With the retirement of quarterback Tom Brady, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a gaping hole to fill on their roster. Replacing Brady, who even at 45 years old looked like he still belonged in the NFL, will not be an easy task.
Who will be getting the first crack at that job is still up in the air. A quarterback battle is likely to ensue with Kyle Trask, a 2021 second-round pick, going up against Baker Mayfield, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft who was signed as a free agent.
While neither option seems overly inspiring, someone has to win the job. Mayfield is likely seen as the early favorite after he put some positive performances on tape at the end of the 2022 campaign with the Los Angeles Rams.
The Oklahoma product also has some fans within the organization. Former head coach Bruce Arians, who shifted into a consulting role with the Buccaneers last year, recently made some bold comments about Mayfield.
Arians revealed that had Mayfield been a prospect in this year’s draft class, he would still be No. 1 on his board. Mayfield reportedly graded higher than Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson and Will Levis when he left Oklahoma in 2018.
Based on some of the player comps and evaluations that were made for Mayfield coming out of college, it is hard to believe he would have graded out better than all four of the top prospects in this year’s class. Could this just be some old-fashioned coach speak by Arians, trying to bolster the confidence of a player who could be leading the Buccaneers’ offense in 2023?
There was a lot of debate at the time whether or not Mayfield was worthy of being the No. 1 pick but all of the teams selecting near the top missed. Josh Allen, who went No. 8 to the Buffalo Bills and Lamar Jackson, who was the last pick in the first round by the Baltimore Ravens, were the quarterback gems of the 2018 draft class.
