Is Baker Mayfield Underrated?
July 12th, 2025
Changing the narrative.
We are in the depths of List Season. Everyone has a list. If you can hatch a list of some sort, if it hasn’t been copied, it will be within the next 10 days.
So Evan Kaplan, an NFL researcher with BSPN, came up with an interesting stat that has sort of flown over Joe’s head.
Mayfield actually leads the NFL in touchdown passes since he signed with the Bucs. Pretty incredible.
Now, with everyone and their half-brother publishing lists, there are tons of quarterback rankings. Joe has seen Mayfield anywhere from No. 5 to No. 16.
Given all those TD passes in a Bucs uniform, maybe his floor is No. 8? Think about it: If Saint Lamar Jackson led the league in touchdown passes, you would be able to stand on the docks in Tarpon Springs and hear the orgasmic moaning about Jackson all the way from Bristol, Conn. People would freak out so much.
Jackson, as Joe likes to point out, has just one more career playoff win than Mayfield.
Props to Bucs coach Todd Bowles. He’s the one who constantly hounded AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht to sign Mayfield.
Who would have thought the Bucs would be able to replace Tom Brady with a guy who, in the two-year period after Brady retired, would lead the NFL in touchdown passes?
And it didn’t cost the Bucs one draft pick.
Baker Mayfield has the most touchdown passes in the NFL (69) in the last 2 seasons since joining the Buccaneers.
In 2024 he became the 4th QB to ever have 40+ TD passes and complete 70% in a season (others are Brees, Rodgers, Burrow).
— Evan Kaplan (@EpKap) July 9, 2025
July 12th, 2025 at 12:37 am
Its hard to believe that the Bucs actually have a “franchise Quarterback”in his prime – after 4 1/2 DECADES of trying to find such a rare commodity….
And Baker is apparently good with team friendly contracts – which is even more rare…
Brady was a 2-3 year rental and we all knew it. It was amazing while he was here – but all knew it wouldn’t last long….
Baker, it now seems, has found his ‘home’ – and could easily wind up playing 10+ years for this Tampa Bay franchise….
Just like he and Steve Young talked about right after Baker signed with the Bucs.
Young BTW was the only other legit franchise QB the Bucs have ever fielded in his prime (albeit for only 2 years) – but those Leeman Bennett teams were SOOOO bad that even the great Steve Young looked bad – running for his life constantly and posting a 3-16 record before getting traded to San Fran for picks in the 2nd and 4th rounds…. SMH
July 12th, 2025 at 1:27 am
Excellent article Joe.
Todd is great at HR.
July 12th, 2025 at 4:56 am
Baker has been “underrated” his whole life. It’s why the chip resides on his shoulder. The fun part is watching him prove all the experts who think they know him, wrong, over and over again. Please keep telling him he can’t win a superbowl. If you look back at those quaterbacks who have thrown 40 touchdowns in a season you would find 95% of them are HoF. Baker is headed in that direction whether you want him to or not. He was NEVER suppose to win the Heisman yet somehow he did, by a lot. When it comes to football, I wouldn’t bet against Baker Mayfield.
July 12th, 2025 at 5:11 am
Great Joe post and comments!
Todd liked Baker since the Jets. So happy he kept pursuing Baker. He was the perfect QB after Brady. It all clicked. Yes, Baker is underrated. That is okay. We all are seeing the real deal. Go Bucs!
July 12th, 2025 at 6:44 am
I think Baker is just different. He isn’t necessarily what I would call a typical duel threat QB. Not in the typical sense anyway. He’s more like Mike Alstott with a cannon for an arm.
July 12th, 2025 at 6:48 am
I’ve said on this site that I have been watching Football and QBs for 50 years and I’m not sure that Baker isn’t one of the 10 best QBs I’ve ever seen. But to be clear, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino didn’t win at least a Championship (Super Bowl). Baker isn’t underrated in my opinion. He has a team that can win championships finally. Licht has proven that with the right QB he can build championship teams. Now it’s time for Baker to prove it. Or he’ll find himself in that Marino Kelly level. And it would be impossible for me to call a QB underrated if he hasn’t led a team to at least one Super Bowl. Let’s win us a Super Bowl or 2 and that’ll give him the chance to be the QB I think he is.
July 12th, 2025 at 6:53 am
And to be clear he’s not on a Marino or Kelly level either. Yet.
