At the end of last season, most football fans had written Baker Mayfield off for good. No longer were we inundated by his commercials, and the former Lake Travis grad was a quarterback without a team. Then, came the Tom Brady retirement.
An opportunity presented itself to Mayfield, filling in as shot caller to an offense that had won a Super Bowl trophy just three seasons ago.
In his first two contests, Mayfield has the sixth-highest passer rating (104.4). To put it in context, he has been more efficient than Tua Tagovailoa, Brock Purdy, and Justin Herbert. He is also passing at a high clip (69.1% completion) and has yet to throw an interception.
His pressured dropbacks ranked second to only Jalen Hurts, but the Bucs quarterback is averaging a high 13.8 yards per attempt on a significant number of dropbacks, going 12-of-15 for 207 yards and a touchdown.
So far, he is thoroughly outplaying Deshaun Watson (the qb the Browns acquired by serving Mayfield as the sacrificial lamb). He also costs $222 million less.
Mayfield has silenced his doubters with his hot start. It’s a role he has had to play for most of his football career. After putting up big numbers with Lake Travis (6,255 yards for 67 touchdowns, compiling a 25-2 overall record), Mayfield still fielded a lack of scholarships from Power Five schools. TCU pulled an offer. Texas Tech, the team he eventually chose, bogged him down with scholarship issues. There was also controversy on whether or not he could get a year of eligibility back after transferring to Oklahoma.
After falling off the roster with three NFL teams, Mayfield still has his flaws, but has proven himself highly accurate, so far making splashy plays with Tampa Bay’s solid personnel. If he can stay healthy, Mayfield may be the man for the job.
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