Kay Adams: Should The Bucs Have Protected Baker Mayfield From Himself?
January 12th, 2026
“Please play smarter, Baker.”
Kay Adams seems to love how Baker Mayfield plays football. All gas, no brakes.
However, in the NFL, that can also get you beat to a pulp, especially guys who are maybe half the size of Tristan Wirfs.
Quarterbacks have a bulls-eye on their backs and defenders salivate at the chance to light them quarterback.
There is no question there was something wrong with Mayfield in the second half of this season, after the bye. Joe suspects Mayfield was far from 100 percent.
With Mayfield unable to play at the level both he and fans expect of him, and the team needs to be successful, the Bucs circled the drain, collapsing from a 6-2 record to missing the playoffs with an 8-9 mark.
Kay Adams, speaking on her weekday morning FanDuel TV show “Up and Adams” last week, suggested maybe the Bucs should have sat Mayfield for a game or two to help him heal so when he did get back on the field he would be 100 percent or at least close.
Mayfield did no one any good, including himself, Adams suggested, gutting it out and playing when he likely shouldn’t have been.
“So with Baker, you need to protect yourself better,” Adams said. “Should the Bucs have maybe protected him from himself? Get healthy for a stretch run? That’s a discussion I’d certainly be interested in having.”
Adams mentioned that’s exactly what 49ers coach Mike Shanahan did with Brock Purdy, so that was certainly a possibility the Bucs could have used.
Joe sees Adams working but feels a bit different. Mac Jones and Purdy are very similar players. It wouldn’t shock Joe if Jones is starting for some team in the NFL this fall. He’s that talented.
The one time the Bucs used Mayfield’s backup, Teddy Bridgewater, well, that really wasn’t an option like Jones was with San Francisco.
When Bridgewater came in for an injured Mayfield in the blowout loss at Los Angeles, Bridgewater looked exactly like what you would expect a high school coach would look like if he had to play quarterback in the NFL.
So maybe since Mayfield plays like a gangsta — and where would the Bucs have been without the way he put the team on his back and willed them to several wins before the bye? — maybe the Bucs need to treat the No. 2 quarterback position a little more seriously so if/when Mayfield does get hurt, it doesn’t Pearl Harbor the season.
Todd Bowles has ABSOLUTELY earned the right to keep his job and fix his mess.@heykayadams pic.twitter.com/ZMAita2r8h
— Up & Adams (@UpAndAdamsShow) January 8, 2026
January 12th, 2026 at 4:40 am
He is not the guy. He never was the guy, that’s the problem.
January 12th, 2026 at 5:03 am
She’s right, And the punishment QB’s absorb during the regular season is intensified in the playoffs. Joe’s also right about the Bridgewater decision. Some QB’s known for their ability to take punishment and being running threats had visits to the blue tent in the wild card round. And Purdy just came back from injury recently. Jason also needs to evaluate the quality of our backups. Much improvement is needed if we really want to succeed and get to the playoffs.
January 12th, 2026 at 5:04 am
The problem is Teddy Bridgewater as the backup. Dumb move by the Bucs. He’s a much bigger stiff than Trask could hope to be.
January 12th, 2026 at 5:10 am
actor and avid eagles fan bradley cooper said:
baker mayfield’s name sounds like a “farm to table croissant shop”
January 12th, 2026 at 5:11 am
Amazing how both those who like the Bucs current QB and those who see him as the worse of the worse all suffer from tunnel vision!
January 12th, 2026 at 5:31 am
Isn’t this the same narrative that happened to Baker in Cleveland? He played at his level which is mediocre and inconsistent and the fans and media said he was injured. Now the same thing is happening with the Bucs. What a coincidence.
If he knows he isn’t playing good and hes “injured” then why wouldn’t Baker shut himself down since he singlehandedly lost 4 games with his abhorrent 4th quarter play? Why would the HC sign a terrible backup to sit behind an injury prone QB?
The Bucs need to protect the fans from Baker and actually sign some competition and a capable backup. But that won’t happen with Bowles, he doesn’t like competition at every position, he just likes to have his friends on field no matter how bad they play. And unless Baker is on a stretcher, the HC won’t bench him.
This team is going nowhere with Baker, healthy or injured. He was healthy and had a great chance last year in the WC but couldn’t score over 20 pts at home. But hey, he threw 41 tds during the regular season so that somethings. Let’s celebrate that and forget the playoffs.
