Baker Mayfield Is A QB With An Offensive Lineman’s Mentality

Take the temperature of Bucs fans, NFL fans and college football fans – and it’ll read that quarterback Baker Mayfield is a polarizing figure. There’s no in between with Mayfield. Fans either love him or hate him.

Those who love Mayfield appreciate his fiery demeanor on game day. He wears his heart on his sleeve and when then competition rises, so does Mayfield’s aggressiveness. It’s what made him a household name at Oklahoma, a Heisman Trophy winner and the number one overall pick in 2018. That personality also delivered him a big pay day with a number of commercials as well.

Yes, Mayfield has been humbled in recent years from being benched, traded and waived at various points of his career, but he’s also still got plenty of swagger, as he demonstrated in the Bucs’ Week 1 win at Minnesota.

Baker Mayfield Has The Offense Rallying Around Him

Baker Mayfield’s intensity was noticed right away in Bucs training camp. Early on he was dubbed as one of the biggest trash talkers on the Bucs’ roster. His commitment to bonding with his teammates at all different positions has gone a long way and helped him win the starting role at quarterback.

It was further on display in Week 1. The Bucs are going to win in gritty fashion this season, and Mayfield is the epitome of it. At times, it feels like Baker Mayfield needs to get hit to really start playing well. It’s a fear for coaches, understandably, but that also makes every teammate buy in.

Baker Mayfield and the entire Bucs offense was abysmal in the first quarter at Minnesota, starting the game with five straight three-and-outs and only one first down. But, when it mattered most, it was Mayfield who delivered a huge stiff arm and won himself the first “Angry Run” of the season on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football show, partially for his trash talk after.

Mayfield was the one who took the hit on a QB keeper on fourth-and-1, and he also scrambled for a key first down late in the game. And it was Mayfield whom the Bucs trusted on a third-and-10 with under two minutes to go to deliver the final knockout blow on an 11-yard completion to Chris Godwin.

Gritty. Gutsy. That’s Bucs’ new starting quarterback.

“He’s a quarterback with an offensive lineman’s mentality,” Bucs head coach Todd Bowles said. “You don’t want your quarterback doing it too much, but he’ll make the yards when he has to make the yards – when the game is on the line. He plays very smart. That doesn’t mean he’s a renegade by any means, it just means that he’s willing to go the extra mile to put his face in the fan when the situation calls for it. Hopefully he doesn’t have to do that too much where he can get banged up, but offensive linemen feed off of that – he becomes one of them. It’s a rallying cry for the offense.”

Understandably, the Bucs don’t want Mayfield to take too many hits, as his career shows he has been injury prone. But it’s those types of hard-nosed scrambles that can also help the team win when well-timed.

Bucs Have A Chance To Gain More Respect In The Weeks Coming Up

While Baker Mayfield has felt overlooked at times in his career, the entire Bucs team has felt disrespected heading into the 2023 season. Whether they chose to acknowledge it or not, many know how most national reporters feel about Tampa Bay’s chances. Nobody likes hearing that they’re not good enough. That’s also why the game isn’t played on paper.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and WR Trey Palmer – Photo by: USA Today

The Bucs proved many doubters wrong with a win over the Vikings. They can change opinions of more by a rout of the Bears to set themselves up with a chance on to upset the Eagles on Monday Night Football with the nation watching. That’ll get everyone taking the Bucs seriously.

And if they want to pull it off, they have to keep the same mentality the whole way. Baker Mayfield needs to be the one leading.

“I love football,” Mayfield said. “It’s the game of football, it’s a physical game, I’ve always loved it. I love contact. You can’t shy away from it – I think that’s how you get hurt. Obviously, like I mentioned, playing quarterback is a little bit of a different story, so yeah, you definitely want to protect yourself. I just always want to be a part of the guys. There is something about that, just being involved and showing them that I like to get down and dirty with them, as well.”