Bullish On Baker Mayfield
July 6th, 2025
Growing respect.
Just a couple of years ago, Baker Mayfield was thrown on the trash heap of the NFL.
The former No. 1 overall pick was discarded by the Browns in what has turned out to be maybe the worst decision in NFL history this side of the Steelers passing on Dan Marino, thinking a broken down and washed Terry Bradshaw was the way to go. Especially when you factor in who the Browns invested in to replace Mayfield.
Mayfield then went to Carolina where he flamed out. He later ended up in Los Angeles and there, Sean McVay and Liam Coen sort of gave Mayfield hope.
Now look at him. Statistically, he was one of the best quarterbacks in the league.
NFL Films analyst Greg Cosell, who works with football coaches and shot-callers regularly, said those who know think Mayfield has reinvented himself into one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
“Baker Mayfield, around the league, is highly, highly respected,” Cosell said. “He’s a really good thrower of the football.
“I’m not sure people think about that with Baker Mayfield.”
Cosell is correct, though the tide is turning. People, that is folks outside the Tampa Bay area, are starting to give Mayfield the respect he has earned. It’s not quite there yet, but Joe can sense it and feel it.
“He’s a really, really good thrower of the football,” Cosell said. “He’s grown up, you know? He’s aggressive. So every once in a while, he’ll make a play that’s viewed as reckless.”
That happens with every aggressive quarterback. Same could have been said for Brett Favre and others (no, Joe is not comparing Favre to Mayfield).
So long as that aggressive play leads to wins, no one will care and Bucs fans will celebrate.
And as Joe has typed many times, the more Mayfield and the Bucs win, the more respect he will get from around the league.
Winning is the greatest perfume.
“Baker Mayfield around the league is highly, highly respected. He's a REALLY good thrower of the football.”@GregCosell on the latest @RossTuckerPod: pic.twitter.com/fZk4X4yApv
— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) July 5, 2025
July 6th, 2025 at 8:33 am
With natural progression the Bucs have a shot of the Super Bowl this season, but 2026 season with continuity the Bucs would be a more realistic opportunity.
The Bucs are putting the right pieces together. It’s now up to the coaches and players to set the team mindset of a Super Bowl team.
July 6th, 2025 at 8:44 am
4 years in Cleveland. 1st year winless team and he goes 7-5-1. 3700 yards passing. Second and third year throws for 3800 and over 3500. That 3rd year barely loses to KC second round of playoffs. 11-5 team in 3 years. Unbelievable. 4th year tears labrum in 3rd game. Team doc says needs surgery. Mayfield plays anyway and Stefanski lets him. Remember everyone in Cleveland thinks after last year this is the Super Bowl year. Still throws for 3000 yards and can’t throw on the run left or right. Surgery at end of season and in March they sign Watson. Fifth year Carolina and LA and still throws 2500 in 10 or so games. Mayfield has been winning games and stacking film since he walked into this league. Todd Bowles and Jason Licht deserve every penny they are getting paid for knowing a football player when they see one instead of listening to others who don’t know a football player when they see one. Yeah Tampa Bay has been a great team for Baker to have the chance to lead.
July 6th, 2025 at 8:48 am
I really think the Bucs are one draft away from being dominant. No disrespect to Cade Otto, but next year Kyle Pitts will be a Free Agent. And l think he will excel in this offense. If we can get over that mid season slump…..we can easily be the top team in the NFC
That’s my opinion
This offense is built for Baker Mayfield strengths
And l think he will be better with Liam Coen gone
Liam had the tendency to go conservative in close games
We need to keep the foot on the gas, and blow teams out
July 6th, 2025 at 8:49 am
“Otton”
July 6th, 2025 at 9:25 am
👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆👆
I’d rather have Otton.
July 6th, 2025 at 9:50 am
Baker never was a bust or really on the trash heap. It was a fake news smear campaign by the Browns to counter the backlash by Browns fans to the,Watson debacle. Many of those fans are on this board now. Onielbuc and others call it irrational Baker love but that is the same tact the Browns spin control took. It is not irrational if it is true. If you threw away out the social agenda of many Watson fans and just focussed on Football it would be clear to anyone Baker was still a franchise,QB. Now we have 2 full years of Data to show Baker is a damn good QB and it is,DW who is on the trash heap. Now go force the Browns owner to sell to the Cavs owner.
