Quarterback Baker Mayfield has found a home with the Buccaneers.
The 30-year-old quarterback had the best season of his career in 2024, completing 71.4 percent of his passes for 4,500 yards with 41 touchdowns — all career highs.
He’s under contract with the Bucs through 2026. But if he puts up another season like last year, one could argue he’s vastly underpaid. But Tampa Bay General Manager Jason Licht does want to keep Mayfield around.
“I love Baker. I love everything he’s done for us,” Licht said in an interview with Jeff Howe of TheAthletic.com. “The goal for us is for Baker to continue to be the player that he is, and at some point, we reach an extension when the time is right and he continues to be our quarterback for a long time. That’s the goal.”
Mayfield has helped lead the Bucs to the postseason in each of the last two years. While Tampa Bay lost to Washington in the 2024 playoffs, Mayfield still completed 15-of-18 passes for 185 yards with two touchdowns in the contest — good for a 146.5 passer rating.
“We’re all ecstatic he’s our quarterback,” Licht said. “It’s an amazing story. What he’s been through with his career and his personal life, to come out of it the way he is, the future is bright for him.”
We’ll see how Mayfield and the rest of the Bucs offense plays with a new offensive coordinator in 2025 after Liam Coen departed the organization to become the Jaguars head coach.
When the Buccaneers signed 464-pound defensive lineman Desmond Watson as an undrafted rookie, he became the heaviest player ever to sign an NFL contract. But before he can actually play in the NFL, he’s going to have to lose some weight.
Watson opened training camp on the non-football illness list, and Bucs head coach Todd Bowles confirmed that his weight is the reason.
“It’s just about trying to get him better, to be a healthier player and get him on the field more,” Bowles said. “That’s where I’m at right now. He’s working at it and we’re working with him and that’s all you can ask.”
Bowles didn’t specify how much weight the Bucs want Watson to lose but said he has lost some and the team is working with him on getting to a point where they feel he’s ready to practice.
“We have some things in mind with him, where we want to see him at,” Bowles said. “He’s made some progress. . . . I don’t have a timetable on what we can get him down to or when that comes.”
Watson is a long shot to make the 53-player roster for the regular season, but if he can get himself into better shape he’ll give himself a chance to get on the field in the preseason and show what he can do.
The Buccaneers are Baker Mayfield’s fourth NFL team. And he says there’s no question that Tampa Bay is the right place for him.
Mayfield said on Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast that in his four years with the Browns, plus his brief stints with the Panthers and Rams, his teams wanted him to change. But Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht and head coach Todd Bowles told him from the beginning that they wanted him to be who he is.
“This isn’t to shit on the other teams and franchises, but when you step in and your GM and your head coach say, ‘Hey, just be you,’ after I’ve been told at every stop and everywhere I go, ‘You need to tone it down a little bit, you need to be a franchise quarterback.’ It’s just not who I am,” Mayfield said. “I wear my emotions on my sleeves. I’m gonna talk shit, I’m going to do whatever, but when it’s time to turn the lights on and go do something I’m going to do it. So when I stepped into the building they all told me to just be myself.”
Mayfield has played his best football in Tampa Bay, raising questions about what might have been in Cleveland, if only the Browns had done what the Buccaneers have done, and encouraged him to be who he is.
Deion Sanders is in attendance today as the Buccaneers take the practice field for the first time in training camp.
Sanders, the Hall of Fame cornerback and Colorado head coach, is watching his son Shilo, an undrafted rookie safety who is trying to make the Buccaneers’ roster.
The Buccaneers posted video on social media of Sanders talking and laughing with Bucs head coach Todd Bowles on the practice field.
Deion Sanders has previously said he plans to watch both Shilo and his other rookie son, Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders, during training camp. Once the season starts, Deion will be busy coaching Colorado and may not get to see his sons play — if either of his sons actually get on the field as rookies.
The Buccaneers placed receiver Chris Godwin on the active/physically unable to perform list Tuesday. Godwin may or may not be ready for the season opener.
He still is rehabbing the left ankle he dislocated in Week 7.
Jenna Laine of ESPN reports that Godwin underwent another minor ankle procedure this spring to have it “cleaned out.” The surgery was not a surprise, Laine adds, and Godwin is doing well.
The question remains, though, about whether the team’s medical staff will clear Godwin before Week 1.
Coach Todd Bowles told Joe Bucs Fan on Monday that the team has no timeline.
“He’s working his way back,” Bowles said. “He had a procedure. He’s feeling well. He’s in good spirits, and he’s working his way back. And, you know, when I see more and he does more, I’ll have more news. But right now there’s no update on him. But Chris, hopefully, will be back very soon. And I can’t tell you when, but he’s in good spirits and he’s moving around, and he’s getting going, and he’s ramping up.”
The Bucs re-signed Godwin to a three-year, $66 million deal that includes $44 million guaranteed after he caught 50 passes for 576 yards and five touchdowns in seven games before his injury.
