Keeping Baker Mayfield Upright By Keeping Offensive Line Healthy
February 5th, 2026
Offensive line ealth as important as Baker Mayfield’s health.
Joe thinks healthy Baker Mayfield is the best quarterback in the NFC South.
That’s the keyword: Healthy. How do the Bucs keep Mayfield healthy?
Mayfield’s game borders on reckless. He thrives on that. He gets off on throwing his body around. He motivates himself throwing outside the pocket, which he is quite good at.
But therein lies the problem. When Mayfield plays his game, his style, he’s prone to getting punished.
Bumps and bruises (or worse) caught up with Mayfield and he was not the best quarterback in the division after the bye. Maybe not even the third-best.
So the best way that Joe can see for the Bucs to keep Mayfield somewhat healthy is to hope the offensive line is healthy. And when they are, the Bucs have one of the best front-five in the game. So health will be a key issue for the Bucs in 2026. Not just Mayfield’s, but the offensive line as well.
If you can figure out how to prevent injuries in football, you could make a fortune.
February 5th, 2026 at 1:05 am
Pretty good company
February 5th, 2026 at 1:10 am
That pretty much ends the debate doesn’t it boys and girls.
February 5th, 2026 at 1:15 am
Next year Baker will be #1 in all but the passing yards leaders since 2023. That is pretty d*** impressive but we all know he is an average qb and could never take us to a superbowl, right bois. What jokes you 5 or 6 people are.
February 5th, 2026 at 1:23 am
IMO the backup guards Pearl Harbor’ed the offense.
February 5th, 2026 at 1:32 am
Bad o line drafting in killing us
February 5th, 2026 at 1:57 am
If styles is gone, get vega loane
February 5th, 2026 at 4:16 am
It wasn’t just the guards. Graham Barton has looked like Tarzan but played like Jane. That makes the whole interior of the OL suspect, and that’s what we saw in the second half of the season.
February 5th, 2026 at 5:43 am
Injuries will happen. Having competent backups mitigates the damage during the recovery time of said starter. This rests squarely on the shoulders of JL. His concept of backups placed BM in danger and forced him to make bad decisions. Seriously, if JL can’t staff the Oline with hungry backups that know how to block and carry on without missing a beat, then it’s time to consider finding a GM who can. It seems JL got lazy and did a half ass job. This is his prove it year, so we’ll see.
February 5th, 2026 at 6:19 am
Remember Grizzard talking about how he would be emphasizing keeping Baker healthy and not putting his body in harm’s way last offseason? That didn’t happen!