The Tampa Bay Buccaneers took the field against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday, and by all accounts, the Bucs had the upper hand.
Mike Evans absolutely dominated Jalen Ramsey to the point where head coach Todd Bowles rewarded him with a rest day for Saturday night’s preseason game.
After taking some time to review the film from the joint practice session, Bowles came to the conclusion that Evans wasn’t the only player who deserves a rest day.
Baker Mayfield lights up Steelers in joint practice, earns rest day from Todd Bowles
According to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, in addition to Evans and Lavonte David, Mayfield will be the third-and-final Buccaneer to not take the field on Saturday night against the Steelers while the rest of the starters will play.
After reviewing the tape of today’s practice, Todd Bowles just told me he believes Baker Mayfield played so well today in the joint workout with the Steelers he will NOT play in Saturday night’s game.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) August 15, 2025
Tampa Bay’s success against Pittsburgh is a very encouraging sign. The Steelers finished with a top-10 defense a season ago, and made a few splash moves to upgrade the unit even further going into 2025, such as trading for Ramsey and signing Darius Slay.
Iron sharpen iron, and so it was intriguing to see how the Buccaneers’ elite offense would perform against one of the league’s best defensive units, and they didn’t disappoint.
Mayfield sitting out means attention now turns to the competition for the backup quarterback spot.
Bowles already confirmed that Teddy Bridgewater will play on Saturday as he takes his first game reps in a Buccaneers uniform. With Mayfield sitting out, it opens the door for Bridgewater to take on a more significant amount of snaps.
Kyle Trask, who is coming off a highly efficient performance in the preseason opener against the Tennessee Titans, would like to follow that up with another strong showing against Pittsburgh and potentially cement his status as the backup behind Mayfield.
While fans would’ve loved to watch Mayfield and Evans take the field for the first time since Tampa Bay’s season ended in January, everybody already knows what the duo is capable of.
It’s a wise move by Bowles to keep his proven veterans in bubble wrap until the season starts and not take any chances with his best players, especially after such a dominant showing in joint practice.