Welcome Baker Mayfield

[Cheb]

Assuming we win the division, I don't foresee a future where Baker isn't brought back.

- Licht and Bowles like him.
- The team likes him.
- He (at that point) won the division.
- He (maybe) even won a playoff game.
- He is going to turn 29 in April.

Is Baker a consistent Pro Bowler right now, no, but he is good enough to win the division and keep everyone's jobs. An optimist could argue that he has done more than enough to earn an extension, and I would have difficulty arguing with them. Certainly for a head coach and GM that probably would like a little stability at the most important position in the game, it's an easy question:

- Which is going to be a better team next year, and by extension lead to me and all my friends keeping our jobs?

A) Resigning Baker Mayfield, using our available cap space to extend our priority dudes, and adding complimentary young pieces in the draft.
B) Letting Baker walk for a big extension elsewhere, then either signing a new and unproven veteran free agent QB, or conversely giving the job to Trask.
C) Taking a chance on an unknown rookie QB savior in the draft, which could alienate your franchise wide receiver who is a pending free agent given that signals a rebuild.

That's an easy decision to make for anyone who has skin in the game. The answer is A now, it'll be A in two weeks at the end of the season, and it'll be A heading into the offseason.

[Phantom]

Taking a "guy" because he's the "best available" when there's slim pickings isn't promising. I believe Cousins and Wilson are FA's also, I'll take both over Mayfield. The ONLY thing that would push me towards favoring Mayfield is if Evans wants him back to re-sign. Otherwise, I'd rather pay Cousins.

My list of guys in the league that I'd rather have than him are (no particular order)...
Jalen Hurts
Jordan Love
Jared Goff
Kirk Cousins
Matt Stafford
Brock Purdy
Tua
Josh Allen
Aaron Rodgers
Lamar Jackson
Joe Burrow
Trevor Lawarence
Bryce Young
Dereck Carr
Anthony Richardson
Deshaun Watson
CJ Stroud
Mahomes
Herbert


That's not including guys who I think are either debatable or higher risk/higher award...
Fields
Russell Wilson
Kyler Murray
Sam Howell

Not counting rookies, I think he's in the 20-25 range.

He has beaten 5 of the QBs you listed straight up. Yes, I’m including CJ Stroud.

Laughable, man.

This. 100 percent

[kaimaru]

Whoops, six. I didn’t even notice you listed Derek Carr too. You can’t be serious.

Exactly so Baker would be his 14th best QB. Most franchises would be happy with that

[Noles1724]

This was a fun watch

[Bootz]

Listen, Baker is gonna be here next year. Likely beyond. But let's not all of a sudden get carried away trying to convince people we stumbled upon a top 10 QB. 4 weeks ago most of you wanted to see Trask playing.

What we're seeing is Baker at his best. Cleveland saw it too at 1 point. What will likely happen is the real Baker will show up. But hopefully we have a strong enough roster to overcome his mishaps.

So just take him for what he is. A top 15-20 QB, maybe fringe top 10 when things are rolling right. Nothing more. You can win with those kinda guys.

[Grahamburn]

Whoops, six. I didn’t even notice you listed Derek Carr too. You can’t be serious.

Exactly so Baker would be his 14th best QB. Most franchises would be happy with that

And Justin fields as “debatable” somehow so 7 of the QBs listed Baker has beaten this year.

[Grahamburn]

@Cheb well said as usual.

[Cheb]

Listen, Baker is gonna be here next year. Likely beyond. But let's not all of a sudden get carried away trying to convince people we stumbled upon a top 10 QB. 4 weeks ago most of you wanted to see Trask playing.

What we're seeing is Baker at his best. Cleveland saw it too at 1 point. What will likely happen is the real Baker will show up. But hopefully we have a strong enough roster to overcome his mishaps.

So just take him for what he is. A top 15-20 QB, maybe fringe top 10 when things are rolling right. Nothing more. You can win with those kinda guys.

This is all fairly likely. Optimistic folks can continue in their optimism, I feel, at least for now. It's probably that Baker will regress to his mean, but who knows, maybe he'll surprise us all.

Except Doctor. He won't be surprised.

[Doctor]

Would it surprise you to hear that this is Baker regressing to his healthy mean?

[Pirate Life]

Trent Dilfer won a ring going 12 of 25 for 153 yards in the Super Bowl. Your argument is not quite as solid as you think.

