Incredible Sack Avoidance By Baker Mayfield
June 23rd, 2025
Dodges sacks at high rate.
Baker Mayfield didn’t face a ton of pressure last year, though he was sacked 40 times (10th-most in the NFL). But when Mayfield did face pressure, he did a really solid if not strong job of avoiding disaster.
Mayfield, per Steve Patton of @PattonAnalytics, had just six incompletions and zero sacks when avoiding sacks. Mayfield avoided a total of 28 sacks, per Patton, which was third-most in the NFL.
Joe doesn’t know what that says about the Bucs offensive line or the offense last year. The Bucs are believed to have one of the best pass-blocking front lines in the game.
Did Mayfield set himself up for sacks by holding onto the ball too long? This, too, doesn’t really add up because the Bucs offense was a dink-and-dunk offense (sorry Liam Coen) that was incredibly effective.
Hard to hold the ball for a long time when routes are short.
Joe isn’t sure what the reason was for the high-sack total and high number of times Mayfield had to avoid a rush.
Still, strong job by Mayfield of both avoiding sacks and getting production on the same plays.
June 23rd, 2025 at 11:46 am
Baker is definitely slippery in the pocket. I think his stocky build gives him great contact balance, he’s tough to bring down. He also has a good feel for the pressure, good instincts on when to bail.
GO BUCS
June 23rd, 2025 at 11:55 am
lolol-Gr8 avoidance to Sacks and Baker is Very exciting and gets the team pumped up while doing this and maybe since he will get 2 throw more deep balls quickly cause of the elite Wr room- he won’t have 2 do as much sack avoidance, but, either way BAKER N BUCS WIN
June 23rd, 2025 at 12:02 pm
I think it’s a combination of things, Joe.
We have an excellent O-line that still broke down here and there, creating more opportunities for Baker to be sacked.
Baker, in my opinion, sometimes held on to the ball way too long when he should have just thrown it away.
Opposing defenses at times simply smothered our WRs or closed up the lanes for our RBs.
And, Baker is Baker… he’s a never say die kind of guy who’s going to do everything he can on every play to move the ball down the field. Sometimes that worked against him.
In light of his sack avoidance numbers/ranking, I don’t necessarily see any of that as a negative; just that it led to him being sacked more times than any of us would’ve liked to have seen last year.
June 23rd, 2025 at 12:06 pm
That was our el serpentine offense that had Baker running for his life So there’s lots of room for improvement. This is the year. Go Bowles!
June 23rd, 2025 at 1:04 pm
Bake had a couple high sack games with Detroit (Skule effect) and Denver, maybe the Ravens. The OL was better last year, but still has room to improve, and Bake needs to get rid of the ball or get out of the pocket faster. If Grizz does order up more deep passes, the sacks and fumbles could go up with Bake holding the ball longer on deep throws. I’ll take the short throws with some upside in YAC anyday.
June 23rd, 2025 at 1:26 pm
Agree with JimBob.
If Baker, the arch-exponent of recalcitrance, would dump it off to his RB’s or Otton a wee more I’m willing to bet his interceptions and sack numbers would reduce dramatically.
I too am a believer in the YAC stat rising. But hard heads are tough nuts to crack.
That said, the deep pass is more fun to watch … as long as it’s completed.
June 23rd, 2025 at 1:37 pm
I’d like to see some stats on the attempts, sacks, completions, etc. When he holds the ball like say 3 seconds plus
June 23rd, 2025 at 1:49 pm
“If Baker, the arch-exponent of recalcitrance, would dump it off to his RB’s or Otton a wee more I’m willing to bet his interceptions and sack numbers would reduce dramatically.”
Literally the butter that butters our bread on offense. Canales used it as an extension of the run game, Coen did it as a to super charge the offense, and I expect Grizz to keep it apart of his offense as well.
I think it was the KC game we went 2-3 quarters without a pass completed to a WR
June 23rd, 2025 at 2:19 pm
Warren—
Was making a well agreed upon generalization. And that has Baker as a high spirited gunslinger who won’t change (hence the recalcitrance), or at least more of a downfield passer than a dink and dunk guy. I’ll need a larger sample size than two quarters of one game to convince me otherwise.
June 23rd, 2025 at 2:44 pm
JA-
We finished 29th in air yards per completion on the entire season, but we also finished 6th in Yards after catch. Which should lead anybody with a brain to believe a lot of our pass game was not long passes down the field, but short and intermediate receptions that were taking longer with the legs.
That discrepancy was actually discussed on Bucs’ insider 4 days ago and it was mentioned because they addressed Grizzs’ desire to push the ball vertically a little more than we did in 2024. So, more explosivity in that regard is coming this season. Also, I’m not trying to convince you of anything.
June 23rd, 2025 at 3:27 pm
would love to see where those sacks came from along the oline….
my guess would be RG…mauch got tossed around quite a bit last year
GO BUCS!!!!!
June 23rd, 2025 at 3:27 pm
Warren——
Without the time or interest to delve into topic any further I’m assuming you are correct. Without any desire on your part, I’m “convinced.”
Guess that makes Mayfield more of a derringer dude than a gunslinger.
Too bad the interception count was so high. My thinking had a high interception number reserved for the bombs away types.
June 23rd, 2025 at 4:10 pm
Not trying to be a math wiz but these facts don’t sound like our O line was dominating much….. Minimum of 40 times Sucking up Dirt After being BODY SLAMMED! And a “Minimum” total of 68 Big Ones RUNNING FOR HIS LIFE one way or another! Elite????
That knocks my belief in the hype I WAS buying about their true abilities down quite a bit…. In Fact….. OUCH! 10TH Most? OOOOOF!
June 23rd, 2025 at 4:11 pm
I thought we just got done proclaiming that the O line IS ELITE in pass pro? No?
June 23rd, 2025 at 5:06 pm
2024 Average Air Yards Per Pass
Lamar Jackson 7.7
Josh Allen 7.7
Jayden Daniels 7.4
Baker Mayfield 6.8
Patrick Mahomes 6.8
Jared Goff 6.8
Aaron Rogers 2015 6.8