Baker Mayfield Was Strong When Needed
June 28th, 2025
Consistently sharp in 2024.
For quarterbacks who played in more than 11 games last year, only Jared Goff was better than Baker Mayfield.
That is, in completion percentage.
Goff led the league (for quarterbacks who played in more than 11 games) in completion percentage at 72.4. Joe thinks that’s strong for a guy who doesn’t throw short a lot. Mayfield was second with a career-high 71.4 completion percentage. Tua Tagovailoa, who only played in 11 games, led starting quarterbacks with a 72.9 completion percentage.
And when the Bucs neared the goal line, Mayfield’s completion percentage stayed high.
Per handicapper-turned-stathead Warren Sharp, Mayfield ranked third in the league in goal-to-go situations in completion percentage. Mayfield connected on 65 percent of his throws in goal-to-go plays.
Mayfield was tied with Bo Nix.
The only two quarterbacks better than Mayfield in those situations were Saint Lamar Jackson (69 percent) and Jordan Love (68 percent).
So it didn’t matter where the ball was placed last year for Mayfield. He connected with his receivers consistently well.
Will this continue in 2025 with yet another new offensive coordinator for Mayfield?
completion rate on goal-to-go passes:
69% – Lamar Jackson
68% – Jordan Love
65% – Bo Nix
65% – Baker Mayfield
63% – Jalen Hurts
63% – Patrick Mahomes
59% – Jared Goff
58% – Dak Prescott
57% – Aaron Rodgers
56% – C.J. Stroud
55% – Sam Darnold
55% – Brock Purdy
54% – Joe Burrow…— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) June 25, 2025
June 28th, 2025 at 12:46 am
HELL YEA !
June 28th, 2025 at 12:55 am
This speaks to his ball placement in a shorter, goal to go field. Looks at how hard Goff fell when he got close to pay dirt. I’d take Baker over Goff all day!
June 28th, 2025 at 12:58 am
He’s also been my fantasy QB the last couple of years and it has paid dividends. I know how much you love Fantasy Joe 😊
June 28th, 2025 at 1:28 am
Ha! 😆
June 28th, 2025 at 6:59 am
Needs to cut down just a little on the pics.
He makes so many plays with his feet to compensate.
Lamar Mayfield
June 28th, 2025 at 7:30 am
Lamar Jackson is so overrated.
June 28th, 2025 at 7:35 am
So leaky defense,was the problem?
June 28th, 2025 at 8:06 am
I’m expectig big things from Baker this season. Second year with the same offense, same O line, added two receivers, one a first rounder. Baker is also hitting his prime years as a QB. If everyone stays relitively healthy, Baker will be a top three QB, good enough to win a superbowl.
June 28th, 2025 at 8:07 am
Jeff. You tripping bro I know you love Baker Mayfield and you may think he’s a hall of famer. But to say that about Larmar Jackson is just crazy 🤣🤣. Baker Mayfield has never been even considered has a MVP candidate. Larmar Jackson won it twice and at least got to a conference championship game. Baker Mayfield hasn’t done none of that yet I hope he does but come on bro if that TE wouldn’t have drop the ball he would have been right back in a conference championship game. And let’s be honest if you give Jackson the weapons Baker Mayfield has he would have been in the Superbowl and more likely win it . Larmar Jackson don’t have the receivers Baker Mayfield has . His best receiver will be a slot receivers on our offense. To be honest Baker Mayfield is so overrated on this site. And Larmar Jackson would have beaten Washington in that situation. He would have closed that game out.
June 28th, 2025 at 8:12 am
Baker was the 5th leading FF player in the league last year, had no idea (4th among qb’s, behind Lamar, Josh, Burrow)
June 28th, 2025 at 8:17 am
I’d say Lamar Jackson was overrated early on. He turned out to be a pretty good quarterback in the pocket and still able to use his feet when needed. He doesn’t rely on his feet which is a huge change. I think Lamar’s big criticism is the postseason. His stats in the postseason aren’t nearly as good as the regular season. But then some of that is on the team in general. Lamar is still top three. Would have loved to have played the Ravens last year when we were at full strength, like the first couple games of the season. We weren’t able to hang as it was. The Broncos blew us out inexplicably but the next worst game score wise we had was against the Ravens.