He only won anything because of one of the best defenses out there. They could have Ray Lewis doing double duty as QB and won

Doesn't really matter why he won. If Dilfer can win a SB, then Mayfield can as well. From time to time, we tend to forget that football is a team game. Quarterback may be the most important position in sports, but you can win championships with one that just avoids turnovers and makes a play or two here and there. Dilfer did that in 2000, Foles did it in 2017, heck Brad Johnson did it in the first Bucs SB win.

Saying Mayfield can't win one with the Bucs ever is ignoring the fact that worse QBs have done it before.

[Brazen331]

One of these rows is Mayfield’s 1st 7 years, the other is Tom Brady’s:

21,564 YD 147 TD 78 INT 88.4
19,886 YD 128 TD 72 INT 88.3

Funny how one is regarding as the GOAT, and the other was cut by Carolina and is currently playing for 4 million per year as a former #1 overall playing in his age 29 season.

[Doctor]

I've said it before I'll keep saying it. It's about fit.
It's a team sport and so much more frames success or failure than the individual player.

[CannonFire]

Winston leads the Bucs in virtually every category, does that make him a better option then?

The 47-42 loss to the Chargers, the Chargers had the 29th ranked defense in points against that year. They gave up over 34 points on 7 different occasions that year. In the second half, the Browns had the ball 5 times, punted on 3 occasions getting only 1 first down. One TD drive (5 plays for 75 yards where Chubb rushed for 61 of them... 52 coming on a TD run), the other was 2 plays 78 yards... Njoku took a 7 yard pass to the house (71 yards total, because the LB covering him, fell down). Mayfield didn't do much in the 2nd half.

The 47-42 loss to Baltimore - Mayfield had a great game... yippy. Trent Dilfer had great games. So?

The 45-42 loss to the Raiders, yeah... Mayfield turned the ball over 4 times. LOL

The 48-37 win against Pitt... Roethlisberger threw 4 Int's. LOL I'd like to think that if any team turned the ball over 5 times... 4 on their first 5 possessions, any team could score 48 points.

See, you're just throwing out "tidbits" that every QB has. So what?

I posted it because I thought it was interesting and as Matthew Berry says you can make someone look like the second coming of Mahommes or Chad Hutchinson. There are 3 stats that says Mayfield is a bottom 16 QB: Comp%, Sacks, and TTT. All his other stats other than QBR (13th) including QB rating all shows him top 10. To me that's decent QB and he had a few bad games and a few great games. You and two others clearly don't agree, but every QB has bad games

Agreed, and every QB has good games... many have great. Mayfield is no different. The thing that makes him a "meh" QB is that his full body of work is "meh". He's not special. Unless you build an elite team around him, you're not going anywhere. I don't see us having an elite team around him. I think it's really good, but it's not elite. Mayfield keeps us in NFL purgatory good enough to not suck, but not good enough to be considered a contender.... the worst place you want to be.

[CannonFire]

Taking a "guy" because he's the "best available" when there's slim pickings isn't promising. I believe Cousins and Wilson are FA's also, I'll take both over Mayfield. The ONLY thing that would push me towards favoring Mayfield is if Evans wants him back to re-sign. Otherwise, I'd rather pay Cousins.

My list of guys in the league that I'd rather have than him are (no particular order)...
Jalen Hurts
Jordan Love
Jared Goff
Kirk Cousins
Matt Stafford
Brock Purdy
Tua
Josh Allen
Aaron Rodgers
Lamar Jackson
Joe Burrow
Trevor Lawarence
Bryce Young
Dereck Carr
Anthony Richardson
Deshaun Watson
CJ Stroud
Mahomes
Herbert


That's not including guys who I think are either debatable or higher risk/higher award...
Fields
Russell Wilson
Kyler Murray
Sam Howell

Not counting rookies, I think he's in the 20-25 range.

LOL, you named unknowns (why not put Trask since you are just throwing names) and clearly system QBs as well who would NOT work in this offense

Yeah, of the 20+ guys I listed, 4 got their 1st year of starting this year and I'm willing to bet if all 32 GM's were asked, "Would you rather have 1st year starter "X" or Mayfield going forward", NOT ONE of them would say Mayfield. PLEASE, enlighten me on who some of those "clearly system QB's" are and why that "system" couldn't work here?

I never believed in Trask from Day 1, thought it was a wasted pick... I've been proven right.

