Baker Mayfield, “Appointment Football”
October 4th, 2025
How much fun are the 2025 Buccaneers?
Joe was intrigued to hear the perspective of a truly neutral but very savvy and seasoned former executive.
Tom Telesco got 11 years as Chargers general manager. He navigated three new head coaches en route to trying to build a Super Bowl team around quarterbacks Philip Rivers and Justin Herbert. Each head coach got to the postseason but couldn’t finish or sustain winning.
The Chargers canned Telesco after the 2023 season and he quickly signed on to lead the Raiders. Then Tom Brady came to Las Vegas and kicked good guy Telesco to the curb.
This year, Telesco has been watching games through a different lens and doing his share of interviews. He joined the NFL’s Move The Sticks podcast this week and shared his appreciation of the Bucs and a newfound love of the Baker Mayfield experience.
“The Bucs are a good football team and they’re really well constructed,” Telesco said. “They’re kind of holding on at the offensive line. I mean, it’s hard, like the Vikings have a ton of injuries on the offensive line; the Chargers have a ton. The Bucs have had a lot with [Luke] Goedeke and Cody Mauch but they’re surviving it. The defense has played outstanding, especially on third down.
“This is a fun team to watch play. It’s fun to watch Baker Mayfield play football. It really is. That’s what I’m starting to realize watching these games as a fan and not as a GM where you’re always focused on something else. Just watching a player like him play with his enthusiasm — the high plays, the low plays. It’s just like appointment football.”
Telesco is on the money. The Bucs are well constructed (outside of their anemic edge rush). And the Bucs’ third-down defense ranks second in the NFL in forcing fourth downs. Last year, they were 15th.
As for Mayfield, he is morphing into a darling of media, analysts, players and fans. If Mayfield wins two of the Bucs’ three remaining prime time games (Atlanta, Detroit, Rams) this season, and a playoff game, he’ll probably become a true mega-star QB.
Incredible for a guy the Bucs signed off the street for the NFL equivalent of a Delco’s cheesesteak.
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