January 12th, 2026 at 5:51 am
When Teddy went in the game vs the Rams, you could tell he wasn’t ready to play. At all. That seems to be a common theme for the 2025 Bucs season, guys not being ready to play…Did they practice very much? Maybe Bowles is like Allen Iverson when it comes to practice, call me old school but that’s a way to get better.
January 12th, 2026 at 5:54 am
the bucs werent going to beat the rams the way the defense was playing. if you remember throwing that needless deep ball in pain on the ground non contact right before halftime that should have been bridgewater playing that game.
January 12th, 2026 at 6:00 am
Mayfield has to play every down because there’s nothing else left. The only thing you can do is run the ball 3 times and punt if he doesn’t play. You can’t waste a draft pick on a QB or Edge because nobody in the building can develop the position. It’s starting to be the same way across the team. The draft picks isn’t progressing into top 10 talent. Most are rotational backups or getting old and slow.
January 12th, 2026 at 6:00 am
Adams is nothing more than a polisher. Make it gleam, girl.
January 12th, 2026 at 6:03 am
Baker somehow is under the illusion he has clout like Tom Brady. Meaning? I’ve “showed you how good I am, so obviously when I underperform, I’m hurt, but you’ll appreciate me anyways.” Baker had 1 good 10-7 season with us, and we got apologist dropping in everywhere serving as his mouthpiece why the dude throws ints at inopportune times.
With a better OC, Baker will be better in 2026, but the overall truth is, Baker is a stop-gap for us. I like him, he’s a good dude, but he simply doesn’t have that next gear to win us anything. And don’t worry Bucs fans, if by some chance we don’t extend Baker and he moves on to another team, he will win them some games, but he won’t win them a championship. That’s not Baker. Dude turtles when the lights come on. Sadly, I thought Cousins was a choke artist, and yet this dude makes Cousins look clutch.
January 12th, 2026 at 6:19 am
lmao Fred McNeil.
thanks.
January 12th, 2026 at 6:20 am
I agree with Kay as usual but sitting him for…Bridgwater? We screwed ourslves on that deal.
Go Bucs!
January 12th, 2026 at 6:28 am
Joe … ‘It wouldn’t shock Joe if Jones is starting for some team in the NFL this fall. He’s that talented.’
Agree with you 100% on that Joe. Mac Jones is under contract with the 49ers through 2026 (making $4.2 mil per year), but becomes a FA in 2027 (same year Baker becomes a FA). He’d be 29 years old when that season starts (Baker would be 32 in 2027). Purdy’s under contract in San Fran through 2030 at a pretty hefty salary (average of $53 mil per year) so he’s not going anywhere.
Mac Jones has thrown for a 66.5% Completion Percentage over his 5-year career. All but 1 year has been part-time however (total of 57 games started in 5 years). He’s not a runner like Baker is, but as a pocket passer he’s very good, especially with a quality OLine protecting him.
Bucs ended up 8-9 this season with Baker starting all 17 games. That sucks. Part of that’s on Todd Bowles & his coaching staff IMO, part due to injuries, but a big part of the ‘blame’ falls on Baker Mayfield. No doubt in my mind that he played injured and it hurt the team, big-time. Bucs need to bring in a quality veteran backup for 2026 and then let’s see how Baker does this season. I’m not in favor of throwing big money at him to stay in 2027 & beyond for seasonal records like 8-9.
January 12th, 2026 at 6:38 am
Despite the Top 5 passing numbers Baker’s put up in the last 3 years, I’m amazed that there is so much hatred for him from some of the bums on this site! Yeah, you’re bums and the worst kind of “fans.” If Baker was hurt, the coaches should have sat his a*s down. It’s that simple.
January 12th, 2026 at 6:42 am
Ask your GM why he did not keep a quality backup that knew the system and the playbook and looked on time and on target with his passes when he did play?
I will tell you why Lichtbrain did not keep Trask-He wanted to save 1.5 mil for the Glazers pocket and sell the team on the idea that Teddy was just as good as Kyle and maybe better. These are the GM mistakes that can wreck a season.
January 12th, 2026 at 6:44 am
I don’t agree with you on this one Joe. Using your argument, so you don’t use Bridgewater to let Baker get healthy and you play Baker? So how is Baker going to get healthy playing with an O-line that is a turnstile? Somehow he is not going to get hit and his injuries get worse?
Yes, Bridgewater is no Mac Jones. Whatever game they use him in just write it up as an “L” and let Baker get a little healthy for the rest of the games to be played. With Baker hurt, and not playing to his potential, they turned into “L”s anyway.
