When an offense gets better in its first season without Tom Brady, that says something about the performance of the quarterback who replaced him.
In 2023, that’s what happened with Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers offense:
Not only was his performance an improvement on Brady’s final season, it also may have saved Mayfield’s career as a starter.
Sure, it helps to have receivers like Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. However, there were some noticeable differences in the way Mayfield performed in 2023. The first was that the timing and rhythm that he played with during his better days in Cleveland seemed to return to his game:
The second and more noticeable improvement was how he handled pressure. For most of Mayfield’s career prior to 2023, he had been a frenetic quarterback in the face of pressure. But last year, he was able to play with calmness and decisiveness when confronted with free-rushing blitzers and penetrating linemen:
According to PFF, Mayfield posted a career-high passer rating when under pressure in 2023, ranking 9th among qualifying quarterbacks in the NFL. His ranks during his previous 5 seasons were 24th, 28th, 35th, 22nd, and 17th.
Against the blitz, Mayfield was even better. His 106.4 passer rating was a career high and ranked 8th in the NFL. His ranks against the blitz during his previous 5 seasons were 34th, 31st, 17th, 21st, and 22nd.
There’s no question that offensive coordinator Dave Canales (now the Panthers Head Coach) played a huge role in helping provide answers against pressure. We’ll see how the change to new OC Liam Coen impacts Mayfield and the Buccaneers offense. But I have a feeling based on what I saw from Mayfield’s tape last season that he’ll be able to build off of his success and keep the train rolling in 2024.
He seems to have found something in Tampa.
Check out the rest of the rankings here:
#32 Bo Nix (Denver Broncos)
#31 Drake Maye (New England Patriots)
#30 J.J. McCarthy (Minnesota Vikings)
#29 Gardner Minshew (Las Vegas Raiders)
#28 Will Levis (Tennessee Titans)
#27 Deshaun Watson (Cleveland Browns)
#26 Anthony Richardson (Indianapolis Colts)
#25 Bryce Young (Carolina Panthers)
#24 Daniel Jones (New York Giants)
#23 Jayden Daniels (Washington Commanders)
#22 Caleb Williams (Chicago Bears)
#21 Geno Smith (Seattle Seahawks)
#20 Russell Wilson (Pittsburgh Steelers)
#19 Derek Carr (New Orleans Saints)
#18 Baker Mayfield (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
#17 Kyler Murray (Arizona Cardinals)
#16 Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville Jaguars)
#15 Jared Goff (Detroit Lions)
#14 Tua Tagovailoa (Miami Dolphins)
#13 Kirk Cousins (Atlanta Falcons)
#12 Jalen Hurts (Philadelphia Eagles)
#11 Brock Purdy (San Francisco 49ers)
#10 Jordan Love (Green Bay Packers)
#9 Dak Prescott (Dallas Cowboys)
#8 C.J. Stroud (Houston Texans)
#7 Justin Herbert (Los Angeles Chargers)
#6 Aaron Rodgers (New York Jets)
#5 Matthew Stafford (Los Angeles Rams)
#4 Lamar Jackson (Baltimore Ravens)
#3 Joe Burrow (Cincinnati Bengals)
#2 Josh Allen (Buffalo Bills)
#1 Patrick Mahomes (Kansas City Chiefs)
I hope that Baker Mayfield does well enough this upcoming season that Progressive resumes its “At Home With Baker Mayfield” line of commercials. The man is a really talented comedic actor.
Baker showed so much potential as a rookie and just has been inconsistent since then, until last year at least. Then again, Darnold and Rosen were also good prospects and they more or less busted. Weird class.