July 12th, 2025 at 7:06 am
when i first heard he was going to be a buc and compete with trask to start i thought kyle had no shot at beating him, baker is a really good qb with a arching accurate mid range spiral, good at check downs, makes plays with his feet fiery leader perfect guy to replace brady. took advantage of his opportunity but is he a sb winning qb like brady and mahomes? he’s blown his last two chances in the playoffs with dumb 4th qt turnovers, how many more chances will he get? great qb stoked we got him, if he stays healthy it’s going to be a fun year
July 12th, 2025 at 7:10 am
If being underrated makes Baker continue to play with a chip on his shoulder, I’m all for it.
July 12th, 2025 at 7:23 am
Yes he is.
July 12th, 2025 at 7:30 am
@Kenton
As usual agree completely with your observations. I too am not ready to start making pronouncements of “greatness” for Baker just yet, anymore than I was ready to join Muncher and the rest who pronounced Baker as a bad QB.
One of the exciting things about this season is some stories are going to get some meat on their bones. Lots of players on the Bucs are on the cusp of special careers and not just Baker.
This season challenges have been met and the excuse bin is growing empty.
I want to see how Baker does this year. He’s already been hugely successful but I guess year 3 would validate that success.
Same thing for players like Vea, Kancy and some others on the CUSP of greatness like AW JR. Can he return to his old form or is last year more indicative of his true worth. I remain optimistic about all these guys with the obvious fear of the NFL wild card…INJURIES.
July 12th, 2025 at 7:47 am
The fact that Baker will be our QB for the next 10 years is unreal. the Bucs first real franchise QB. This man is a Dwag and Cleveland fans are hating that they lost him
July 12th, 2025 at 8:13 am
Who else is a pretty good QB with O Superbowls that I’ve been playing quite a few years?
Jackson
Allen
Burrow
Does anyone think Hurtz, Stafford or Foles are better QBs than Baker? They’re pretty much the only guys that won super bowls in the past 10 years that aren’t named Brady or Mahomes. You can throw Manning in there at the beginning of the 10 year stretch if you want to, but we all know he’s a legend.
Baker is in good company. If we’re a healthy team by playoff time, he can show what he has and there will be no excuses for him or Bowles. I for one am looking forward to it.
July 12th, 2025 at 8:55 am
Underrated is not the word. Its more like these writers can’t admit they were so wrong during and after the 2022 Watson character assassination debacle. The Browns smear campaign worked too well and no one ever wants to admit they were wrong. At least the owner of the Browns,admitted he was dead wrong about his judgment.
July 12th, 2025 at 8:58 am
KAbucs. Hurts is better than Baker Mayfield and all those quarterbacks you named have played in conference championship games or Superbowls and Baker Mayfield haven’t played in either this is why I can’t stand Baker Mayfield fans because most of y’all are not real bucs fans. All y’all care about is Baker Mayfield stats which haven’t lead up to Superbowls or Conference championships games. I’m a bucs fan so I’m not going to make up excuses for Baker Mayfield every time he chocks in big moments.
July 12th, 2025 at 9:14 am
Baker is our franchise QB. We can win a Super Bowl with him. Saying this is not anointing him with the mantle of greatness. Only time and circumstances will tell his story. That is what is so exciting for us fans at this time.
Go Bucs!!
July 12th, 2025 at 9:17 am
These compare and contrasts are simply dumb. Zero context. Lamar Jackson has handed us our lunch. Ravens’ defenses and/or offenses have been really good but have not been juggernauts and yet we don’t have answers for them. Yet let’s make a close QB comparison given Lamar only has one more lousy playoff win than Baker Mayfield?
Let’s set the scene contextually. Lamar lives in the AFC, where he faces Mahomes, Allen, and Burrow (x2). At the same time, there’s some other talent that will sneak up on you on a good day, i.e. Rodgers and Hurbert, hell I can name a few other QBs that would give the Ravens trouble. The AFC North in general is not a cake walk. Baker, on the other hand, the last 2 seasons, has been in the NFC South, in a struggling division where all the teams have had a carousel of coaches, and have been trying to rebuild, and the NFC as a whole just doesn’t have the powerhouse QBs the AFC does. I don’t think Lamar is a great QB, but he’s better than what experts expected him to be when he came out of college and when he gets into space he is elite. Question, if Lamar’s was Tampa’s QB, you doubt they’d be talking Super Bowl? Again, we can talk stats until we are blue in the face, but I’ll ask again, using Lamar as the other QB…you have the ball, min left, need a TD to win the game, who do you want with the ball, Baker or Lamar?