I very much agree the Bucs need to do better at backup QB.
Just add it to the list Jason. Two ILBs, OLB, OL, DL and now QB. And you people wonder why Licht did not add any players at the trade deadline. lol We weren’t that close to give up picks.
January 12th, 2026 at 6:50 am
response to Bee
Mayfield played at very high level in Cleveland. The Browns made the playoffs in one of his years. He was a victim of Stefanski’s multiple tight end horizontal offense. See what happened and will happen with Stefanski at his next stop. His last game with Cleveland he played hurt and was sacked 6 times, while his rookie right tackle was attempting to block all pro Watt without any help.
January 12th, 2026 at 6:51 am
@Todd Says:
“…Lichtbrain did not keep Trask-He wanted to save 1.5 mil for the Glazers pocket and sell the team on the idea that Teddy was just as good…”
OMG, LMAO, Seriously?? Ok, so to use your argument, why did Licht not trade Baker and save Glazers $30mm??
Maybe Licht saw how useless Trash was even as a backup and thought Bridgewater would be better? Yea, I know, its Todd’s fault for hiding Trash from getting any playing time and showing other teams how awesome Trash is.
Remind me please, where is Trash now?
January 12th, 2026 at 6:56 am
Kyle Trask is light years ahead of Gutterwater in QB play, and anyone cane see that-so you just keep hugging Lichtbrains nuts Senor.
January 12th, 2026 at 7:24 am
Well like I have said for years JL has not taken many steps to develop any QB on this team. JW was it and Trask never played. Thats JLs picks in his tenure.
49s have Jones, we have Bridgewater. Hell, the Jones I saw this year might beat out Baker.
There was talk that Purdy would not start when healthy.
I like Bake, but I don’t view him as a top 10 QB. NOT WORTH 40 MIL PER.
January 12th, 2026 at 7:34 am
Whatever injury Baker had, sitting a couple games wasn’t gonna fix it
January 12th, 2026 at 7:34 am
Wyoming. Baker has choked the past 6 games away because of his picks he’s 1-9 in prime time games which means we will lose all of the night games we will play this year. Baker is not a franchise quarterback he’s a bridge quarterback. The bucs will never win or go to a Superbowl with Baker Mayfield. All that top 5 or top 10 quarterback don’t mean nothing. This is a trash division and him and Bowles has never dominated this division like other good quarterbacks do. Again if Jamies was our quarterback right now he would get all the blame on why we are losing. Lol 🤣🤣
January 12th, 2026 at 7:56 am
He IS the guy if you put 5 starting caliber offensive linemen in front of him. If you don’t, he’s toast. Our 2 guards were so bad they had no business being out there pass protecting.
January 12th, 2026 at 8:03 am
You need to sit him, we lost those games anyway with injured Baker. He comes back healthy we are in the playoffs
January 12th, 2026 at 8:03 am
Baker is a fun dude, tough, can make some amazing plays. He also can be super inconsistent and struggles with deep balls. Please stop with making excuses for Baker. Lots if teams had major oline issues. Even when Baker had a clean pocket, he hopped around and ran into sacks or panicked and threw some bad picks in crucial situations.
Baker is what he is. An above average QB that you can win some games with, but his record in primetime games is hard to ignore.
As long as Toad is here, nothing else really matters.
January 12th, 2026 at 8:09 am
Still agreeing with Kay. Todd has this next season to fix things. Baker’s injuries – yes and Kyle and Teddy were not the answer. We need a solid back-up that can pick up when Baker can’t.
Defense Rules – Mac Jones has been one of my favorites since his draft. He came out and congratulated everyone ahead of him that were being picked. Stand-up integrity. Loved it! He didn’t do well under Belichick, and I can understand that. But he has been solid since. And at the 49ers, he came in for Purdy and did very well. He is 27 and still has a lot in him too. Purdy 26, Baker 30. All in the same age range.
January 12th, 2026 at 8:15 am
I keep on hearing about “That guy”. Baker isn’t “That guy”.
I am a Baker fan, not an apologist. I agree, Baker is not “That guy”. The problem is so many people think “That guy” is out there somewhere just waiting to be plucked. The truth is there are so few qbs of that caliber you have two choices:
* Draft one and hope he turns into that guy. Good luck. And oh yeah, you need to suck to get high enough in the draft, give up a ransom to get there, or pick him where the Chiefs got Mahomes. That is the equivalent of retiring off a lottery scratcher. And the kings ransom you give up to get high in the draft? That could be Trey Lance. I love John Lynch too, but Brock Purdy saved his a**.