July 6th, 2025 at 10:08 am
Baker has turned his career around dramatically. With the talent we have here we fans have good reasons to be optimistic. We have a “franchise quarterback” now. When was the last time we could say that?
Go Bucs!!
July 6th, 2025 at 10:58 am
Baker fanboism and haterism are real things. Both groups of people are at the opposite ends of spectrum of Mayfield. They both only see what they want to see and use any kind of analytic and hyperbole to support their cause. He has never been as great or bad as they’ve screamed about, both are as irritating as a group of yammering women.
When Mayfield got to the Bucs I knew of some of his immature antics and good things he did with the Browns. As a 6th year veteran I fully expected him to beat the pants off a 3rd year backup who’d never started or really played in any regular season games but he didn’t. It took a HC trying to protect his job because he was on the hot seat gifting him the starter role and in turn he gifted Bucs fans one of the most consistently inconsistent seasons I know I’ve ever seen in my life. He could be as great as Tom Brady and as bad as Trent Dilfer all in one series. I watched him be the only qb I’ve ever seen not to be able to get his team into the endzone for an opening drive td for an entire season no matter how close we got. Even Shawn King wasn’t that bad. He disappeared for entire half of too many games Then Liam Coen came and showed us what a real OC can do with a gunslinger qb and Baker had his greatest season ever but still showed us at times what happens when he can’t handle the pressure. It wasn’t until after the Ravens beat down that I really started to believe in him. I’ve realized that he is a free range rooster. He must be allowed the space to be himself but also know his restrictions and limitations to be the great qb he can be. I can honestly say last years short comings of this team were not his fault. That fault lies at the feet of Tod Bowles. The only thing that gives me pause on Baker this season is that once again he has to once again get used to a new OC and his fbois will use that as a scapegoat if things don’t go so well this season for the Bucs.
July 6th, 2025 at 11:01 am
The problem with reckless is that the risk of turnovers increase, as in look at his interceptions last year. However, if the defense can get our opponents off the field occasionally, turnovers will not doom us. Yeah, he should be more careful with his decision making, but with this offense, I’m not particularly averse to Baker making risky plays now and then. When he does connect on those plays, it’s a thing of beauty.
July 6th, 2025 at 11:38 am
Cosell did a good breakdown of the NFC South on the Ross Tucker podcast, worth a watch.
July 6th, 2025 at 11:50 am
Bake just needs to keep progressing: win the big night games and reduce the turnovers. I expect him to improve this year.
July 6th, 2025 at 12:05 pm
Lakeland,
Devin Culp can be our Kyle Pitts-type TE and we should def keep Otton.
July 6th, 2025 at 12:33 pm
DavidBigBucsFan99. So Baker’s first year was the most consistently inconsistent season you’ve ever seen? Baker led us down the field to take the lead under a minute against Houston. Hung 35 points. And the defense let Stroud go 75 yards for a TD. A field goal wouldn’t have been enough. He did something that no other QB in history had done on the road at Green Bay. He got to the second round of the playoffs and threw 6 touchdowns in the 2 playoff games, more TD passes than any playoff QB that season. Four thousand yards, 28 touchdowns, 10 picks. Wildly inconsistent with a brand new team. You truly have no credibility David-none at all unless you’re talking to a bunch of (yammering?) women. You’ve earned the dunce cap of the day. You troll.
July 6th, 2025 at 12:52 pm
I don’t like reckless, reckless gives the opposing offense the ball back while robbing us of a scoring opportunity. 100 career starts in Mayfields’ career, reckless should be getting ironed out on your own and during your time with the team.
If Baker can be more deliberate/decisive and less reckless his status amongst the best in the business will be harder to argue against. It’s that simple in my opinion when it comes to Mayfield, if he finds away to takeaway the caveats to his game on account of his tendency to be reckless. Making a Brett Farve reference won’t alleviate that
July 6th, 2025 at 1:31 pm
comparing baker to farve is fair and until he wins the big game he’ll be thought of just like Farve
July 6th, 2025 at 2:08 pm
If you’re going to compare Baker to any HOF QB, Favre is the most similar.
Rifle arm, tough, highly competitive, smart, a leader, sometimes reckless (he refuses to give up on plays and forces a few dangerous throws), etc
I’m pretty sure Baker said he modeled his game to some degree after Farve.
