Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers are alive and well in the playoff race, ready to make a strong push late in the season.
Before the 2023 season, Mayfield was in a quarterback battle with former second-round pick Kyle Trask. However, Baker outdueled Trask and won the job. Shortly after the announcement of Tom Brady‘s retirement, general manager Jason Light was hoping to maintain a winning culture, not letting the Buccaneers go back to the losing seasons they suffered for 17 years prior to landing Brady. Little did they know they found their guy for the next 3-5 years.
In his first full season with the Bucs, Baker has thrown for 3,315 yards, 24 touchdowns, and only 8 interceptions. He’s having one of the best years in his young career and if the Buccaneers can keep this roster. Maybe with minor tweaks to improve, Mayfield can keep them in contention for more years to come.
Baker’s Journey
Former first-overall pick Baker Mayfield was destined to be the new franchise quarterback and savior for the Cleveland Browns. However, after bringing them back to relevancy and leading them to a playoff win for the first time since 1998, they got greedy and traded him to Carolina so they could sign Deshaun Watson.
Since then Baker has been labeled as a guy that teams would avoid. Due to that, Mayfield was almost on his way out of the league as teams were willing to pass on him for younger prospects. Following the news of Brady’s retirement, Mayfield signed a contract with the Buccaneers for a chance to compete for the starting job. Mayfield wasted no time during training camp and easily beat out Trask.
Throughout the season you can see that Baker Mayfield holds the Buccaneers organization in his hands and has delivered. This past Sunday Mayfield finally had his moment to show the world and the organization that the Buccaneers have found Brady’s replacement. In the win on the road against the Packers, he threw for 381 yards, 4 touchdowns, and had a perfect passer rating on the road. The only other person that did that in Green Bay, is future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers. Mayfield has shown he has all the confidence in the world and doesn’t want to leave any doubt in the mind of the front office.
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