Nick Wright: Yes, Baker Mayfield Is A Top-10 Quarterback
July 9th, 2025
Believes in Baker Mayfield.
Baker Mayfield can rest easy after he reads the following. Because now, the Bucs quarterback will know he has made it in his life’s work.
FOX Sports personality Nick Wright has a tradition of picking his quarterback pyramid for upcoming seasons. This summer is no different.
(Yes, we are in the throes of List Season.)
Wright, a panelist for the “First Things First” hollering show seen weekdays on FS1, published his quarterback pyramid for 2025 this week. And he has Mayfield in its top 10.
Not surprising, Wright, a diehard Chiefs fan, has Pat Mahomes on Level-1 at the very top of the pyramid. On Level-2 Wright has Josh Allen and Saint Lamar Jackson.
On the third level, Wright lists Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts and Jayden Daniels.
On Level-4 is where we can find Mayfield alongside Matt Stafford, Jared Goff and C.J. Stroud.
The final two levels are all sorts of controversial. Wright doesn’t even list Anthony Richardson. Of course, there is only room for 28 quarterbacks.
And yes, Joe fully agrees with Wright that Mayfield is better than Jordan Love and Kyler Murray and Trevor Lawrence and Tua Tagovailoa.
July 9th, 2025 at 12:52 am
Generally agree. Baker should be in tier 3 with a swap from Jalen or Jayden. Daniels has only 1 year under his belt. I remember last year when CJ Stroud was the next best thing.
Anthony Richardson needed a break.
July 9th, 2025 at 2:04 am
Mahomes 26 tds 11 pics – 19th in the league. Stopped reading after that.
July 9th, 2025 at 2:06 am
I’ll take Baker all day over pay me more but I’ll never win a SB or be happy because it’s a team sport Lamar. Go Bowles
July 9th, 2025 at 2:53 am
I’m not one of the mentally deranged Baker Boi(s) and even I would easily put Mayfield in the top 10.
Putting Hurts in that third tier is beyond ridiculous – Baker is better than Hurts without a doubt. I’d also put Baker above Stafford at this point of his career, and I’m never thought much of Goff, he’s definitely going down a level on my list. As stated before, I’d put Herbert above Baker, he’s been trapped in an awful system and doesn’t have anywhere near the weapons that Baker does – in this offense, Herbert would have the Bucs being talked about by everyone as a legit SB contender. Also I’d put Stroud above Baker – it’s hard to not look at his production and age and not do so, but can certainly listen to people make an argument about if it’s just a single year having Baker ahead, but it’s more about how highly I think of Stroud than anything else.
July 9th, 2025 at 3:00 am
OR Buc Says:
July 9th, 2025 at 12:52 am
Generally agree. Baker should be in tier 3 with a swap from Jalen or Jayden. Daniels has only 1 year under his belt. I remember last year when CJ Stroud was the next best thing.
——-
Stroud lost pretty much all of his weapons last year for large portions of the season, along with some really bad offensive line play and some very questionable play-calling and still won 10 games. He’s still one of the very best young QBs in the game.
As for Daniels, he didn’t choke in the 4th quarter of his playoff game – in fact he won 2 games and as a rookie took what everyone thought was a bad team to the NFC Championship game.
July 9th, 2025 at 4:55 am
Baker is absolutely higher than Stafford. Also, not feeling Burrows and Jackson on the upper tiers. Allen should be highest tier with or without Mahomes.
This is a mishmash tier. Some sports media and others are praising that this will be Penix year. He is on the bottom tier with Rodgers… A long way upward. Bo Nix had a pretty good season. He is 2nd from the bottom.
July 9th, 2025 at 6:03 am
This ranking seems arbitrarily skewed by geometry. Cute idea, but highly debatable execution.
July 9th, 2025 at 6:35 am
Purdy should be higher he makes good decisions and wins games, i can’t stand him but he’s good and almost always beats us
July 9th, 2025 at 6:50 am
the real crime is putting hurts on the same level as burrow.
I get it’s a period but burrow should be with allan and jackson and hurts and daniels should be on the same level as mayfield, stafford, goff, and stroud.
if baker can cut down the turnovers this year and keep the production up he could hop up a level.
p.s. I am glad to see herbert on a lower level on this list. tired of seeing him overrated.