* Option 2, have a top 10-15 qb and build a good team around them. Does anyone associate Brad Johnson or Nick Foles as being “That guy”? Do you get a dynasty? No, but you could get a ring.
Here’s the funny thing. I’m not saying one is better than the other. What has to be worse is paying a guy to be “That guy” (Lamar, Burrow, Lawrence, etc) and never getting one ring out of the deal.
January 12th, 2026 at 8:16 am
He didn’t trust Teddy.
January 12th, 2026 at 8:26 am
Drunk Bucs Fan – Agree 100%. Yes, who are those guys? Remember Brady’s draft. He wasn’t the guy from the Combine, until he was later on.
A lot of it luck too, good fit in that team and coaching. Many we think are going to be that guy, fizzle. Hey, look at who the Browns chose over Baker. He had baggage, cost the Browns a lot of money, and barely played, got hurt… He wasn’t their guy after all.
I am sticking with Baker. He has been the guy, and yes some hiccups too. Let’s see who the next OC is and how it goes next season. At least they should bring in a qualified backup QB too. Not Teddy or Kyle were the answer.
January 12th, 2026 at 8:45 am
Teams should start to treat quarterbacks like starting pitchers you need at least 3 good ones.
January 12th, 2026 at 9:00 am
Baker needs a true competition…nothing should be given to him…
bring in Trey Lance and tell the world the BUCS have a QB competition and may the best QB win!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!
January 12th, 2026 at 9:03 am
No. 1 – who gives a crap what Kay Adams ever says? Man you guys (Joes) after such a fascination with her.
No. 2 – dah. He played hurt in Cleveland and played hurt half the season in 2025. When he wasn’t the Bucs were somehow the talk of the NFL and he was MVP candidate. It was obvious he was NO where near 100% in back half and we know what happened. Penthouse to outhouse for Baker, Bowles, entire team.
No. 3 – how many teams truly have a starting QB, let alone a back up QB? If you can find one, AND THAT”S A BIG IF, you need to pay the man accordingly.
No. 4 – Baker is NOT the problem folks. It’s JL and Todd Bowles. Even with Bowles, the offense will be fine. Problem is, we can’t stop anyone and I have NO CONFIDENCE that JL and Bowles can turn this defense around. Its not like we need one or two pieces. WE ARE NOT CLOSE on this side of the ball. Defense needs a complete overhaul. And then there is the special teams…
January 12th, 2026 at 9:04 am
Kay has a good take this time, unfortunately, the Bucs do not have a back up who the Bucs could confidently put on the field for a few games. For the Traskaholics, Kyle was not the answer either, he only made the ATL practice squad after Penix got knocked out for the season, no other team would touch him as a 3rd string QB, basically a bad draft pick by Licht. Bucs have Baker in 2027, like it or not, given the fact that he will take hits, the Bucs need to invest in a decent backup. Having a very good back up is what what saved San Fran’s season and Tampa not having one greatly contributed to the losses to New Orleans, the ATL, Carolina and Miami which was the difference between a 12 win team and an 8 win team. Granted a backup would not have won all 4 but just 2 or 3 wins there would have got the Bucs to 10 or 11 wins. Bowles would have still lost to the Rams in the playoffs but Grizzard might not have been the convenient scapegoat.
January 12th, 2026 at 9:17 am
Bridgewater was just a guy collecting a paycheck. Baker was certainly hurt and there is no denying that. They should have sat him for a bit. Obviously it couldn’t have hurt! We did nothing but get him beat up even more. The days of Earl Morrel and Don Strock are over, where a guy just hangs out on the sideline and never plays for 10 years!! You HAVE to have a real back up QB. We didn’t, so we played Mayfield. So what you will about him, but he would play hopping on one leg if you let him. He’s a gamer. Was it wise to let him play? Doesn’t look that way, now does it?
January 12th, 2026 at 9:36 am
It is kind of crazy that as lousy as this team ended up down the stretch, we probably make the playoffs not by an investment in starters but better back ups at qb and OG.
No, not a championship. But at least one win better I would have to believe.
So yes, invest Big Money in the D, but don’t go to the yard sale at noon for what’s left to fortify the offense
January 12th, 2026 at 9:56 am
They did and he was pretty ineffective for the 3 games with no rushing attempts. That coincided with the collapse.