Will Baker Mayfield Grow From His 2025 Struggles?
February 3rd, 2026
Tom Brady speaks.
Tom Brady was talking yesterday.
Yes, despite co-owning the Raiders and serving as its franchise overlord, and working as a FOX game analyst, starring in commercials and having several business interests, Brady occasionally finds time for the Let’s Go! podcast he founded with Jim Gray.
Brady was talking on SiriusXM about the growth of Seahawks QB Sam Darnold (a quarterback Brady didn’t want last offseason) and his rise to a Super Bowl level.
Brady noted how Darnold has several great players around him and, in what sounded like a rare unscripted moment from Brady, he referenced how he chose the Bucs in 2020 because he wanted to “play with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.” Brady mentioned no other Buccaneers.
Interesting to Joe was Brady lecturing on how quarterbacks should become hardnosed after dealing with personal setbacks and team struggles. That got Joe thinking of Baker Mayfield.
Of course, Darnold has had a journey very similar to that of Mayfield, his 2018 draft classmate.
“Sam’s now taken advantage of his opportunity,” Brady said. “And Sam’s really a football player. He’s tough hardnosed guy. I think he’s built up some resilience from his time in the NFL. He’s become more mentally tough to face the adversities, and that’s the mark of any great player. You just don’t learn from your wins; the reality is you learn more from your failures than you do from your wins.
“If you can have enough mental toughness to grow your own self-confidence from your losses, you’re gonna be hardened. You’re gonna be much more prepared for, you know, being the leader of an organization. Because you’re gonna realize that the values inside of you of overcoming things when they don’t go your way are the most important things to winning.”
So how much will Mayfield be “hardened,” to use Brady’s word, from the Bucs’ collapse of 2025? How much better will Mayfield become? How much more prepared will he be to tackle adversity next season?
If Mayfield is the player the Bucs think he is, he should have a heck of a 2026 season, and find ways to overcome the Bucs’ propensity for midseason implosions.
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:06 am
I don’t know, will he get some help on the interior part of the offensive line? Let’s see how he does with 5 starters instead of third stringers. I’d put money on him being better!
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:09 am
bucnjim Says:
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:06 am
I don’t know, will he get some help on the interior part of the offensive line? Let’s see how he does with 5 starters instead of third stringers. I’d put money on him being better
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Of course.
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:15 am
Joe: “Will Baker Mayfield Grow From His 2025 Struggles?” Yes, Bake will learn not to have two third-team guards in front of him, and Bake will learn not to scramble for first downs. He’ll learn not to hurt his knee, left shoulder, and right shoulder. He’ll learn to avoid first-time play callers. He’ll learn to score on every possession because he can’t coach the defense to keep giving up leads.
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:16 am
Match will be back so there’s your help
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:16 am
Mauch*
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:29 am
Deja vu anyone?
“This year Jameis will learn from throwing all those game losing INTs.”
Baker had 4 out of 5 games in a row he lost with a late INT. Heroic plays followed by boneheaded decisions. Bucs Fans blame everyone but the QB for years.
Maybe Baker will get LASIK next.
Seen this show. New circus, same monkeys.
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:39 am
He’ll learn not to hand off on 1st down every series.
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:50 am
3-14 baby no more Bowles, welcome to Tampa Arch
February 3rd, 2026 at 10:55 am
Mayfield was hard-nosed enough to play through injury and keep Teddy Bridgewater off the field. As a result, we had a slim chance at the playoffs after playing the last game. Under Bridgewater, things would have been much worse. Yes, the losses would have been there regardless, but injuries and turnovers would have been much worse.
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:01 am
SlyPirate Says:
“Baker had 4 out of 5 games in a row he lost with a late INT. Heroic plays followed by boneheaded decisions”
And yet he had only 11 picks this year, which means he doesn’t make boneheaded decisions. He had a defense lose the lead on him. They were incapable of stopping opponents from scoring. He had no choice but to take risks.
And, unfortunately, his injured throwing shoulder and injured ribs affected his accuracy.
Don’t make the mistake of giving up on him. He proved he is capable of MVP play when healthy.
