Buccaneers Quarterback Baker Mayfield 'Has Been Reborn'
When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers brought in quarterback Baker Mayfield the question remaining was who the competition would be with, and whether or not he'd torpedo the franchise's chances of getting a top player in next year's NFL Draft.
After four games, the questions are far different as many now want to know how good Mayfield and the Buccaneers can truly be, and whether or not the castout quarterback has finally found a home.
READ MORE: Mike Evans Getting Further Testing on Hamstring Injury
Former NFL player and media personality Pat McAfee is among those wondering just how good this fit could be.
"Don't look now...Baker Mayfield has been a reborn quarterback down there in that Bay of Tampa," McAfee recently said on his show following Tampa Bay's win over the New Orleans Saints. "Honestly, this team is seemingly going to be the NFC South representatives and Baker Mayfield is about to have a 10-year career as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer. All of the stuff that happened before Tampa, there's a chance that we're never even going to talk about it because of what Bakers potentially going to be able to do down here in Tampa."
Mayfield has completed 87 passes in four weeks this season throwing for nearly 900 yards while tossing seven touchdowns and just two interceptions.
He's also only been sacked four times on 48 pressures turning in one of the best pressure-to-sack conversion rates in all the NFL this season.
"He just needed another chance...and he needed the right people around him," said former NFL linebacker A.J. Hawk on the Pat McAfee show. "They're doing whatever they can to empower Bake and let him be him...I think it's fun to watch somebody that most people wrote off and say, 'Hey, this guy is not going to be a starter again.'"
READ MORE: Todd Bowles Talks About Dirty Saints Hit on Mayfield
McAfee also made the connection between what's happening with Mayfield currently and what happened with quarterback Geno Smith and the Seattle Seahawks last year.
The thing they have in common is that Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales was on that Seattle staff when Smith famously said he didn't write back to those who wrote him off and earned the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award in the process.
Mayfield has the Bucs in first place in the NFC South after the first quarter of the regular season and currently has the sixth-best odds to win the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award behind the favored safety Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills.
Stick with BucsGameday and the Locked On Bucs podcast for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the 2023 season
