Bruce Arians Declares Baker Mayfield Better Than Any Rookie QB

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Bryce Young to the Panthers; CJ Stroud to the Texans; Anthony Richardson to the Colts; Baker Mayfield to the Buccaneers. These are a number of QBs with a new home that former Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians is keeping an eye on next season.

Working as a senior football consultant for Tampa Bay, Arians is guiding the team in their rebuild as they enter next season after three years with Tom Brady.

READ: BAKER MAYFIELD UNBELIEVABLY ORCHESTRATES GAME-WINNING DRIVE TWO DAYS AFTER JOINING RAMS

Added to the Bucs QB depth chart this offseason is Baker Mayfield. Speaking with Pewter Report, Arians hailed Mayfield as a better starting option than this year's highest-drafted rookie QBs.

In Arians' view, if you gave him Mayfield, Young, Stroud or AR-15, he'd rate Mayfield the best QB of the bunch.

"I can honestly say out of these four, I had Baker rated higher," Arians said, speaking with Pewter on Monday. "That’s an honest opinion – coming out ."

Is it a bold statement or a no-brainer by Arians? As the top pick of the 2018 draft, Mayfield beat out names like Sam Darnold and Lamar Jackson.

Mayfield may not be seen as more than an average quarterback in the NFL, but his brief stint in Los Angeles last season with the Rams showed the former first-overall-pick still has a spark.

In five games, Mayfield posted a 62.3 percent completion percentage. Mayfield logged 840 passing yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions through the air.

There's also the incredible comeback Mayfield led against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 14. It was hard not to root for Mayfield on that miraculous TNF victory.

Mayfield is certainly a more precise thrower than Gator-turned-Colt Anthony Richardson, but the physical discrepancies are more of a chasm. At 6-foot-4, 231 lbs., AR is a behemoth and better project player than the 6-foot Mayfield.

Bryce Young is the top pick of this year's draft and a better project than Mayfield with his pocket awareness, speed and accuracy.

CJ Stroud's big arm gives him an edge over Mayfield, but the truth remains: you can't trust an Ohio State quarterback.

The unofficial ranking of these QBs goes:

In other words, Arians was a bit off the mark.