As the NFL season approaches, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield finds himself on a list of biggest concerns for the league year. The Buccaneers and Mayfield failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension earlier this offseason. Their signal-caller wanted to finalize a deal before the start of training camp.
With no commitment completed, the Buccaneers expect a motivated Mayfield for the 2026 season, but is that necessarily a good outcome? Either the Buccaneers get an extremely efficient quarterback like they saw in the beginning of 2025, or he tries too hard causing another injury that destroys his production like the second half of last year. Any repeat of the previous season could spell doom for Mayfield’s chances at remaining with the Buccaneers.
Another factor to consider involves the backup quarterback situation in Tampa Bay. If Mayfield gets injured, the Buccaneers may rely on undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels from the University of Kansas. He miraculously won the backup quarterback job over Jake Browning. It’s an impressive story. However, a Mayfield injury would be putting Daniels and the Buccaneers in a difficult situation to succeed.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Season Relies on Baker Mayfield’s Performance
When Mayfield joined the Buccaneers in 2023, the organization knew they got a determined player looking to reestablish himself among the quarterback tier list. However, that season they only paid him $4 million. The organization rewarded Mayfield with a three year extension worth $100 million which expires at the end of this season. Now that Mayfield is about to receive another significant salary bump, the standards of play raise as well.
Last season, Mayfield dealt with a knee sprain, a bicep contusion, a shoulder sprain, and an oblique issue, which hampered his play throughout 2025. Simply, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cannot take that risk if these health problems further become a trend in 2026. As the phrase goes, the best ability is availability. Despite Mayfield’s ability to play through those injuries, the statistics he displayed while doing so were not acceptable for a quarterback looking for a $50 million salary.
How Does Baker Mayfield Rank Among Other Quarterbacks?
Over the last three seasons, Mayfield has an average expected points added (EPA) per drop-back of +0.14. That is tied with Patrick Mahomes, Sam Darnold, and Tua Tagovailoa. Also, that number is just above Joe Burrow, Jalen Hurts, and Jaxson Dart. However, all of those quarterbacks lie outside of the top 9 quarterbacks who have started most of their games in that period of time: Brock Purdy, Josh Allen, Jordan Love, Jayden Daniels, Lamar Jackson, Drake Maye, Jared Goff, Dak Prescott, and Matthew Stafford.
Considering that Tagovailoa’s efficiency dropped tremendously in 2025, we can omit him from this conversation. Dart’s sample size of success is also limited, so we can comfortably rank Mayfield ahead of him for now. Burrow and Mahomes have dealt with some significant injuries, but most would rank them ahead of Mayfield assuredly. That really leaves Mayfield in a conversation with Darnold and Hurts, who have both won Super Bowls.
That makes Mayfield ranked around 14th among those players considering health and situation. A couple other players who could make an argument to be ahead of him based on talent are Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, and Caleb Williams. Yet, the jury may still be out if those players can really lead an NFL offense for a full season. Factoring that in, Mayfield could rank as low as 17th.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Baker Mayfield Named ‘Biggest Concern’