that didn’t win a title. He was a number one pick and has a world beating offense and a serviceable D. No excuses.
May 23rd, 2025 at 10:25 am
Rank him wherever you like! I’m glad he’s the Buc QB! On any given day, with the offense he has at his disposal, he can put up 30+ points!! Now if the defense can find a way to get off the field on 3rd and 4th downs, this team can compete for the Lombardi! Bring on September! Seeing is believing!
May 23rd, 2025 at 10:26 am
No Issue
The order of 9-16 is just personal preference.
I agree with 1-8 rated above the rest.
May 23rd, 2025 at 10:28 am
If he’s not the best QB in the league he’s close to it. If I’m building a team he’d be my QB pick. Voted the best college QB of the century by Sports Illustrated. 3 years from now he’ll be considered the best QB in the NFL. First ballot hall of famer no doubt. I’ve watched him for 11 years- 1 at Texas Tech, 3 at Oklahoma, and 7 NFL seasons. Not another QB alive could do what he did in Cleveland. Not a QB alive could have followed Brady like he has. Super Bowls, starting this year and dominating this league for the next 6 or 7 seasons as these Bucs are destined to do, oughta get him recognized for who he is. One of the top 10 in the history of this game. And they wonder if he’s a current top 10.
May 23rd, 2025 at 10:45 am
Baker Mayfield could throw 60 tuddies and 20 INT’s and still be labeled average LOL
May 23rd, 2025 at 10:56 am
These are the SAME PEOPLE that said “old washed up” would NEVER start in an NFL game again!!! Well well well, he exposed their talent or lack thereof really painfully.
May 23rd, 2025 at 11:06 am
Starting this year, Baker could match Otto Graham’s run, (10 straight championship games/winning 7 of them) and he would still be thought of as average. Watching/listening to all the so-called ‘Experts’ try and erase and change their narrative, to ‘I knew he was elite, blah, blah, blah, would be fun. Too bad Emily probably won’t let him play that long, so we’ll never know.
May 23rd, 2025 at 11:11 am
Love the disrespect it fuels him!! Only visiting QB at Lanbeau with a perfect passer rating. He’s the real deal.
May 23rd, 2025 at 11:20 am
Chargers went 11-6 in a Division where the top 3 teams were 36-15 70.5%
Packers went 11-6 in a Division where the top 3 teams went 40-11 78.4%
Bucs went 10-7 in a Division where the top three went 23-28 45.9%
Shooting 62 at mini golf does not put you in the same class as a Scottie Sheffler.
Jim Harbaugh career win percentage @ .6875 and Matt LaFleur @ .6750 probably didn’t even answer the call when Mayfield’s Agent was shopping him around. Obviously not many did.
May 23rd, 2025 at 11:25 am
Yeah, we also seem to overlook that when Baker threw that 1000-yard pass to Mike, he also threw his 4500 yards passing!
May 23rd, 2025 at 11:29 am
Wins are not a QB stat.
May 23rd, 2025 at 11:44 am
Anyone that thinks Baker is average or there about, can’t look at the big picture. Meaning, his first 5 years were spent in a totally dysfunctional organization with loser coaches that today are not coaches.
If you can look at information and deduct an outcome based on that information you realize this is true. For instance, when you look at the groups that make up an offense as, the OL, WR, and RB and look at what each group has been ranked for the 7 years Baker has been in the league, it is abundantly clear he has been at a severe disadvantage as compared to the other top 6 quarterbacks, Lamar J, Joe B, Patrick M, Jared G, Jalen H, and Josh A. Jalen Hurt is the most spoiled of all. Those 3 groups that make up an offense in the Eagles case have been ranked consistently best of the 7 for the last 3 years. His OL has been ranked 4th, 1st, & 1st. His WR have been 2nd, 2nd & 4th. Joe B WR have been ranked 1st, 1st & 1st. When Brady was her his WR were 2, 1 & 1 while his OL was 4, 1, & 5. Since Baker has been here his OL has been ranked19 & 14 while the WR were 10 & 10. The point being, when all those “rankings” are figured into the equation, Baker has consistently been on the short end of the talent stick. While those who are either too ignorant or too lacking in gray matter to come to any intelligent conclusion about the significance of that stick, yap on and on at every turn about how Baker fumbled or Baker threw an interception or Baker was huffing paint on the sidelines that cost us the game. Playing on teams that are short on talent hurt a quarterbacks chances of being considered a winning quarterback. Some are lucky and end up on talent rich teams and great coaching. Some end up sucking the hind tit and no amount of talent at qb can overcome a team with low talent.
This is Bakers 3rd year. He is figuring this is his team and he is going to come out guns blazing at that first Atlanta game. There will be no denying the way this season is going to go, so get ready for a great show.
