Baker Mayfield is one of the NFL’s most underrated quarterbacks

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be the most disrespected team in the National Football League.

Let me be clear here. I am not trying to tell you that the Bucs are going to win the Super Bowl this season, but I also am not telling you that it is impossible or even out of the general question. The Bucs have made the playoffs in each of the last five seasons (the first of which, they did win the Super Bowl) which is the longest streak in franchise history. Did you know this?!

To be fair to the conversation, the first three years of this run featured the greatest quarterback of all time starting for Tampa in Tom Brady. When he retired (for real) after the 2022 season, the Bucs brought in Baker Mayfield as his heir and a lot of people (myself included) assumed they would return to life pre-Brady.

In each of the last two years the Bucs won the NFC South (you and I could do that to be fair) and beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card Round in 2023 before giving the Detroit Lions all they could handle in the Divisional Round. They are very much for real and do not get enough credit and I would offer that this extends to the aforementioned Mayfield as well.

Mayfield, the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner at Oklahoma and No. 1 overall draft pick by the Cleveland Browns a few months later, has all of the decorations that a football player could want on an individual level. Team success, both in college football and the NFL, is a different thing clearly, but Mayfield’s success speaks for itself.

Consider that Mayfield has led the Bucs to success in his last two campaigns and thrown for over 4,000 yards in each of them. What’s more is that last season specifically, Baker threw for 4,500 yards (flat) and had 41 passing touchdowns. This is elite territory and we don’t necessarily give him his flowers for that.

Sometimes it takes a bit of a process for a quarterback to find their rhythm and that was clearly the case for Mayfield. His stop in Cleveland ended with the franchise spurning him for Deshaun Watson and his cups of coffee with both the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams were brief and never the right overall fit.

Tampa has become Baker’s home, even if he has spent half of the amount of time there that he did to start his journey in Cleveland. If he helps navigate the Buccaneers to the playoffs this season then he will match Tom Brady for the amount of times doing so, obviously all in a row like Brady as well. Like Brady became at points in his career, Mayfield has had a tendency to get a bit spicy in terms of quotes while on the field. He is an incredible personality which is why his storm onto the scene at Norman was so awesome to watch.

On the subject of spice… Baker has teamed up with Popeyes to re-introduce their lineup of wing flavors ahead of football season. The best time of year is here and tell me these do not sound delicious.

Popeyes’ wing flavors for 2025:

I’m a big fan of dry rubs myself and may have to hit up Popeyes for a dab of Lemon Pepper on a number of occasions this season that is too embarrassing to write publicly. The people of Tampa are certainly grateful to Baker Mayfield for all of the wonderful football he has played, but I personally am grateful to him for putting delicious food in my life.

As we get set for another NFL season we are going to offer predictions and what not for this, that and the other. Give me Baker Mayfield’s Buccaneers remaining a constant presence in the playoff picture.

They have earned their due.