Alex Anzalone: Don’t Overlook Baker Mayfield’s Arm
April 10th, 2026
New Buccaneers inside linebacker Alex Anzalone.
Alex Anzalone is just like any Bucs fan, it seems.
The newish Bucs linebacker, appearing on the Schultz Report Podcast with Jordan Schultz, was asked about his new quarterback, Baker Mayfield. Anzalone suggested many folks have Mayfield all wrong.
Behind the aura and linebacker mentality is a guy with a gifted arm, Anzalone said.
“You know, people get caught up in that, his competitive nature and his toughness and kind of his swag and stuff like that,” Anzalone said. “But, like, he’s a really good quarterback. He’s a really good quarterback.
“You know, he’s got great accuracy. He’s been through multiple, multiple systems. He’s a smart player. So, yeah, it will be fun to have him on my side.”
With Liam Coen, Mayfield was accurate. In 2024, he ranked third in the league among quarterbacks with double-digit starts with a completion percentage of 71 percent.
That slipped to 63 percent last year and Joe guesses the drop off was due to all the injuries: Mayfield’s, his receivers and his offensive line.
April 10th, 2026 at 5:48 am
Baker Mayfield was accurate in Liam Coen” Dink and Dunk” offense in 2024
But Josh Grizzard mostly ran a vertical passing offense in 2025
Baker wasn’t as accurate last season, because he’s not an accurate vertical passer
April 10th, 2026 at 6:56 am
one oc could get results, the other one was grizzard. i know which one has a future as a hc in thls league and which one is grizzard.
April 10th, 2026 at 7:04 am
Lakeland. There are probably about, oh, less than a dozen QBs on planet earth that spin the ball like Baker. No scouting report on Mayfield in history have ever mentioned vertical passing a weakness. It’s you- and Rod Munch. And a few others- we’ll call them the munchalots. And Lakeland, Liam Coen’s dink and dunk offense? Look at the 41 TD passes that year. Look at the beautiful deep balls and the number of exquisite passes. Baker Mayfield is the definition of a gunslinger Lakeland. Take your silly stats and file them where the sun don’t shine Lakeland. Any twit can see what kind of arm Baker possesses.
April 10th, 2026 at 7:14 am
Lakeland Says:
April 10th, 2026 at 5:48 am
Baker Mayfield was accurate in Liam Coen” Dink and Dunk” offense in 2024
But Josh Grizzard mostly ran a vertical passing offense in 2025
Baker wasn’t as accurate last season, because he’s not an accurate vertical passer
Vertical offense = lower completion %.
Go look at Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes—same thing happens when they push it downfield.
SMH
April 10th, 2026 at 7:25 am
Not worried about his arm, I’m worried about his brain. He had some brain fart interceptions down the stretch that cost us games. Nothing wrong with his arm, he just threw some great strikes to the wrong team. Hopefully Zac can get him back on track.
April 10th, 2026 at 7:27 am
Baker is a short passing QB, meaning he thrives when the ball travels less than 10 yards. Hes good with screens and flat throws but when the ball travels 10+ yards his accuracy drops to the leagues worst.
He ranked 38th out of 41 qualifying quarterbacks in completion percentage on throws of 10+ air yards over the second half of the season.
During a critical late-season stretch (from Week 7 through Week 14), he completed just 35.9% of passes traveling 10 or more yards in the air.
He recorded a passer rating of 111.6 on short passes (under 10 yards), which led the NFL, but this dropped off sharply as target depth increased.
He recorded 28 big-time throws (typically high-difficulty deep passes), but he balanced those with 28 turnover-worthy plays, ranking 33rd among 43 quarterbacks in PFF passing grade.
Baker is only accurate when he throws short passes, it’s the only way he can move the offense.
April 10th, 2026 at 7:32 am
Take your silly stats and file them where the sun don’t shine. Bee. King of the munchalots.
April 10th, 2026 at 7:37 am
People that really know football or played the game for that matter talk about Baker’s arm all the time. Any of these morons that sit on the couch and analyze things to death and just hate Baker. They have no credibility. They’re just haters.