Hopefully, we get to play him again this season. 😉
June 28th, 2025 at 8:20 am
Baker Mayfield haven’t proven that he can win any big games. Look at the cowboys game they could have closed out the division but again he turned the ball over in cruiser moment . He did the same thing against Washington and the lions and the first thing y’all say it’s the defense fault. Baker comes threw against teams that’s playing for draft position. NFC Championship or bust no more excuses for Baker Mayfield. Again I will remind y’all again Jamies got blamed for every lost. It was never the defense fault even though they were a whole lot worser than what Baker is playing with. Jamies didn’t have what Baker has on offense and y’all expected him to win anyway. Now it’s a team game when it comes to Baker Mayfield. NFC Championship or bust no more excuses he even playing in the weakest division in football now. We wouldn’t even win 6 games with Baker Mayfield at quarterback in our division back then.
June 28th, 2025 at 8:30 am
Come on Oneilbuc. If Bucs defense was half as good as the Ravens defense the Bucs would have maybe lost one to two games last year. Ravens have plenty of talent to help Jackson. Starting with Henry who can house it on any play anywhere on the field, Andrews his tight end is one of the best, plus his receivers are darn good You have disliked Mayfield from the beginning and look to find fault any time you can
June 28th, 2025 at 9:06 am
Baker fan. Your name it’s self speaks volumes about Baker Mayfield . And let’s be honest Larmar Jackson does have a good defense but it ain’t that good. And his receivers are not that good and they for show ain’t better than ours in fact they would be slot receivers on our roster . And it’s not about disliking Baker Mayfield I don’t know him personally to like him or hate him. But we can’t keep blaming the defense every time Baker Mayfield turns the ball over in cruiser moments of big games like playoff games. I hope we get to a Superbowl this year. But at some point when needed Baker Mayfield is going to have to put the team on his back and close out games or win them .
June 28th, 2025 at 9:48 am
To all the people correctly saying Baker hasn’t won a playoff game, well until Lamar Jackson gets the Ravens to the SB, it doesnt matter how many MVPs he has, Baker has been EQUALLY productive as Jackson throughout his entire “playoff” career. Hypotheticals about which QB and team and with what defense would have gotten further etc doesn’t matter at this point. What Baker has done with a revolving carousel of Offensive Coordinators and a conservative head coach is impressive and almost unprecedented. Only the Patriots immediately come to mind with their changing of OCs but they had Brady and Belichek. Two All-Time greats. Baker is an ELITE Top 5 QB. Like it or not.
June 28th, 2025 at 9:55 am
Oneilbuc Baker was 4-3 in games against playoff teams last year. Those are big games I think regardless of when during the season they were played. Also, the Bucs were on their way to losing the last game of the year against the Saints in a game that meant their season. While most of the team was sleepwalking, Baker took over control of that game and willed the team to victory, putting his body on the line with first down runs and clutch throws. That game didn’t turn on a big special teams play or a defensive touchdown. Someone had to take the bull by the horns in that game and he did just that.
June 28th, 2025 at 10:02 am
Wow onei you are on a roll, where to begin? Well let’s start with Baker has never even been considered as an MVP candidate”. Actually. He has been “considered” twice, once after his record breaking rookie season where he had more TD while playing in 3 less games than all the greats before him and a second time due to his 2024 season. They are calling him a :Dark Horse” candidate. So there’s that. Second, you say he’s got better receivers than Lamar. Now would that count this last year when we were down to the 3rd string receivers and somehow we maintained the 3rd highest scoring offense in the league, those receivers? Thirdly, Baker hasn’t proven he can win big games. Remember when he took the most horrendous team and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the playoffs and Cleveland hadn’t done that since before Baker was born. If you asked Cleveland fans I would imagine they would consider that a really big game. What about the Kansas City Chiefs games in 2020 and 2024? They both had late 4th quarter drives. Both times KC went the superbowl. One with 25 seconds left and both times losing wasn’t on Baker. One was the refs and the last one was a coaching mistake. There are more but I’ll save everybody the trouble. Fourth he is going to have to put the team on his back. What in the world do you think he did for all of 2023. We were supposed to win 4 games. But won over twice that and the only thing that changed was we got a new quarterback. Talk about comparing quarterbacks. Don’t compare Jameis to Baker, please. Who is starting and who isn’t? You know onei, contrary to what you believe it takes a team to pull off big games and go deep into the playoffs. Not to mention a top 10 defense. For the last 10 years the superbowl winners defense has averaged 6th. Ours in 2025 is ranked between 10th & 18th. Last year I think we were 18th. It takes a team onei all playing really good football. Like our top 3 offense did last year.