[CannonFire]

Taking a "guy" because he's the "best available" when there's slim pickings isn't promising. I believe Cousins and Wilson are FA's also, I'll take both over Mayfield. The ONLY thing that would push me towards favoring Mayfield is if Evans wants him back to re-sign. Otherwise, I'd rather pay Cousins.

My list of guys in the league that I'd rather have than him are (no particular order)...
Jalen Hurts
Jordan Love
Jared Goff
Kirk Cousins
Matt Stafford
Brock Purdy
Tua
Josh Allen
Aaron Rodgers
Lamar Jackson
Joe Burrow
Trevor Lawarence
Bryce Young
Dereck Carr
Anthony Richardson
Deshaun Watson
CJ Stroud
Mahomes
Herbert


That's not including guys who I think are either debatable or higher risk/higher award...
Fields
Russell Wilson
Kyler Murray
Sam Howell

Not counting rookies, I think he's in the 20-25 range.

He has beaten 5 of the QBs you listed straight up. Yes, I’m including CJ Stroud.

Laughable, man.

Weird, see I didn't know that Mayfield played against those 5 guys one-on-one. Can you send me video of those games?

If you think that we would be better off going forward with Mayfield than CJ Stroud, then you're nuts.

[Doctor]

Where did Baker touch you?

[CannonFire]

Whoops, six. I didn’t even notice you listed Derek Carr too. You can’t be serious.

...and you're clearly a blind homer. I'm surprised you don't want Winston back.

[CannonFire]

Assuming we win the division, I don't foresee a future where Baker isn't brought back.

- Licht and Bowles like him.
- The team likes him.
- He (at that point) won the division.
- He (maybe) even won a playoff game.
- He is going to turn 29 in April.

Is Baker a consistent Pro Bowler right now, no, but he is good enough to win the division and keep everyone's jobs. An optimist could argue that he has done more than enough to earn an extension, and I would have difficulty arguing with them. Certainly for a head coach and GM that probably would like a little stability at the most important position in the game, it's an easy question:

- Which is going to be a better team next year, and by extension lead to me and all my friends keeping our jobs?

A) Resigning Baker Mayfield, using our available cap space to extend our priority dudes, and adding complimentary young pieces in the draft.
B) Letting Baker walk for a big extension elsewhere, then either signing a new and unproven veteran free agent QB, or conversely giving the job to Trask.
C) Taking a chance on an unknown rookie QB savior in the draft, which could alienate your franchise wide receiver who is a pending free agent given that signals a rebuild.

That's an easy decision to make for anyone who has skin in the game. The answer is A now, it'll be A in two weeks at the end of the season, and it'll be A heading into the offseason.

If we can't bring back Evans, there's no point in extending Mayfield. Honestly, I think it's virtually impossible to bring back Evans. Have you seen the WR FA market? It's Evans and no one else. There is KC and the Chargers who are in desperate need for a QB. There is a 0% chance that they don't throw AT LEAST $25M per year for 5 years to Evans. You think the Bucs are going to match or beat that? I don't.

To note, I don't disagree with you on how things play out. I'm simply saying that we're just wasting time by taking that route. It's settling for mediocrity because the situation allows for it to look better than mediocre.

[CannonFire]

Exactly so Baker would be his 14th best QB. Most franchises would be happy with that

And Justin fields as “debatable” somehow so 7 of the QBs listed Baker has beaten this year.

Let me guess... you were one of those guys pounding their fists that Freeman and Winston deserved extensions, right?
LOL

[Doctor]

Why not? The cap isn't real. We can easily structure that out. Also keep in mind the future numbers coming off the cap soon with Godwin, Jensen, and Shaq.

[CannonFire]

Where did Baker touch you?

I'm just being realistic about who he is wondering why we have blind homers who think it's important to keep a back up QB as our starter. If Canales wants him, we're better off with Wilson next year. We're also better off with Kirk Cousins.

If you think Mayfield is a top 15 QB... the average salary of QB #15 in the NFL right now is $37.5M. Are you prepared to give Mayfield a 3 year / $112.5M deal?

[CannonFire]

LOL, this really is just like Freeman and Winston all over again with some people here.

[CannonFire]

Why not? The cap isn't real. We can easily structure that out. Also keep in mind the future numbers coming off the cap soon with Godwin, Jensen, and Shaq.

I wish I could be as naïve as you.

[Doctor]

Absolutely.


Check out the blind resume comparison.