April 10th, 2026 at 7:47 am
I’m a Bucs fan, not a Baker Mayfield fan
I’m all for what works best for this team, to get wins
And last season, they threw less to the RBs
For Baker to be successful, he need to target the RBs more
I don’t believe injuries was the reason for his 2nd half slump
Poor play, poor decisions, inaccuracy were the reasons
No QB is 100% healthy for every game
Only weak teams, weak players uses injuries as an excuse
April 10th, 2026 at 7:56 am
Stats are for losers, they are misleading
I’m not talking about stats, I’m talking about his game performance
The only stat that matters is getting the win
We were taught that in Pop Warner football
No one cares about Baker Mayfield stats
That was a big problem going into last season
Too many guys focusing on their personal stats
April 10th, 2026 at 7:56 am
Most of our wins were because of Mayfield.Most of our losses were because of Mayfield. What that tells you is we didn’t have much of a team around him…
April 10th, 2026 at 8:07 am
“That slipped to 63 percent last year and Joe guesses the drop off was due to all the injuries: Mayfield’s, his receivers and his offensive line.”
Mayfields’ career completion percentage is 63.5%.
And he’s completed almost a 5th of his completions to RBs since coming here to RBs.
2023:
Rachaad White caught 64(17%) of Bakers’ 364 completions and was our 3rd leading target
2024:
White, Irving, & Tucker caught a combined 107(26%) of 407 completions. White was 3rd in receptions, and Bucky was 5th in receptions.
2025:
White, Irving & Tucker combined for 78(22%) of 343 completions
What some of you don’t want to hear is that Baker has had 30 games as a Buc he’s passed for <250 yards. The rub about using the RBs so much is that they're also catching a ton of passes behind the LOS, meaning they always end up with less net yardage than they have because ALOT of their positive yardage comes from YAC and not air yards. That's the problem with looking at volume and trying to paint the entire picture based solely off that.
Having a live arm is one thing. Having the touch, eye discipline, and composure to push the ball upfield consistently is another thing, but good on Anzalone for being PC and supporting the Baker Mayfield brand lol
April 10th, 2026 at 8:10 am
Lakeland
If you take what Lavonte David said for face value, he made it sound like Baker was a lot more injured than most thought he was. I for one do not see David having a reason to lie about this, especially now that he’s retired. Baker threw some really amazing deeper passes to EE earlier in the season and then lost that deep touch big time later in the season. So the injuries are definitely a part of it. Now when you have a terrible offensive line, mostly injured, and some of your better receivers are hurt letting the defense focus in on one guy, that’s where some of those bad decisions creap in. Like forcing it and scrambling a little too long for that extra yard to get her first down and not sliding… taking unnecessary shots. Some of what Baker did, he was forced into IMO.
I still would rather pay the guy and keep him around since I’ve been a fan through the Testaverde, Dilfer and Winston eras… along with all the other short term terrible QBs (Sean King showed flashes but… small hands).
As Bucs fans, we know what the alternative can be all too well.
April 10th, 2026 at 8:28 am
didnt baker led the league in INTs AND Fumbles in 2024?
baker had his best season with Dave imo…we won the division and a playoff game that year….baker boys love his stats…..BUCS FANS want WINS!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
April 10th, 2026 at 8:31 am
LAKELAND
PREACH!!!!
GO BUCS!!!!!
April 10th, 2026 at 8:32 am
One stat that doesn’t show up is the time needed for a down field play to unfold. The receiver being able to get to the spot and the time needed, blocking, to let the QB set and throw accurately. Early in the season he had it. With Coen the line was mostly intact all year, makes a big difference.
April 10th, 2026 at 8:36 am
The injuries and poor play by the defense doomed the 2025 season. Todd Bowles also fired several coaches on defense. If the Bucs defense is a repeat of last year we all know what happens next. He has to right the ship.
April 10th, 2026 at 8:51 am
“But, like he’s a really good quarterback. He’s a really good quarterback. You know, he’s got great accuracy. He’s been through multiple, multiple, systems. He’s a smart player. So yeah, it’ll be fun to have him on my side”. WBL. That sounds like political correctness to you. You sound like a munchalot to me. Just saying.
April 10th, 2026 at 9:00 am
Kenton, you think when players are talking to the media they’re being 100% transparent?