June 28th, 2025 at 10:23 am
The 2023 defense was ranked 23rd
The 2024 defense was 18th
The superbowl losers defense for 10 years has averaged a 9.3 ranking
The superbowl winners defense for 10 years has averaged a 6.7 ranking
So onei, statistically, if you want to play in the superbowl you generally have to have a really good defense. And statistically, we aren’t there yet, but… there are a few teams that have had really good offenses that have went with less highly ranked defenses, just not too many. But it has happened.
June 28th, 2025 at 10:41 am
This is Oneil when a Bucs receiver catches a pass…. “ aren’t our receivers good”
This is Oneil when a pass is dropped… “dang that baker, he hit them in the wrong parts of the receiver’s hands, he is no good “
Hey Oneil, the entire team and coaches know what makes this team click, but we are supposed to listen to you. Laughable
June 28th, 2025 at 10:45 am
I love Baker but Lamar Jackson is better he is apart of the 4 elite quarterbacks in the league right now( Mahomes, Josh Alllen, Lamar and Burrow). That being said I firmly believe Baker is a top 7 qb in the league. Baker has been outstanding for us the last two years, in fact Baker has the most passing touchdowns in the league the last two years with 69. O’Neil did you watch the Redskin’s playoff game those fumbles were flukey as hell. Graham Barton even mentioned one was completely his fault not Bakers. Also you’re talking about Baker having better weapons than Lamar that’s true when everyone is healthy. Baker threw for 4500 yards 41 touchdowns and 71 completion percentage which is literally one of the best qb seasons of all time. He did that with Evans missing three games, GODWIN MISSING TEN GAMES(more that half the season), McMillan missing 4 games(btw McMillan was a rookie who took time to get going, his first 8 games he had 13 catches 135 yards and 1 touchdown and Otton missed 3 games. Baker still had one of the best passing seasons in nfl history with all of that going in. So Baker’s top three options most of the season since Godwin was hurt was Evans, McMillan and Otton who had 2000 yards 23 tds as a group. Lamar had Flowers, Bateman and Andrew’s who had 2500 yards and 24 touchdowns. Baker will win us a Super Bowl ring mark my words.
June 28th, 2025 at 10:46 am
Not even mentioning his ability to scramble and rush in for a touchdown when close to the end zone
June 28th, 2025 at 10:47 am
Btw oneil, White fumbled the ball against the cowboys but yeah baker’s fault and commanders game a rookie McMillan running past the qb caused that fumble. They did come back go ahead only to let commanders go down and score on last second. Boy do you have selective memory and bias as well.
June 28th, 2025 at 12:17 pm
That’s the difference in Barton and McMillan, Barton admitted his mistake. Barton’s a keeper. There’s a reason they spent their first draft pick on a receiver.
June 28th, 2025 at 12:30 pm
I believe that Baker Mayfield is special in his grit and determination to win. He elevates the guys around him. He has plenty of natural talent. He has better than average arm strength. He has an intense love of football and is a student of the game. These are some of the reasons I see him as capable of winning a Super Bowl with this franchise.
June 28th, 2025 at 12:52 pm
Ok Baker Mayfield is the greatest quarterback that ever played the game. He’s better than Brady, Payton Manning, Elway, Marino, Montana, Jim Kelly, Patrick Mahomes , Larmar Jackson, Josh Allen, Ben Roslburger, Joe Borrow, Troy Akiman, Johnny Unites, Steve Young, Bart Star, Roger Starback and any other quarterback that’s in the hall of fame that I didn’t mention. And all of those quarterbacks I named either won or played in a conference championship game and Baker Mayfield still haven’t played in a conference championship because when the games on the line he fumbles or throw a pick but it’s been the defense fault every time he turns over the ball in cruiser moments.
June 28th, 2025 at 1:10 pm
lol O’Neil buddy are you ok? I brought up valid points about Baker having one of the statistical best qb seasons of all time which is a fact. You say it’s everyone’s else fault when he had turnovers in the redskins game. Graham Barton literally said one fumble was his fault. If you saying it’s Bakers fault for that fumble when Graham said it was his fault you’re just being a hater and not honest. Who said Baker was the greatest of all time? I literally said Lamar is better. The fact is Baker is one of the top 7 qb’s in the league and we are lucky to have him because he’s a good damn qb. Also he gets paid 30 million dollars a year. He’s the 19th and I repeat 19th highest paid qb this year. That’s absurd value to pay Baker the 19th highest paid qb salary in 2025. When over the last two years he has the most passing tds in the league plus his is a solid scrambler at the qb position. Paying Baker that amount allowed us to keep Mike, Godwin and LaVonte and sign Haason and build a team that can win an superbowl this year. Again like I said Baker will win us a ring. I love Baker as our qb and hope he’s in Tampa for another 8-10 years.
