NFL analyst doesn't believe former Browns QB will be significant for Bucs next season - “Baker Mayfield looks like a backup”
NBC Sports NFL analyst Myles Simmons has declared the Baker Mayfield experiment with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers a failure before it even started. He believes that the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner is nothing more than a backup quarterback.
In his recent appearance in Pro Football Talk, Simmons shared with Mike Florio:
“Baker Mayfield looks like a backup at this point in his career. And that's well, that's not the worst thing in the world to be when you're a backup, because it means you still can be. You going to have a job, you know, you can still be employed.”
“But I don't really think that Baker Mayfield is going to take the Buccaneers to new heights. Right. I don't see Baker Mayfield coming in there and being a Geno Smith type and leading the Buccaneers to a bunch of success for various reasons. But I just don't I don't really see that happening.”
Mayfield had a brief stint with the Los Angeles Rams, filling in for the injured Matthew Stafford. He joined the Rams after getting released from the Carolina Panthers. The former Oklahoma standout played 12 games last season, finishing with 201 completions for 2,163 yards and 10 touchdowns.
High expectations for Baker Mayfield in a playoff-hopeful team
Mayfield will navigate a team that made the postseason in each of the last three seasons. They are also coming off three seasons with Tom Brady, who led them to victory in Super Bowl LV against the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Buccaneers still have a good chance of maintaining their playoff streak because they still have playmakers on both sides of the ball. A receiving corps with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and Russell Gage will still create matchup problems for opposing defenses.
However, it will be Mayfield’s role to keep the offense going. The starting quarterback role is his to lose unless Kyle Trask starts to look like a more reliable option.
The Tampa Bay front office has confidence that the 2018 first-overall selection will succeed. Buccaneers' senior football consultant and former head coach Bruce Arians gave him a better rating than Will Levis, Anthony Richardson, and Hendon Hooker.
Arians shared with Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds:
“I can honestly say out of these four, I had Baker rated higher. That’s an honest opinion – coming out [of Oklahoma].”
Hence, the Buccaneers did not select a quarterback during the 2023 NFL Draft even when Levis, Richardson, and Hooker were still on the board. Instead, they used their first-round selection for Pittsburgh defensive tackle Calijah Kancey.
Meanwhile, Buccaneers' general manager Jason Licht also spoke highly of Baker Mayfield. In a recent interview at Sirius XM NFL Radio’s Joe Bucs Fan, he shared:
“Baker’s been fantastic here getting adjusted to his teammates and the culture here. Everybody, our staff, everybody downstairs has been really, really impressed with how he’s handled himself so far.”
While their 2023 schedule hasn’t been released, Baker Mayfield will undoubtedly have his hands full this season. The Buccaneers are set to face 2022 playoff participants Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Minnesota Vikings, and Buffalo Bills.