I get that Baker is a ruined QB for you, but the truth is he's doing everything you'd want a savior QB to be doing. He's doing it right now against NFL teams, not hypothetically.

[Snake]

Where did Baker touch you?

I'm just being realistic about who he is wondering why we have blind homers who think it's important to keep a back up QB as our starter. If Canales wants him, we're better off with Wilson next year. We're also better off with Kirk Cousins.

If you think Mayfield is a top 15 QB... the average salary of QB #15 in the NFL right now is $37.5M. Are you prepared to give Mayfield a 3 year / $112.5M deal?

This would be incredibly idiotic. Baker Mayfield has not proven that he can string together two good seasons in a row in his career. more likely he regresses next season. Every dollar you give him is another dollar that you can’t pay someone else to elevate him. He is not a team elevator. He gets elevated.

[Bootz]

Maybe we could franchise him and swap QBs with Miami...

[CannonFire]

I'm just being realistic about who he is wondering why we have blind homers who think it's important to keep a back up QB as our starter. If Canales wants him, we're better off with Wilson next year. We're also better off with Kirk Cousins.

If you think Mayfield is a top 15 QB... the average salary of QB #15 in the NFL right now is $37.5M. Are you prepared to give Mayfield a 3 year / $112.5M deal?

This would be incredibly idiotic. Baker Mayfield has not proven that he can string together two good seasons in a row in his career. more likely he regresses next season. Every dollar you give him is another dollar that you can’t pay someone else to elevate him. He is not a team elevator. He gets elevated.

Exactly.

[CannonFire]

Absolutely.


Check out the blind resume comparison.

I get that Baker is a ruined QB for you, but the truth is he's doing everything you'd want a savior QB to be doing. He's doing it right now against NFL teams, not hypothetically.

LOL, too funny. The only blind thing that's happening is you being blind to Colin Cowherd making fun of Baker Mayfield.

[Doctor]

Colin had always been a Baker hater. It's what makes the bit.

[Grahamburn]

And Justin fields as “debatable” somehow so 7 of the QBs listed Baker has beaten this year.

Let me guess... you were one of those guys pounding their fists that Freeman and Winston deserved extensions, right?
LOL

I don't think I was, no. Neither of those players had a season anywhere near the one Baker is having, and for sure neither of them had their teammates believing the way Baker does right now.

[Grahamburn]

Absolutely.


Check out the blind resume comparison.

I get that Baker is a ruined QB for you, but the truth is he's doing everything you'd want a savior QB to be doing. He's doing it right now against NFL teams, not hypothetically.

That’s great stuff. I guess Cowherd has been a pretty notorious Baker hater?

You don’t get the running advantage, but he runs well enough to at least make plays when it breaks down.

Dude is playing great, which is the point I was making when I said make a list. Check it twice.

[Grahamburn]

I'm just being realistic about who he is wondering why we have blind homers who think it's important to keep a back up QB as our starter. If Canales wants him, we're better off with Wilson next year. We're also better off with Kirk Cousins.

If you think Mayfield is a top 15 QB... the average salary of QB #15 in the NFL right now is $37.5M. Are you prepared to give Mayfield a 3 year / $112.5M deal?

This would be incredibly idiotic. Baker Mayfield has not proven that he can string together two good seasons in a row in his career. more likely he regresses next season. Every dollar you give him is another dollar that you can’t pay someone else to elevate him. He is not a team elevator. He gets elevated.

So, because someone hasn’t proven it that means it’s impossible? Every dollar you give Wilson or Cousins is certainly another dollar you can’t pay someone else, and they’re going to command more than Baker will. They’re both older and outside of a team with an incredible defense like 10 years ago they’ve both been perennial losers. Also, they’re both dicks.

[Snake]

Or just draft the right quarterback, and have a cheap producer for the next 4 years. I mean that’s the point of having a team of 10 scouts isn’t it? Find the right players?

Or, pay Baker Mayfield and watch him return to pumpkin status. Only he costs $30m instead of $5m.

[Grahamburn]

He has beaten 5 of the QBs you listed straight up. Yes, I’m including CJ Stroud.

Laughable, man.

Weird, see I didn't know that Mayfield played against those 5 guys one-on-one. Can you send me video of those games?

If you think that we would be better off going forward with Mayfield than CJ Stroud, then you're nuts.

I didn't say that nor is C.J. Stroud available to us.

[Doctor]

Yes, more time in the system and building chemistry will clearly only lead to pumpkinism.