May 23rd, 2025 at 12:45 pm
I’m comfortable with the assessment as well, adding in the intangibles and the surrounding talent, he’s probably closer to 10 – which is where he should be ranked.
Knowing what you have, and building talent around a QB that has proven capable, minimizing those things he’s not good at, maximizing his strengths, is kind of what the NFL does. The offense is not the problem with Baker. We’ve now addressed the defensive weakness. We have a window we didn’t have with any other FA/draft pick available to us at the time.
You can rate Baker anyway you want, I’m exceedingly happy we have him.
May 23rd, 2025 at 12:54 pm
Oh keep giving him chips to put on his shoulder ,,, he always plays better !
And yes , Proud, I too believe and put my money on Baker as MVP,, I also put a little on a Bucs/Bills Super Bowl ,,, I would take Bake above most ,,, and you guys keep saying cause he is in worst division ,,, let’s not forget (and I’m a Tom guy) Brady was in a division w the Sux Bill, Dolphins (do the jets count) all those years starting 6-0 out of the shoot (maybe 5-1 at worst as the Fish got them a few times)
May 23rd, 2025 at 1:11 pm
I was surprised they didn’t have Kirk Cousins on top with Burrows and Mahomes.
Baker should be above Stafford. If we are going by last year, he should at least be number 6 or 7.
May 23rd, 2025 at 1:25 pm
I pray that Mayfield doesn’t read this article. We can see Todd Bowles has the personnel to field a top 5 defense.
The best defense is a syrong run game. There are signs that Godwin has experienced a set back. If the Bucs are serious about making a run at the SB. They must commit to running 15, 10, 10 times a game.
On the outside we still have Evans and JMac.
Inside we have Mr. OS, Otton, Culp, Payne and White.
A really good OC should be changing the plan of attack every week. Aim at the opponents weakness and don’t let up.
The defense is totally repaired, however they continue to beat on David and Dennis which is a mistake. If Dennis stays healthy and David doesn’t get hurt, this is one of the best teams in the league.
You must keep Baker playing from the front. That’s why defense is critical.
May 23rd, 2025 at 1:26 pm
Teams QBs I would poach …. Bills , Bengals, KC, Houston , maybe Washington ,,maybe Chicago,,,, that’s about it ,,, I like where we are at ,,, for our particular team guys like Goff, Stafford type wouldn’t survive the year and can’t run or move ,,, considering the big 3 are in the afc ,,, we may be really well positioned
May 23rd, 2025 at 1:27 pm
😂😂😂😂😂 Thank you you incentivizing Baker even more! That’s all I got!
May 23rd, 2025 at 1:38 pm
Lightningvinny, the only sensible QBs to poach would be the Commanders and Bears-Stroud isn’t near as good as Baker and the other guys are as old and not any better. I’d say Daniels and Williams would be the guys if we were in the poaching market!
May 23rd, 2025 at 2:17 pm
People think it’s the OC’s that make the offense hum like it does. They do help for sure but Baker has always been high octain. When he was at Oklahoma they averaged 45 point for 3 years!! In a game against Texas Tech and Mahomes Baker threw for 7 touchdowns and almost 600 yards. Between him and Mahomes they threw for 1,706 yards, almost a mile in one game. It is still the record for single game yards. We averaged 29 points last year and think it was great. I can tell you Baker isn’t happy with 29. It is exactly why Dan Quinn knew he had to keep the ball out of Bakers hands. This year hopefully the defense won’t let that happen. Baker will turn up the intensity from last year scoring more points and winning more games.
May 23rd, 2025 at 2:44 pm
I’m glad they are gifting him something to feel slighted by. He seems to need that and when he doesn’t have it he invents it and his inventions haven’t always been helpful.
May 23rd, 2025 at 3:24 pm
Looking at their list, they have both Brock, Goff and Geno Smith ahead of Baker, which is ridiculous. They also have Stafford above him, and at this point in his career, I’d take Baker. I would not, however, put Herbert below Baker, Justin is in a terrible scheme, and if Baker played in that offense, he’d be out of the NFL right now – meanwhile put Herbert in the Bucs scheme with all these weapons, and he’d be a legit MVP candidate.
Also I’d take Baker over Hurts, who is incredibly overrated. He’s a guy on another loaded offense, who doesn’t really do anything very well.
So for all the Baker Boi(s) who get triggered when I say Baker isn’t the best QB in the NFL, and point out how he’s collapsed under pressure in the last two playoff games and turned the ball over in key situations in the 4th quarter – I actually do defend Baker when he’s being unfairly targeted. However, I’m also not an insane sycophant and I actually know what I’m watching, and how incredible the Coen scheme was last year – and what a huge hit the team may take if Grizz believes all the ‘genius’ hype and changes things up.