Something tells me deep playoff run or not, Baker’s team friendly deal is going to end and he’ll be working his way toward a $50M per season, why? Because of these dumb comparisons. Well Brock Purdy got this, and who do you think is better, Purdy or Baker? Context be damned…Smh.
July 12th, 2025 at 10:51 am
If not for the worst call in my lifetime that is still being talked about because it was such an obviously bad call Mayfield would have taken the most terrible team in football to the superbowl. So I don’t know why Oneilbuc you are talking about playing in conference championships when Mayfield already qualified as taking the worst team in football to the superbowl? He will do the same here just give him a chance. If he can take the worst team 0-16 in 3 years to the superbowl I’m sure he can do the same for the Bucs.
July 12th, 2025 at 11:09 am
What you can’t see Onielbuc is you are not a real Bucs fan either. You are,as irrational an anti Baker person as the Bois are irrational pro Baker. The truth is always in the middle. I have seen many poists about Herbert and you making excuses for him doung worse innthge playoffs then Baker. You have an anti Ba on er chip on your shoulder. Jyst as much as the pro Baker tyoes cant see one single flaw. Would we be vetter off withbAlken? Absolutely but the Glazers are saddked with crazy debt from their Manchestrr United debacke. Man u is even !or of an under performer than Tampa Bay. Nottimgham forest finished higher. So the Gkazers will never oay for a better QB. Baker is the best bargain QB around. Woukd we win a Suoef bowl with Bakervand Aruens? Probably but the Glasers do mit bc wantbto pay fo red a top coach. Si there it us bkamecManchester. Things might get better with the new Man U stadium. Money might flow the other way.
July 12th, 2025 at 11:13 am
What you can’t see Onielbuc is you are not a real Bucs fan either. You are,as irrational an anti Baker person as the Bois are irrational pro Baker. The truth is always in the middle. I have seen many poists about Herbert and you making excuses for him doing worse in the playoffs then Baker. You have an anti Baker chip on your shoulder. Just as much as the pro Baker types can’t see one single flaw. Would we be better off with Allen? Absolutely but the Glazers are saddled with crazy debt from their Manchester United debacle. Man u is even more of an under performer than Tampa Bay. Nottingham forest finished higher. So the Glazes will never pay for a better QB. Baker is the best bargain QB around. Would we win a Super bowl with Baker and Arians? Probably but the Glaser s do not bc want to pay for a top coach. So there it is blame Manchester. Things might get better with the new Man U stadium. Money might flow the other way.
July 12th, 2025 at 12:10 pm
Oneilbuc used to make plenty of excuses for Jameis!
July 12th, 2025 at 12:23 pm
It’s called projection
July 12th, 2025 at 12:31 pm
I thought scoring TD’s was the name of the game? So if BM6 has scored more than anyone else and has a top 3 passer rating and the best completion percentage how is he not higher in the ratings? How is he not underrated? Because he has 3 more interceptions than mahomes?
July 12th, 2025 at 12:35 pm
Marky. I actually go to games and I don’t even live in Tampa. Number 2 just because I call it like I see it doesn’t mean I’m anti Baker Mayfield. I’ve said it a thousand times that Baker Mayfield is not a bad quarterback and that in fact I’m rooting for him because he’s the bucs staring quarterback. But I’m not going to keep giving him passes every time in playoffs games when the games is on the line and he can close the game out or go win it he turns over the ball. And then y’all get on here and blame the defense for losing games like that. And if me wanting to win championships and Superbowls makes me not a real fan in your eyes then I guess to you I will never be a real fan lol 🤣🤣.
July 12th, 2025 at 12:39 pm
1987. Jamies didn’t have near the players around him like Baker Mayfield or the coaches. Baker Mayfield is not ask to throw 45 to 50 times a game up the field like Jamies was. Jamies won 9 games with a 26 ranked defense and no running game. That’s a fact not a excuse if Jamies would have been in this situation I would be saying the same thing about him especially playing in the weakest division in football.