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:14 am
50% trolls smh
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:14 am
Good article and great question. Baker is as responsible for that 2-7 finish as Bowles or anyone else is. Good QB’s don’t let their teams go in to a slide like that. I would not be extending his contract so quickly. Short term extension? Maybe. But he needs to find consistency in his play and I haven’t seen it yet. Don’t want to hear about injuries either. If you are hurt that badly, then sit out. Otherwise, you are a QB that went 2-7 down the stretch in a garbage division. Sam Darnold? He is in the Super Bowl. Do you have one in you Baker? I am not sure you do…prove me wrong.
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:26 am
Maker did have 11 interceptions last year, though it was really nine because two of the 11 were Otton literally having his lunch taken away
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:33 am
If our O-line and QB stay healthier and our young WRs (Egbuka, Johnson, & JMac) continue to get better, the TE position is upgraded, and the O-line depth is upgraded, the Bucs should be able to score 30+ points per game.
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:35 am
It wasn’t just Baker who struggled after the bye. The whole team went into the Bowles, I mean bowl.
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:41 am
I think it will appear that way with a better O Line and OC.
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:56 am
He may learn to forego an extension and play for mcvay…
February 3rd, 2026 at 11:56 am
If injury was part of the struggles,.maybe he will learn to let the backup play a game or 2. Better to lose a couple and come back healthy and have a better chance of winning.
February 3rd, 2026 at 12:00 pm
If he stays healthy he will be back to form.
February 3rd, 2026 at 12:06 pm
Ah Bucs fans covering their evaluation eyes, because they like a guy.
So it’s the same old, same old.
Defense couldn’t hold a lead, even though we struggled to score on per game, per half, per quarter and per drive basis, but sure. Reminder that we punted almost twice as much as we touched paint, but “leads were blown”
Oh the OL was banged up, they started the season that way, didn’t stop us from performing at a high level occasionally.
Oh he only threw 11 picks, yea but more than half(6) of them came in the 2nd half of 6 different games.
7 of 11 came while trailing, so you struggle to score and cough the ball up.
Never been highly consistent or efficient, evidenced by 349 passes being thrown from Detroit to the season finale, and only completing 54% of those passes.
100 starts into a career, no real glaring improvements from earlier in his career in terms of his play to, tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses might lead some to believe Baker has maxed his potential.
Some may think 2024 was and will remain the best season of his career as an individual player.
One thing Sam Darnold will be whether he wins the SB or not, is he’s going to get paid. Minnesota just fired their GM, not saying it’s the only reason but letting Darnold go to ride with JJ McCarthy had something to do with it.
February 3rd, 2026 at 12:38 pm
Ya kinda stretching the yarn. How much more adversity does he have to face? He’s had 8 OCs, been passed around the league like a frat house wh0re, allegedly played 2 seasons with significant injuries, has seen the mountain top as a #1 Heisman winning pick and the valleys of be cut for the likes of Watson and Young, and has experienced a few losing seasons. The guy is starting to look like a bag of Frito Lays he has so many chips on his shoulder. I mean really, when’s the lesson gonna sink in? Intangibles are just that, a statistical myth, not Ws
February 3rd, 2026 at 12:39 pm
Baker was healthy, with a healthy OL, a healthy Evans and an exceptional OC in 2024 and how did that work out in the playoffs? Defense held the other team to 23 pts but that was too much for the offense.
That patchwork OL in 2025 that everyone loves to hate on was ranked 14th in time to throw and time to pressure. Better than the 49ers, Falcons, Lions, Chiefs and Chargers. Not bad for 2nd and 3rd stringers but yall dont like that stat.
All the excuses will come tumbling down this season. No matter what you think about Baker, he isnt the long term solution for the Bucs.
February 3rd, 2026 at 12:45 pm
The Bucs are regressing every year with Baker.
2023: Got to the second round. Not a bad start.
2024: First round loss at home to a rookie QB. Not a good look.
2025: Lost division. Collapse from 6-2 to 8-9. No playoffs. Unacceptable.
Baker does not deserve all the blame for 2025.
He does not control then defense which is the biggest reason for 2025.
He doesn’t pick the players, that is Licht and Bowles.
Injuries to the OL were monumental and he was under siege.
Bilgewater as the backup was a decision that should have cost jobs. But it did not.
2026 is put up or shut up time. For everyone involved.
February 3rd, 2026 at 12:59 pm
The real question here is whether he can overcome Todd Bowles. Can anyone? Can Todd Bowles overcome Todd Bowles?
February 3rd, 2026 at 1:01 pm
Todd Bowles is the master of the cover nobody defense.