July 9th, 2025 at 6:51 am
*pyramid
July 9th, 2025 at 7:25 am
If Mahome was drafted by the Browns and Baker fell to the Chiefs would things be different? There have been so many variables that have played out and how do we really list a QB? On stats? Games won? Super Bowls won? I believe it’s how many SB’s a QB has won but I will emphasis that it is a team win not 1 guy alone but to that end has the QB directed his team to wins? Come from behind wins? Execute the plays that needed to made to win? Brady’s perfect team lost a SB with a superior team, just not that day. Atlanta’s huge collapse but Brady did bring them back. Seattle’s gaff at the end of their loss? Just curious.
July 9th, 2025 at 7:26 am
Oh and if you could draft any QB from history today who would it be? I might start with Dan Marino.
July 9th, 2025 at 8:09 am
If someone is confused about the importance of winning games to ranking the QB? Joe and Sage know how important it is. Nothing more important. If we win the Super Bowl this year Mayfield will be flirting with the top spot. If we lay an egg and go 8-9 he’ll be lucky to be top 12. Even if all his stats remain the same. That’s how it should be. The QB has to have the leadership skills to win. Period. And Playoff games. End of sentence.
July 9th, 2025 at 8:27 am
Oh Rod – who spells boy, boi? Are you one of diddys twinks, a butthurt Jameis fan or both? Still down bad about the fact that Jameis should’ve been the first true franchise quarterback, but was nothing more than the class clown that people laughed at? Wah Baker fans are fans of a guy who is legitimately good, and they talk about it! This offends me!
July 9th, 2025 at 8:48 am
@Rod Munch…here is a better question, to your Herbert example, how many of those QBs in any of those tiers swapped out with Baker, playing on our team, would the National media be handing us the NFC? At least making the NFC championship? I think more than just Herbert.
The media doesn’t trust Baker, he’s great when no one sees him coming (last season vs Lions, vs Eagles), but on the big stage, primetime, this team can’t seem to win when expected to. I don’t think Baker is top 10, he’s hovering though based on the talent we see in that pyramid, and we really don’t know how talented some of those young QBs are because their football teams just aren’t very good. I don’t care about stats, I don’t. I care about finishing football games. Games are decided by a score or less. The teams and/or QBs ability to lead a team for the winning score is the difference. That’s why Mahomes is at the top. Stats aside, he’s still the most dangerous player at the end of the game when you need a score. That’s how you make the top of the pyramid…who do you want to face in a last possession game? I don’t think any of the better football teams in the NFL are worried about Baker in a close game. I hope this season he changes that narrative. If he does, we’re in for a deep run.
July 9th, 2025 at 8:57 am
Just win baby win.
July 9th, 2025 at 9:01 am
Sethery Says:
the real crime is putting hurts on the same level as burrow.
^^^^^
Agreed. I really don’t understand the love affair with Hurts. The Eagles roster is loaded. A lot of QBs would look really good (and probably better) on that team.
Sethery Says:
I am glad to see Herbert on a lower level on this list. tired of seeing him overrated.
^^^^^
What? Most passing yards and touchdowns than literally every QB to ever play in the NFL in his first 3 years and he’s overrated. His offensive line got him seriously injured. Harbaugh is building an OL and running game to protect him. You can’t love Burrow and not love Herbert. They’re the same QB.
July 9th, 2025 at 9:01 am
nick wright a couple years back used to annoy the heck out of me…and it was hard to pinpoint why…
but i gotta admit…he has grown on me over time…
he and his shtick are actually alright
July 9th, 2025 at 9:02 am
Can you imagine being Rogers and looking at this list? Dude is a Top 10 all time.
July 9th, 2025 at 9:05 am
history says stafford..but moving forward into the future, says baker…
history does carry weight…but baker over stafford moving forward…
and daniels……..one trainwreck of a season and he falls to the bottom of the batch…
remember how stroud was a top qb after his rookie stint…
daniels is like bucky…it’s year 2 – let’s see how they do without just anointing them the new king of the castle
July 9th, 2025 at 9:08 am
baker with a stellar season could jump up to say…number 5…
hard to unseat those top 4 though…
also herbert with a huge year could climb the board like a mofo…
also i think kyler murray is not as bottom tier and wright has him
July 9th, 2025 at 9:48 am
Rod, top 10 isn’t middling. I guess Baker isn’t middling anymore in your eyes? The thing about Daniels is, he has a top 10 coach. Actually, Quinn was voted as the #1 coach by every single one of his players. Next year, if we play Washington, they better brace themselves because there is going to be a spanking that proceeds.The only reason they beat us is because Baker only had half of his normal runs at scoring. 18 instead of his normal 36, thats 50%. Dan Quinn came ready with a brilliant game plan to which we had no answers defensively. It was hard to watch, unless you were a Washington fan. Daniels didn’t play near Bakers level of 146 passer rating. I think he had a 110 which is considerably less than Baker. Baker was knocking on perfections door of 158. No one played better than Baker in the 2024-2025 postseason. It is EXACTLY why Quinn knew the ONLY way they were going to beat us, was to limit Bakers attempts, and he did by 50%. IF we would have had an answer for Quinns plan, it would have been us going that deep into the playoffs. HARD to SWALLOW.