July 6th, 2025 at 2:15 pm
If memory serves…Danny Marino had drug usage rumors swirling during the time of the draft and that caused him to fall to Miami. Think Warren Sapp. Were the drug rumors true?…probably not. Were the drug rumors false information designed to cause Marino slide in the draft?…probably.
July 6th, 2025 at 2:18 pm
Now people see after smoke clears Baker grew up and got kicked in the nuts how being a true leader Leads is a sacrifice is well bud welcome Home….to Life God Bless you 🙏😎💪
July 6th, 2025 at 3:59 pm
DavidBigBucsFan99 made some salient observations, I don’t consider it trolling. Baker and the team could be hot and cold any given quarter within a game. Sure, on any given Sunday a team can be sharp or dull, but this happened way too often for the Bucs – some referred to it as a roller coaster. Seemed like a lack of determination and discipline. This was not solely on Baker, but the whole team.
July 6th, 2025 at 4:02 pm
We as fans don’t know all the ins and outs of each play to determine who is responsible for what. What is being said on the headsets and the huddle. So I will listen to players, coaches and gm’s, and overwhelmingly it is positive on how he handles himself on and off the field. If Bucs don’t want him there are probably 5 to7 teams that will line up and pay the man more than he is making now, that includes the Saints as one of those teams. The haters will hate because it makes them feel like they know more than people who get paid to do jobs in the nfl.
July 6th, 2025 at 4:19 pm
And Kenton the fanboi proves my point. They only see what they want to see. Plus he added the other thing I’ve always said they do, call people names and if you don’t always praise Mayfield for anything he does they become chicks in a chick fight scratching eyes out. Hell hath no fury like a Baker fanboi scorned.The ultimate Karens of the sports world.
July 6th, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Kenton fanboi Smith I’m a Bucs fan and you’re a man fan. What are you going to do when your crush leaves the NFL? Probably find another dude like him to throw your affections on to wrap your little life around to give it meaning. The only hope I have is that the people who came here with him will go when he leaves so the true Buccaneer fans can have this blog back.
July 6th, 2025 at 4:30 pm
Kenton fanboi Smith I troll the Mayfield male cheerleading fanboi squad with their girlie man qualities
July 6th, 2025 at 5:02 pm
“As a 6 year veteran I fully expected him to beat the pants off a 3rd year backup who’d never started or really played in any regular season games, but he didn’t. It took a HC trying to protect his job because he was on the hot seat gifted him the starter role and in turn he gifted Bucs fans one of the most consistently inconsistent seasons I’ve seen in my whole life.” Hey DavidBigBucsFan99. To make a statement like that shows me where you’re coming from. It’s a place that begins with I don’t know. And ends with My a$$ from a hole in the ground.
July 6th, 2025 at 5:11 pm
DavidBigBucsFan99
As soon as you posted, I knew there would be at least two guys who suggested you were a hater of Baker. ‘
Then I continued to read and found out that was the case.
ONE GUY TENDS TO GO NASTY EVERY TIME.
July 6th, 2025 at 5:15 pm
There continues to be a lot of stupid things said about Mayfield. Kenton Smith gives the best account of Baker’s NFL career. It’s the truth and more “fans” need to hear it. Mayfield is having a career that parallels Drew Brees with Super Bowl next up. That will shut up the idiots who say “Mayfield can’t win a Super Bowl.” Mayfield will win multiple Super Bowls.
July 6th, 2025 at 7:32 pm
In case DBBF99, Munch, and others have missed the news, Mayfield has quickly become one of the most admired pro athletes in Tampa. OK with most of us if you guys sulk over being so wrong about Mayfield when you were told otherwise 2 years ago. Does the phrase: “Often wrong but never in doubt” mean anything to you “analysts”?
July 6th, 2025 at 10:52 pm
See, this is why we need to focus on the horrible defense. Everyone agrees that it has sucked and needs to improve, and the HC and DC are on the warm seat to see that it does. The defense cost us 3 close games last year at least.
