Baker Mayfield has been dominating headlines around the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the past month - and especially the past week - but that is neither nothing new nor anything out of the ordinary.
Mayfield is the biggest name on the Bucs, the franchise quarterback, and is now closer than ever to potential leaving Tampa Bay in 2026 after he and Jason Licht failed to agree to a contract extension despite almost every NFL insider being optimstic that a deal would get done.
Perhaps the Buccaneers still have doubts about Baker and want to see him play with full fire and brimstone with a boulder on his shoulder in a contract year. Because on the field, the Bucs have to be feeling a lot better about their squad in 2026 after the offseason.
It gets overlooked, but the backup quarterback is an important position for the Bucs, and the team was reminded of that last season when Mayfield went down with a shoulder injury. They had to turn to No. 2 Teddy Bridgewater, who is one of the better known backups in the NFL and used to be a good starter for the Minnesota Vikings before a devastating knee injury.
Teddy Bridgewater was not up to par as Buccaneers' backup QB
Well, you can't base every personnel decision on reputation alone, and Bridgewater's reputation took a huge hit when he came in for relief of Baker Mayfield against the Los Angeles Rams. He looked horrendous out there, and he was barely mobile. Bridgewater looked like a guy who did not even bother to study the opponent, and he was so sluggish and inaccurate that he may as well have been chugging beers on the couch that Sunday night.
Tampa Bay knew they had to pull a younger, sharper quarterback, and while Jake Browning is obviously no threat to Baker, the Bucs need to be able to count on him this season if something happens to their risk-taking QB.
JoeBucsFan recently passed out some rave reviews about the free agent signing from the Cincinnati Bengals, and, in particular, he praised Browning for having a cannon of an arm in hitting the likes of Tez Johnson, Ted Hurst, and Emeka Egbuka down the field.
That makes a huge difference, because the Bucs offense under Zac Robinson is going to be very vertical. And obviously, again, Jake Browning is no Mayfield, but the No. 2 guy needs to be able to make the down field throws to keep the offense going as planned if something happens to Baker. And Browning already looks miles beyond Teddy Bridgewater in that crucial regard.
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