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Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield struggling to hold off Kyle Trask in the starting quarterback job battle comes as little surprise to some around the NFL.
Two coaches and a general manager all gave The Athletic concerning thoughts about where Mayfield really stands among NFL signal callers. The Athletic’s Mike Sando put Mayfield in the second-lowest of his five tiers for quarterbacks as a result.
“Mayfield is a low [tier] three, on his way to being a backup,” an unnamed offensive coach told Sando. “His accuracy has suffered, he takes too many risks, and it seems like his emotions negatively affect the way he plays.”
Once No. 1 pick in 2018, Mayfield led the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs in 2020. He hasn’t been the same since — especially amid four different teams in a year. His rough 2022 took him from the Browns to the Carolina Panthers followed by the Los Angeles Rams.
Mayfield signed with the Bucs in March on a one-year deal to compete with Trask in place of retired quarterback Tom Brady. It looked like Mayfield’s job to lose because Trask only had 10 snaps of regular season experience.
“I don’t know what’s missing,” an unnamed coordinator told Sando. “I’ve seen former No. 1 picks just melt under the pressure a little bit. Baker has been jettisoned around all over the place, and nobody really wants to put their arms around him and keep him.”
Baker Mayfield ‘May Win You a Game’
Mayfield has struggled in the area that Bucs offensive coordinator Dave Canales called the most important thing in deciding the starter — turnovers.
The former Oklahoma star threw four interceptions within the first week. Trask meanwhile strung together three practices of no interceptions, and he improved in an area that Mayfield once had the edge on.
“Mayfield moves well enough, throws well enough, does some things well enough but possesses no special ability,” an unnamed general manager told Sando. “He may win you a game because he may run around and people aren’t prepared, but at the end of the day, he is just a backup, in my opinion.”
Sando’s tier chart showed that Mayfield came into the league as a tier two quarterback but has fallen since 2021. Trask didn’t get rated because of his lack of experience, Sando wrote.
Bucs QB Competition is ‘Pretty Much Even’ on Reps
Trask could beat out Mayfield for the starting job in Tampa, and Canales said as much after practice on Tuesday, August 1. Canales praised the abilities of both quarterbacks and said he’s “looking forward to seeing who gets the job” before the regular season.
“I think what we are seeing is a couple of guys who both have to put themselves into that starter mind frame going into the practices, knowing, ‘Hey, today is my day. I get to roll with the ones. I get a few more reps.’ It is pretty much even, even with the way we go ones and twos, the way we do it,” Canales told reporters.
“I just see the two guys really challenging each other,” Canales added. “Then the cool part is in our room, which a lot of people don’t get to see and hear, is just rule number one, we are here to help the Bucs win.”
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