Also, the fact so many of you have Rod on your mind when he’s not even in this post or said anything on this topic thus far shows how mentally weak and easily triggered some of you are. Especially the ones that’ll hear a quote from Licht/Bowles and talk about being “gaslit”, I’d hate to see how some of ya’ll cope with actual adversity and not something that just challenges how YOU see things.
In the absence of objectivity, ignorance is king, I’m just sayin. . .
April 10th, 2026 at 9:05 am
When the Bucs gave Vincent Jackson a $55 million dollar contract
He was going on and on about how great of a QB Josh McCown was
Do people actually think Anzalone gonna say Mayfield sucks, or he’s average
He gonna say all of the right things, you say about a teammate
April 10th, 2026 at 9:07 am
Yes and stop running.
April 10th, 2026 at 9:09 am
what is Alex suppose to say?…lol…
yeah, baker is average…we picked him off in the playoffs a couple years ago and sent him packing lol….
or
yeah, baker is average…we picked him off and grabbed 1 of his fumbles when we played them this year lol…
Alex is only being a good teammate and true professional lol
GO BUCS!!!!
April 10th, 2026 at 9:14 am
“yeah, baker is average…we picked him off in the playoffs a couple years ago and sent him packing lol….
or
yeah, baker is average…we picked him off and grabbed 1 of his fumbles when we played them this year lol…”
Exactly, what’s he going to say “when I was in Detroit we looked forward to playing the Bucs with Baker”
or
“We had a secondary full of back ups this past year, and they managed keep that Baker led offense to 9 points”
or “Jared Goff threw 21 less passes and completed 8 less passes than Mayfield and still managed to throw for more yards”
Like, let’s be foreal please.
April 10th, 2026 at 9:24 am
Stats are for losers when they don’t say what you want them to say lol.
April 10th, 2026 at 9:29 am
“Jared Goff threw 21 less passes and completed 8 less passes than Mayfield and still managed to throw for more yards”
LMAO!!!!!…LOL…
careful!!!!!, they’ll bring up bowles and the defense lol…
you know baker boys like to deflect lol
GO BUCS!!!!
April 10th, 2026 at 9:32 am
WBL. Let’s be real. Early 2024 season. At Detroit. Our defense flying around. Mayfield flying around. Flinging passes right past Anzalone’s ear hole. Running the football and flinging the football until, as a team, we pulled off the upset. Detroit was about at the very top of their game right about then. It’s alot easier when the team is healthy and playing well. When that’s happening, we can beat anybody. And I ain’t whistling Dixie.
April 10th, 2026 at 9:52 am
Bee is full of his own bs. Can’t figure out if he’s an idiot or just really dumb. This is an example of what the desperate resort to. If it wasn’t sad knowing a human is that dumb, it would be hilarious to think of what life would be like for a person with an IQ of room temperature. But I am glad Baker lives in your head and forces you to quote ridiculous fake stats. You might think about seeing a professional for some much needed help. When you are that jealous it only gets worse with time Bee. On second thought Bee, please for the sake of us all, get some help. Being toxic is not healthy…
April 10th, 2026 at 9:58 am
“WBL. Let’s be real. Early 2024 season. At Detroit. Our defense flying around. Mayfield flying around. Flinging passes right past Anzalone’s ear hole. Running the football and flinging the football until, as a team, we pulled off the upset.”
We only scored 20 points in that game and held the Lions to 16 points.
Baker threw 19 passes for 185 yards, a score and a pick.
He was apart of the team effort, but it’s not like he was balling out.
Our defense however, held Goff to 0 pass TDs, picked him off twice.
Nobody is on top of their game week 2 of the regular season, we caught a break-no pun intended-when Hutch got hurt and was no longer able to violate Baker as a pass rusher.
April 10th, 2026 at 9:59 am
Kenton Smith Says:
April 10th, 2026 at 9:32 am
WBL. Let’s be real. Early 2024 season. At Detroit.
would love to see baker playing his BEST ball in DEC and JAN as opposed to SEPT & OCT lol….
MVPs and SBs arent won in the early part of the season….
it aint how you start but its how you finish!!!….
can baker be consistent all year?…history says NO!!…..
cue the excuses!!!…lol…
GO BUCS!!!!!