July 9th, 2025 at 10:17 am
Rod Munch
Is this a rest on your laurels or a what the future looks like pyramid? I’d say a combination of both. Jayden will regress in year 2 and his team is obviously pretty good around him. I get why he is ranked higher, but I personally like to see at least 2 years to see a trend. How many last second wins did they have? It’s bound to balance out. Of the Bucs 8 losses, 6 were 1 score games.
And Stroud makes my point above. In year 2 his numbers fell off. I get the injuries thing cause you know I’m a Bucs fan and followed last year too. Their D did a lot to keep them in games.
Baker posted above average numbers 2 years ago. Top tier numbers last year, outside of turnovers. Our offense will only get better with more continuity and a better composition of starters/depth (Bucky/Egbuka). The trend for Baker with top tier numbers should continue.
July 9th, 2025 at 11:12 am
That seems reasonable.
July 9th, 2025 at 12:04 pm
I like his show
July 9th, 2025 at 12:12 pm
All of you who think Hurts ain’t that good is just crazy 🤣🤣. Let me show you when it’s time for Hruts to close games out he does it. When games are put in his hands to go win them in cruiser moments he comes threw most of the time especially in the playoffs. Baker Mayfield haven’t proven he can do that yet and please stop with the weapons around Hurts because Baker has better receivers and I would pick our o line over they’re o line any day. He played in 2 Superbowls and won one. And I get it he had Barckley this year and the Chiefs shut him down to 24 yards rushing and they still put up 30 points. Baker Mayfield has everything on offense and a ok defense and he haven’t played in a conference championship game yet. And I don’t care about his stats at all if it’s not helping us win in the playoffs especially playing in a trash division that we barely win . It’s time for Baker Mayfield to get to a conference championship game this year if not him and Bowles need to go. And use Baker Mayfield for a bridge quarterback until the young quarterback is ready who ever that might be. They would have to move up in the draft and get a quarterback if we don’t get to a conference championship game at least. I hope we get to a Superbowl this year or at least a conference championship game. I’m rooting for Baker Mayfield but it’s time to put up or shut up when these playoffs games are in his hands to either close them out or win them.
July 9th, 2025 at 12:37 pm
^^^
Mayfield is a better passer than hurts. How many TDs decided games based on Hurts lower body strength? The answer, many.
July 9th, 2025 at 1:17 pm
OR bucs. Baker Mayfield haven’t won nothing and Hurts has and it doesn’t matter how you do it as long as you do it. How many playoff games Baker Mayfield closed out? My point exactly !!
July 9th, 2025 at 1:20 pm
Baker placement is solid – in this offense and with the supporting cast he has around him. Although the dynamics of Tristan likely starting the season on the PUP list causes some concerns regarding o-line depth – but the ability to get the ball out accurately & quickly is a proven strength with WR depth & a quick short pass game and a solid run game.
July 9th, 2025 at 2:29 pm
Yes Onei I know anyone can run a #3 scoring offense when your best receivers are hurt. And Baker playing better in the playoffs than anyone else is easy too. If I were the coach I would tell everyone that ol’ Baker is just a bridge on the river Kwai and that’s all he’ll ever be.
July 9th, 2025 at 2:35 pm
How many “good” teams has Baker played on? Exactly!!
July 9th, 2025 at 2:39 pm
Just so you know Onei it’s a little easier to close out when you’re the qb on a team with the #1 defense and #1 OL. Come on now, try and keep some perspective here.
July 9th, 2025 at 3:36 pm
Davyboy. You have to stop making excuses for Baker Mayfield . You never blame Baker Mayfield for nothing. Was it the o line fault that Baker threw a pick on his second throw against the lions? Baker Mayfield was the reason why he fumble against Washington. But I get it Baker can throw 5 picks and you will blame everyone else but Baker Mayfield.
July 9th, 2025 at 4:15 pm
It’s funny but I don’t ever recall making “excuses” for Baker. However, I do remember pointing out a different opinion than yours, one that the football analysts on PFF agree with me on. Now if that’s what you call making “excuses” I would have to say that sounds like a personal problem to me.