There is nobody in the entire NFL, maybe not even in all of professional sports, who plays with as much of a chip on his shoulder as Baker Mayfield. And everyone around the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can see that the chip on Mayfield's shoulder just became a Herculean boulder that he is going to want to breakin to a bajillion pieces and hurl at his rivals across the 17 game 2026 NFL regular season en route to getting back to the playoffs.
But Mayfield cannot do it all alone, and he probably knows that as well as anyone. There are mainstream analysts and fans of other teams who will look at the Buccaneers 2025 NFL regular season collapse as an indictment on Mayfield and a sign that there is a ceiling a team can only reach with him as the quarterback.
Those who follow the Buccaneers more closely know that things were more complicated than that. The Buccaneers won and lost as a team, and whlie, yes Mayfield could have played better, the injuries were insurmountable, the defense was horrendous, and there were plent of other stars who failed the Bucs at an individual level.
Cody Mauch is returning from injury bigger and better
Quietly, Baker Mayfield has more reasons to believe in a better supporting cast in 2026 than he had in 2025. The defense got better. Even with Mike Evans gone, the wide receivers will get better with Ted Hurst joining growing young guns Emeka Egbuka and Jalen McMillan. And quietly, even the offensive line is getting better.
Starting right guard Cody Mauch is back in business, and he was able to participate in OTAs, with several beat writers raving about his size. Per Pewter Report, Mauch has confirmed that he has upped his weight pretty significantly over the course of the offseason thus far, going up from 313-315 pounds to 325 pounds. He said his listed weight of "just" 303 pounds is a "scam".
Gaining weight may not have positive connotations, even for offensive linemen, all the time, but in the case of Mauch, just looking at him, he looks like an absolute unit, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers need those mountains in the interior offensive line to help Mayfield out in getting the time he needs to hit the likes of Egbuka, McMillan, and Hurst accurately down the field.
The Buccaneers have a great offensive line and one of the best tackles of this generation in Tristan Wirfs. But how they hold up to interior pressure and even how they pave the road for the running game will be just as big determinants in Mayfield's fourth season in a Bucs uniform as anything.
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