Starting quarterback Baker Mayfield is the face of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise and thus always the man of the hour, but that has never been more true than it is now that he and Jason Licht were unable to come to terms on a new contract extension before the self imposed deadline of 2026 NFL training camp.
Mayfield had a poor second half of the 2025 season as the Bucs collapsed to miss out on the playoffs entirely despite playing in the easiest division in the NFL, but nobody can forget that he was literally playing at an MVP level in the first half of the campaign before injuries derailed the entire season - including Mayfield's own injuries coming back to haunt him in a Bucs uniform.
The fact that Mayfield and the Buccaneers blew the NFC South to the Carolina Panthers and the head coach and quarterback duo of David Canales and Bryce Young made the 2025 season an even more difficult pill to swallow.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers need Baker Mayfield to destroy Bryce Young
There is nothing impressive about Young in comparison to Baker Mayfield, yet now Mayfield is going to have to hear Panthers fans and even certain hot take artists around the NFL chirp about how Young might be ascending to being a better quarterback, leader, and winner in the NFL than the Bake, who has never made it to an divisional championship game in his career.
Mayfield is not a man who needs any more motivation than he already has, and you can already tell he views the Tampa Bay Buccaneers not paying him what he wants as a cardinal sin and real bulletin board material to bring his best game to the entire NFL with a big contract - and his reputation as a potential MVP candidate or even "just" a franchise quarterback on the line.
Not falling behind Bryce Young in his own division in quarterback rankings and converations is a must, and while it is almost a bare minimum, not getting disrespected is almost as powerful of a motivator as winning it all for someone who carries a perpetual chip on his shoulder like Mayfield.
The Buccaneers star quarterback has to see Young as an ultimate rival in his own backyard of the NFC South, and it is time for Mayfield to definitively leave him in the dust after failing to convincingly outduel the Carolina offense in 2025.
Add us as a preferred source on Google