June 28th, 2025 at 1:27 pm
Gator. Completing 71 percent of your passes in today’s game is not that hard especially when most of his throws are under 10 yards because he’s actually ranked second for the shortest throws under 10 yards. Again I guess playing in the worst division in the NFL is big help for him . And not to mention if we were in all the other division we would have missed the playoffs 3 years in a row. Again show me in the playoffs and y’all need to stop making excuses for Baker treat him like y’all treat Dak when the cowboys lose in the playoffs first and second round. And yes the money was good because that’s how much he’s worth. If we don’t get to the NFC Championship game this year the bucs can’t pay Baker Mayfield 60 million a year.
June 28th, 2025 at 1:44 pm
Actually onei you are right about Baker being better than all those quaterbacks you listed in 3 areas. 1–He has out thrown them in a game, 72 yard record. 2–He threw more touchdowns than they did his rookie year while playing 2 less games. 3–According to the NFL, he has out played them all in the playoffs. Statistically, nobody plays better than BM6 when it matters most, nobody!!! I’m sorry that hurts you 2 or 3 boys that just can’t stand Baker but life is full of disappointment and pain so deal with it because he ain’t goin nowhere. In fact, after another career year he is going to get a big fat raise and you will have to watch it all happen.
June 28th, 2025 at 1:58 pm
lol. Again O’Neil your incorrect, if something is easy it should be able to achieved often right. Since 2020 ago 2024 which is the last four nfl seasons. Eight I repeat eight times a qb has had a completion percentage been achieved by a qb playing all games of the season over four seasons that’s not a lot buddy. Also you just over look Baker had 4500 yards passing and 41 passing touchdowns lol. Those two stats are more impressive than the completion percentage stats. Are you a Bucs fan? You realize Liam Cohens offense is not based on a vertical passing game rather a shorter passing game. So Baker was supposed to not listen to his play caller and say F my team and coach and just chuck the ball deep to make his stats look better? Wouldn’t that mean being a selfish horrible teammate? I’m honest our division has been horrible the last two years and we benefited from it. Again I’m honest just like I said Lamar is better than Baker. Also context matter it’s laughable to compare the Cowboys, two years ago when the cowboys went to the playoffs they had like 7 all pros that season and lost at home to the Packers of course Dak will get clowned. Meanwhile the Bucs two years ago everyone predicted us to be one of the bottom 5 teams in the league after Brady retired. Baker lead us to the playoffs where let’s we lost to the Lions in the divisional round on the road and we were in that game late in the 4th quarter. Then last year everyone thought the Falcons would win the division and Baker won the division. We also barley lost to a team that went to the NFC championship game and was one of the final four teams. Once again I’m honest our division has been terrible the last years but Baker has been great.
June 28th, 2025 at 2:20 pm
Onei you are hilarious. You are starting to sound like someone else on this site. The NFL ranked all 59 quarterbacks. Out of the top 10 of which Baker is #6, 7 of them threw shorter or equal to him. Only 2 threw further. Baker averaged 8.0. Mahomes was 6.9, the least out of the top 10. So actually Bakers 71.8% was actually quite an achievement 🤔
June 28th, 2025 at 2:28 pm
Also O’Neil now I know you are just talking. You said Baker contact is good because that’s all he’s worth. Lmao Your telling me the qb that threw for the most tds and the second most passing yards the last two years. Is only worth the 19th highest paid salary?How does that even make sense, so you’re saying the 18th higher paid qbs are incredibly overpaid and should all take pay cuts?
June 28th, 2025 at 3:36 pm
And Todd pulls the ball out of his hands at the end of games and relies on his bend over and break defense to close out the game. They close out the game, all right. Coaching matters.
June 28th, 2025 at 4:41 pm
In today’s Ford versus Chevy debate the thing that jumps out at me is:
Crucial……the word is crucial…..not cruiser
…..also….for what it’s worth:
Opinions should be formed after weighing the pros and cons of all documentable, indisputable facts concerning a given topic.
