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.
May 23rd, 2025 at 3:47 pm
Rod, correct that just because Baker has thrown for more tds than any NFL QB the last 2 years doesn’t mean that Herbert isn’t capable of hanging big numbers. Herbert throws for alot of yards and only threw 3 picks last year. In his career he’s winless in the playoffs 0-2 with 2 tds and 4 picks and a slew of questions about his fear level at clutch times. Terrible passer rating in the playoffs- opposed to Bakers highest passer ratings in the playoffs. You Rod Munch can have Herbert. And Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans will take Baker.
May 23rd, 2025 at 4:11 pm
Cool stats bro but didn’t we beat the Chargers like a red headed step child head to head? And how did our last game against GB go?
Not sure what your point was…. Other than trying to minimize Baker and the Bucs success because of our division, which is getting old.
And for anybody still holding Coen’s balls – the guy was/is a con-man who was good for 3/4 of a season. Grizz and Carberry probably had more to do with last year’s success than Red did. Very glad that guys gone and they didn’t screw the pooch by making him HC like SO MANY of you dummies were calling for.
May 23rd, 2025 at 4:15 pm
Don’t tell that to Ira!
May 23rd, 2025 at 5:11 pm
Nowadays anyone with a phone can post something and be an expert.
That’s how we got into the mess we’re in.
Take that as my expert opinion.
May 23rd, 2025 at 5:14 pm
Muncher,
Time for a new noun. You are a Baker sycophant notwithstanding your pleas other wise. You have gone from being violently opposed to Bucs signing Baker to being on the threshold of removing your Tom Brady poster from your bedroom. You know, the one where Tom isn’t wearing a shirt. You hedge by hanging the Commanders fumble on Baker when all serious football people know that McMillan was too deep and overran the handoff. The Lions interception it is clear that Otton was too deep and almost ran into Godwin. Baker took the heat for both which is why the team loves playing for him. They know that he will never throw a teammate under the bus. This is a lot different than you who likes to drive the bus over Mayfield whenever you get the slightest opening.
May 23rd, 2025 at 6:00 pm
If you factor in leadership and low salary he is #5. Mahomes relies on athleticism and that is dropping rapidly.
May 23rd, 2025 at 6:30 pm
My apologies ,,, I forgot Lamar in my group,,, it just didn’t pop into my head at the time ,,, Not sure he would have survived last year in our offense ,,, in fact it’s a short list of those that would have ,,, every time Baker went into the injury tent I thought he would be out 4 to 6 weeks and every time he came right back!!!
Grizz needs to address this and protect him at least a little
May 23rd, 2025 at 6:35 pm
Mayfield xan make some mistakes. I see him make throws that Drop my jaw and its consistent. He had his team avg.30. How many above him on that list can say that? People are dumb. I like geno because of some memory of a great game and a picture in my head but not baker because dur dur whatever.
May 23rd, 2025 at 6:37 pm
Even among fans there are a variety of opinions about Baker Mayfield. This is obvious. I liked the one about B/B+ talent, A++ intangibles.
How do you measure intangibles anyway? I think this where watching his play overrides PFF stats. Fans like me can try to present stats and/or other evidence but can’t “prove” anything. So I will continue with the cheerleading. I see a top tier QB in Mayfield.
Go Bucs!!
May 23rd, 2025 at 6:55 pm
Justin Herbert and Trevor Lawrence are going to ride “potential” all the way to retirement.
May 23rd, 2025 at 8:14 pm
I’m a Oklahoma fan trust me when I say this… This is exactly what the bucs fan base would want them to rank baker just foward it to shake and bake and let him go to work. Baker lives for proving everyone wrong and works better when he has a enemy just ask the Browns or Texas or anyone else who has bet against him.
May 23rd, 2025 at 8:33 pm
Look Baker Mayfield don’t have to be the best quarterback in the league I don’t care about that. The only thing I want from Baker Mayfield is when we get in the playoffs don’t turn the ball over in cruiser moments of the game he can play like Nick Foles did with the eagles and I believe we can get to at least the NFC Championship game or maybe even the Superbowl. I don’t want to be in the cowboys situation with Dak or Romo . I don’t care about his stats Hurts didn’t even throw for 3000 yards and they won a Superbowl that’s what I want. I’m rooting for Baker Mayfield to do well this year and I think he will in the regular season. Let’s dominate this division and get to the playoffs go bucs all day long for me !!!
