Baker Mayfield Plan Comes Together For The Buccaneers Who Have Their New QB
The idea that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would try to land free agent quarterback Baker Mayfield isn't new -- at least not here. But it is a good one.
The Bucs need a veteran QB to compete with Kyle Trask.
They need someone who will give veteran players (receivers) Mike Evans and Chris Godwin the hope that the 2023 isn't about to be a waste.
And they want to make sure coach Todd Bowles was into the acquisition.
Check on all three.
Mayfield and the Buccaneers are closing in on an incentive-ladden one-year contract that will give the journeyman quarterback a chance to resurrect his career on a veteran team that has made the playoffs the past three seasons.
Baker Mayfield is headed to Tampa Bay. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images).
Mayfield To Bucs Had Been In The Works
This is following the exact outline Bowles laid out at the NFL Combine last month.
"We’re going to be smart about it,” Bowles said then. “We understand we’re over the cap coming into this. But we have a plan and we have a long-term plan that we’re going to go by. We don’t want to sacrifice one year for paying someone as opposed to sacrificing the future, but we’ll go out and we’ll be smart about it.
"If the guy has a long-term plan or can hang out and play with us, we’ll take a look at him. It’s also a desirable place because we do have talent around him and people may want to come and do one-year, prove-it deals. We’ll see what happens in the next two or three weeks and we’ll go forward, but we have a plan of what we want to do."
So now Baker Mayfield has a chance to prove it.
He didn't do it in Cleveland after they drafted him No 1 overall in the 2018 draft.
He didn't do it last year in Carolina after they traded for him.
And obviously his time with the Los Angeles Rams was nothing more than a chance to be exposed to a great offensive mind in Sean McVay.
Now he's in a new offense in Tampa Bay. With a coach in Bowles who loved him coming out of the draft.
It seems like a good match. It's seemed that way for a while now.