Not doing so results only in fallacious thoughts that have little, if any, valid value.
…..also Part 3….
There’s an old saying…..”Figures don’t lie and liars don’t figure.”
Player assessments should be done only after checking your emotions at the door.
You may now return to today’s debate…..already in progress
June 28th, 2025 at 5:18 pm
so all the figures all the stats lack the one thing that makes a great player, think or say what you may Baker has and always has had that one thing above all else, PASSION, a love for the game and his team that elevates him and the players around to achieve more than expected. he is a leader!
June 28th, 2025 at 10:21 pm
Onei, just to set the stat record straight, you said Baker was second in short passess. Actually, the king of short passess is Tom Brady and right on his heels is none other than the great Patrick Mahomes. They list about 5 other short pass quarterbacks but no where is BM6 mentioned. So…
June 28th, 2025 at 10:34 pm
Davyboy. With those stats how many playoffs games did he win when those games were put in his hands to either close them out or win?
June 29th, 2025 at 12:02 am
The Lions playoff game, Baker’s pick basically ended it except for Todd giving up and not calling the TO to force a punt. Shameful. If he does that again he’s teaching at Temple.
The Washington game, in the last minutes, the game was in the hands of the defense , as it was for all but 3 losses in 2024. And the defense failed.
June 29th, 2025 at 12:42 am
Onei, remember there are 10 other players on the “team” and on the field and they can’t make mistakes or it doesn’t work out. In our case this year 2 rookies made rookie mistakes. One admitted to his and one didn’t. Maybe, just maybe, that’s why they chose to make their first draft pick a receiver and not a defensive pick. Maybe there is something there that they don’t like long term, maybe…🤔
Why did they choose a receiver? It’s kind of strange isn’t it? No one saw that coming. Why would they do that?
June 29th, 2025 at 5:44 am
Oneilbuc How can anyone take anything you say serious? It’s CRUCIAL moment, not cruiser. Good lord I thought it was a typo first time, but two different post?
June 29th, 2025 at 8:56 am
Onielbuc at least be consistent. Call for Mahomes to be cut because he crumbled like a stale cookie in the super bowl and threw a pick six to a 2nd year cornerback. Pat had a below average year and was carried by a great defense. My take is his athletic skills,are diminishing and he can’t make the throws he used to.
June 29th, 2025 at 9:14 am
The only thing wrong with Patrick is his OL isn’t as good as it has been. Now when he has a line like most quarterbacks do you can see he isn’t quite the god everybody thought he was.
June 29th, 2025 at 9:17 am
His line in 2024 was ranked 12th. For years his line has been in the top 5. Not so easy being the god of football with an average line, is it?
June 29th, 2025 at 2:18 pm
Marky. How many Superbowls does Baker Mayfield has vs Patrick Mahomes? No you don’t even have to answer that question how many conferences championships games Baker Mayfield played in vs Mahomes ? That’s different between those 2 guys I remember Patrick Mahomes lead a offense with 12 seconds left to play and won the game from the his 20 yard line. Baker Mayfield couldn’t do it with 2 minutes left he threw a pick on the second throw. I would do you one even better how many conferences championships games Brock Puridy played in vs Baker Mayfield? Remember they were down by 21 points and he came back and won the game Baker Mayfield haven’t done that yet in the playoffs. Baker Mayfield is a good quarterback but he haven’t proven he can get you over the hump just like Dak and other quarterbacks .
June 29th, 2025 at 4:20 pm
Oh onei, you keep singing the same song but out of tune. It takes a team to do what Mahomes has done. Specifically a line. Here’s a perfect example. The Kansas City’s OL has been in the top 7 since he has been there. Starting in 2023 including 2024 his OL has been ranked 12th. His passer rating for those years has been the worst of his entire career, 92 and 93. Oh sure they went to the superbowl but it wasn’t because he took them there. The coach and other teammates got them there. The great “organization” got them there. He had a passer rating of 95 in the superbow. Remember Bakers playoff rating of 146, his OL was ranked 3rd, its why Baker had a rating of 106.8 this year. Its hard to be great when your offensive line ranks 12th. What I’ve been saying all along, he has been the lucky recipient of a great line and organization and now that he doesn’t its showing. A quarterbacks OL is everything.
June 29th, 2025 at 8:02 pm
This year will be the defining year of Baker’s young career. The table is set for him to get us to the promised land.