July 7th, 2025 at 10:00 am
Gipper the thing you fanbois miss since your noses are fully inserted into Mayfield’s crack is in
his 1st year I saw nothing special from him. Up to the point of him coming here he was a middling qb. He disappeared in entire 1st halves of so many games that he was forced to sling it more in the 2nd half. Plus he was as much at fault for our record as the rest of the team was . Plus he failed to get us in the endzone on the opening drivee for the entire season and that’s a fact you people can’t run from. His 28 tds and 4000 yards were in part thanks to Mike Evans and YAC not that he was overly accurate down the field. Last year was the turning point for me and I know you all ignore the fact I said he wasn’t the blame for last year. You fbois really need to kick rocks because no one is going tell me I have to be coo coo for Coco Puffs over another man like you dudes are if he hadn’t shown me reason to. Unlike you all I’m a fan of the Bucs not a man fan.
July 7th, 2025 at 10:12 am
I don’t understand the Baker dislike/negativity as a Buccaneer QB, who shipped on, as the GOAT shipped out. He was attached to a new Offensive Corrdinator, and HC, yet another offense to learn. We won our Division. Had a tough post-season, lost OC, to Division rivals as HC, season 2 got a familiar OC who like his previous OC, never called plays in NFL. We had some issues injuries, mid-season, He righted the ship again, and we won our Division again, and Buccaneers played in the post-season twice, with Baker as Buccaneer QB 1. Again OC, gets HC job across state out of Conference.. Back to another Familiar face and same Offense philosophy, with some quirks to it… Another good WR to add to our Offense as to not need to force Godwin to have to play. I want to see Baker in this Offense for two seasons, in a row with this WR room.. RB/TE room… Oline room.
Baker was a first round draft choice, we are having great success all from off the street.. Baker wants to stay here. Why would he not? I am very excited to see year three of Bakers Buccaneers.
GO!!!!!BAKER!!!!!
GO!!!!!BUCS!!!!!
July 7th, 2025 at 11:15 am
BigBucs, it’s interesting that you used the words, “you boys missed”. When in reality, it’s you guys that have missed “Baker”. But that’s all right. To each his own. Time is a great teacher and I have a feeling you boys are going to be taught a lot this year, 2025, about Baker. This year, after all the crap that he has been through in his career, will be the year BM6 arrives. Some qbs like Mahomes were given every advantage the game allows, while others are drafted to “hell on earth organizations” that chew you up and throw you away. Just ask Desean Watson who went from a top 5 qb to a 32nd qb after visiting the mistake on the lake. But Baker is still out there swinging away, getting better. Maybe, just maybe thats why people love Baker. He is no quiter, its not even in his vocabulary. He is a fighter. Is he the most athleticaly gifted, heck no. But he fights. This is what “you boys have missed”.This will be the year you boys see what it’s all about and what it is that “you have missed” and refuse to see.
July 7th, 2025 at 11:26 am
I don’t think Baker is a trash quarterback I’ve said that a lot on here. My push back is when it’s time to close the game out he doesn’t he turns over the ball at the wrong time.
July 7th, 2025 at 12:02 pm
Oh no, Kansas city’s line is ranked 20th by PFF while ours is 6th. Another bad year for Mahomes while he deals with a leaky left side. Another great year for Baker and the Bucs. Thanks to that amazing OL @#6!!!
July 7th, 2025 at 12:08 pm
Thank you coach Kevin Carberry!!!! Great job!!
July 7th, 2025 at 1:46 pm
Otton caught Brady last td, the memory saddens me. Keep him, maybe pull Pitts next free agency.
July 7th, 2025 at 7:19 pm
DBBF99,oneilbuc,et al..
There isn’t going to be any phony revisionist history on Mayfield. He was great as a rookie in Cleveland and when not injured the best thing that happened to the Bad News Browns since their rebirth in 1999. Told all you fake football fools what to expect and Mayfield delivered. So much so he is in pre MVP conversations this season. You guys need to wear your dunce caps for another couple of years and then just change your screen names so you can disappear into the obscurity you have earned.
July 7th, 2025 at 9:48 pm
It is strange BigBucs. You say he is middling, yet the NFL had him at #9 last year and #6 this year. If he can get his interceptions down he will be a top 3 next year. I wonder who is more accurate, you or the NFL??
Middling 😂 😂 Remember now and dont forget, this is Bakers year. He is going to light things on fire!!!! Defenses won’t know what to do. The only thing they will come up with is to keep the ball out of Bakers hands, like Dan Quinn did. Hopefully, our coaches have a way to take advantage of that game plan when they pull it. 😉
July 8th, 2025 at 12:00 am
#6 BM6 could it be?