It's obvious that Baker Mayfield has not been anywhere near good enough under center for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this season, and the former Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, and Los Angeles Rams signal caller is starting to look a lot like the guy who failed to be the answer at his previous three stops before coming to Tampa Bay.
Everyone in the Buccaneers organization believed in Mayfield this offseason despite a terrible second half of the 2025 season, surmising that the issues went far beyond Baker. But in every objective way, Baker was a part of the problems in Tampa in the second half of the campaign, perhaps regressing to his mean after a poor first half of the season.
But of course, Mayfield was great for Tampa the season before when they made the postseason, even if he did struggle to take care of the football even then, leading the league in interceptions. This season, Mayfield's start to the campaign has been untenable, and the Bucs desperately need better from him going forward.
Chris Godwin is ready to step out of Mike Evans' shadow for the Buccaneers
No player has been hurt more by Mayfield's struggles than Chris Godwin Jr., who is only just now stepping out of the shadow of the legendary Mike Evans after the latter saw a sinking pirate ship under Todd Bowles and abandoned it for the West Coast's Bay Area and the San Francisco 49ers.
Godwin has actually been fantastic to start the 2026 NFL season, just as he has been throughout his career, perennially underrated because of injuries and the fact that he shared the best years of his career with Mike Evans as his teammate.
Chris Godwin has been open 24/7 for Baker Mayfield, and yet the Buccaneers passer has not been able to find him. Mayfield has overthrown him, flat out missed him, or not even pulled the trigger on an obvious pass to Godwin that would have been a sure fire 20 yard gain.
Even with the young stars rising in Tampa Bay, Godwin is showing that this is his team. The stats may show that the former Penn State wide receiver has just seven receptions for 86 yards through two games. But they don't show all the details of how open he is.
But what's crazy is that despite having all the pressure as the Bucs No. 1 guy and with Mayfield struggling, Godwin has still caught 100 percent of everything Mayfield has thrown his way. 100 percent! He is averaging 12.3 yards per target with more than 85 percent of his catches being a success for his offense. Mayfield has to keep finding him.
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