May 23rd, 2025 at 8:37 pm
Yes GoneGator we did beat the Charges like a red headed stepchild and they do play really good teams in that division but the best part is we beat them like no body beat them all year. So the narrative that we don’t stack up because we are in a weak division is someone as you said trying to minimize Baker and our offense. Not to mention beating 3 OTHER really good teams, the Lions and both superbowl teams. The main reason we lose is mistakes. When we are on it is rare we can be beaten. On old Rod who can never just compliment Baker without also running him down, I was watching Baker kick the snot out of #2 Ohio State in 2017 and low and behold Oklahoma ran the jet sweep to perfection. The receiver was less than a yard off Bakers heels and it worked perfect. Unlike McMillans route that was almost 2 yards from Bakers heels, but hey, who cares about reality and we’ll established plays like the jet sweep. Next time McMillan runs the jet sweep I’ll bet he is no more than 1 yard from Baker. Rod???
May 23rd, 2025 at 9:15 pm
Oneibuc,, if Baker doesn’t push it and do what you don’t want him to do in crucial moments then playoffs wouldn’t matter cause we would be 7-10 and not be in the playoffs ,,, we made the playoffs because of that type of play in cruciall moments and yes when you do that you will also have mistakes and turnovers ,, we can take it or leave it , but if your saying we lost the Redskin game due to that turnover at the end I would say you can’t win the game when the D gives up 500 4th down conversions (I know it wasn’t that many but it was sad )
May 23rd, 2025 at 11:02 pm
Kenton Smith Says:
May 23rd, 2025 at 3:47 pm
Rod, correct that just because Baker has thrown for more tds than any NFL QB the last 2 years doesn’t mean that Herbert isn’t capable of hanging big numbers. Herbert throws for alot of yards and only threw 3 picks last year. In his career he’s winless in the playoffs 0-2 with 2 tds and 4 picks and a slew of questions about his fear level at clutch times. Terrible passer rating in the playoffs- opposed to Bakers highest passer ratings in the playoffs. You Rod Munch can have Herbert. And Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans will take Baker.
——–
Hey stupid, read the part about scheme. I know you Baker Boi(s) are literally idiots, but scheme does matter, and it’s why Baker signed a low end QB deal, because in 2023 with Canales as OC, Baker was very middling, and got a very middling contract. In 2024, with THE best offensive scheme in football, Baker looked a lot better. Put Herbert in this scheme, with these weapons, everyone would be talking about Tampa winning the SB, not just homers.
Also I just said Baker is better than 4 other QBs on that list, including the guy who just won the SB, and yet you’re still triggered. That’s what makes Baker Boi(s) so hated, they’re literally retarded.
May 24th, 2025 at 12:30 am
I absolutely love that the Bucs have Mayfield – clearly a top 5 QB in entertainment value and probably a top 10 QB overall. What I can’t stand, however, is when pundits claim that such and such QB beat so and so QB. QBs do not play each other; they play the defense of other teams. Sure, you can say that Mayfield did better against San Diego’s defense than Herbert did against Tampa’s defense but that’s it. It’s why I don’t like Movin’ The Chain’s ranking of Stafford as a 12 but Mayfield as only an 11 because Stafford won a Superbowl. NO HE DIDN’T – his team did. If he was so great, why did Detroit always suck and Stafford only won one when he switched teams?
May 24th, 2025 at 1:44 am
Hey munch, he was middling ONLY to you, the resident idiot of JBF that can’t see past your own nose, yeah, that would be you. When you beat Mahomes twice in college and you are voted the best college quarterback in the 21st century only idiots doubt your abilities, yes you munch, Mr. he, he, he fumbled, he fumbled-maroon. When you have the highest passer rating in the playoffs of all time, you are only a choker to idiots, yes munch thats you. Yes thats a better passer rating in the playoffs than Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Roger, Drew Brees, Mahomes all of them. Everyone else knew what was going on. The only thing Baker needed was stability and good coaching. You have got to the most delusional person ever to post here. That’s all right though because Baker is going to shut you up this year for good. Not that he hasn’t already shut you up, you are just toooo dumb to realize it. So he is going to do it in a manner even you munch will finally get the message that 98% of the sports world already got. It’s coming and you are not invited to the party.