July 12th, 2025 at 12:47 pm
And by the way Baker Mayfield is on his 4th team some of y’all act like Baker Mayfield is a hall of famer lol 🤣🤣. And to the guy that said Cleveland was a trash team that Baker changed around. Well we all know the coaches were paid extra money to tank games. Baker Mayfield had everything in Cleveland the year they made the playoffs and he actually had a better team than what he has now and he still couldn’t get to a conference championship game. So for me when the game is in Baker Mayfield hands in the playoffs and he turns over the ball and we don’t get to a conference championship game the bucs must move up in the draft and get a quarterback. You can’t waste the rest of Godwin and Evans last chance to get another ring like Dallas is doing with Dak
July 12th, 2025 at 1:30 pm
BatW Says:
July 12th, 2025 at 7:47 am
The fact that Baker will be our QB for the next 10 years is unreal. the Bucs first real franchise QB. This man is a Dwag and Cleveland fans are hating that they lost him
=================================
Browns fans didn’t “lose” Baker. The idiots who run things in Cleveland gave him away for nothing to sign a sexual predator for 5 years, $235Mill guaranteed. How has that worked out for the geniuses who run The Browns? Is there anybody in Tampa other than Oneilbuc, who would prefer Deshaun Watson over Baker Mayfield?
July 12th, 2025 at 1:31 pm
Oneilbuc,
We see what you mean. Don’t we?
July 12th, 2025 at 2:25 pm
@Joe Says: “Props to Bucs coach Todd Bowles. He’s the one who constantly hounded AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht to sign Mayfield.”
———————————————————————————
Please be careful making statements like that! You’re going to trigger all the Bowles-haters and they’ll run off in search of a safe space. 😉
July 12th, 2025 at 2:28 pm
We have had good QBs before, we just didn’t keep them around
Doug Williams took us to the Conference finals, he won a Super Bowl with Washington, record breaking performance
Steve Young won Super Bowls with San Francisco after leaving the Bucs, even Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl with the Ravens.
July 12th, 2025 at 2:51 pm
Oh yeah, of course, the only year the Browns did any good, 2020, and they would have done it with any old quarterback. Baker was just lucky enough to be that any old quarterback. Now I have heard it all. The Browns had KC beat on their way to the superbowl and the refs had to step in and nullify/steal Bakers TD pass that beat them and opened the path to the superbowl and Baker had nothing to do with it. The team was so good they could have got there with a 90 year old Romo. I thought I had heard it all. Wow!! And they’ve been that good several times since Baker left haven’t they. That deserves another wow!! News Flash: it will be decades before the Browns are as good as where BAKER had them in 2020.
July 12th, 2025 at 3:27 pm
Marky mark,
I am as big a Baker fan as anyone but I don’t have any trouble seeing some flaws: 1) he at times tries to fit passes into very tight windows; 2) he guns the ball so hard at times that his receivers can’t handle his bullets; 3) tries too hard to keep plays alive when he should just throw the ball away. All 3 of these issues are the result of great confidence in his bazooka like arm. Brady was a master at throwing it away which is why he played 23 years and can still order off a menu by himself. Doubt Baker will change. Even if he doesn’t, 2025 will look like this 40+TD passes; 10 INT, 4500 yards passing; 70% completion%.
July 12th, 2025 at 4:13 pm
Gipper. As soon as the Browns start winning you will be back on their site acting like you been down with the team lol 🤣🤣. You a fake bucs fan and a fake Browns fan lol 🤣🤣 you just fake all across the board!!
July 12th, 2025 at 4:14 pm
So far Baker has been Alex Smith, Tony Romo and Dak put up good stats in the regular season but chokes in the playoffs!!
July 12th, 2025 at 5:04 pm
Oneilbuc you are pathetic
July 12th, 2025 at 5:29 pm
Oneilbuc,
You aren’t really wrong but considering this was an article about Mayfield being underrated and almost all of what are considered the top quarterbacks have been similarly inconsistent in the playoff, its a little weird that a true Bucs fan would go out of their way to bash the starting qb. Do you get style points for keeping it real?
July 12th, 2025 at 7:12 pm
krash . The main problem I with Baker fans is you really can’t talk football with them because they’re blinded behind Baker Mayfield. In there eyes he can do no wrong. But ok he’s the greatest quarterback of all times that’s what y’all want people to say . He is a quarterback that’s on his 4th team but it was every one else fault but his . Every pick he threw was the receivers fault because they wanted him to lose those playoffs games ok .
July 12th, 2025 at 7:15 pm
Baker fan. Your name shows how pathetic you are Baker Mayfield don’t even know you exist on the planet and you named your self after him lol 🤣🤣. Ain’t no talking to you about Baker because you worship Baker Mayfield lol 🤣🤣. So if he throws 10 picks in one game you will blame everyone else but Baker Mayfield lol 🤣.
July 12th, 2025 at 7:18 pm
But I knew a guy named youngbuc who felt the same way about Brady and I told him once Brady leave he will be gone as well because he wasn’t a real bucs fan and I knew it and he haven’t been on here since Brady left. And you are another one a fake bucs fan and a fake Browns fan .