No matter what you think of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers acquiring former Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Baker Mayfield on a one-year, $8.5 million deal, one thing is clear: In the post-Tom Brady landscape, Todd Bowles’ team had to do something. New offensive coordinator Dave Canales, fresh off a 13-year stint on the Seattle Seahawks’ staff, has a bit of experience with mobile quarterbacks who don’t always make the best decisions. And before this move, the Bucs had a quarterback room that consisted of Blaine Gabbert and Kyle Trask.
Not exactly a perfect Brady succession plan. The Buccaneers, who will select 19th overall in the 2023 draft unless they do something to trade up, don’t really have the scratch to do so in a significant sense.
The question is whether Mayfield can be a bridge quarterback, or whether even that’s too much to ask. Last season, he was average enough with the Panthers to find himself released, but he was quite good in five games and four starts with the Rams down the stretch when Matthew Stafford got hurt. His 98-yard drive to beat the Raiders in Week 14 when he’d barely had enough time to unpack his gear, let alone get the hang of the playbook, was one of the most remarkable performances of the 2022 season.
Mayfield is a talented but random quarterback who can do well when shored up with 11 personnel and a heavy boot-action game. The “WTF” grade here is the same one we gave the Atlanta Falcons when they responded to their own quarterback desert by signing a similarly qualified quarterback in Taylor Heinicke when much more was needed. We have a pretty good idea what Mayfield is and what he isn’t, and that’s not enough to solve a quarterback situation that still needs a ton of solving.
