King of the hill.
Joe doesn’t think this is hyperbole. What would the Bucs’ record be without Baker Mayfield.
The Bucs’ quarterback has easily been the best player on one of the NFL’s best teams through six weeks and the best team in the NFC.
And no player on the Bucs has had a bigger impact with the success of the Bucs than Mayfield.
In fact, if veteran NFL.com columnist Jeffri Chadiha was choosing his NFL MVP of the 2025 season through the first six weeks, he said it’s not even a discussion: The leader for the MVP award is easily Mayfield.
Chadiha also believes the biggest winner coming out of Week 6 is — you guessed it — Mayfield.
It’s been a tough job figuring out who should be the early leader for the MVP award, but that’s no longer an issue. Mayfield has made his case early and often, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback might just be holding that trophy when the season ends. There are quarterbacks with more accomplishments. There are quarterbacks with better numbers. However, nobody is playing this position or doing more for his team through the first six weeks of the season than Mayfield. The Buccaneers have dealt with numerous offensive line injuries. They’ve been playing without running back Bucky Irving and wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin (and rookie sensation Emeka Egbuka also sustained a hamstring injury in Sunday’s win over San Francisco). And yet here the Bucs are, sitting at 5-1 after another dramatic victory. That’s because Mayfield has been that good, that clutch, that inspirational of a leader. It doesn’t matter who is suiting up next to him these days. He’s going to make enough plays to help his team get a win. Because of Mayfield, the Buccaneers were the first team in history to have four wins by three points or less in their first five games. Now, he has thrown 12 touchdown passes this season while turning the ball over once. And the biggest thing he gives Tampa Bay is attitude. You can see it when he rises from a first-down scramble or hits a deep shot after taking a huge hit from a free blitzer. Mayfield is playing with the kind of confidence and bravado that made him a cult hero in college. It’s also made him this league’s best player through the first six weeks of this season.
Take away Mayfield from the Bucs’ roster, say he was injured in training camp, Joe doesn’t think it is a stretch to suggest the Bucs right now would be 1-5, maybe even 0-6.
That’s how important Mayfield has been. Just take that Houdini act Mayfield pulled to keep a drive alive scrambling for a first down and then hitting Tez Johnson with a bomb. Does any other quarterback pull that off?
After Mayfield hit Johnson with that pass on the heels of scrambling for a first down, it seemed as if that scrambled lit a fuse with the Bucs. And they then slammed the door on the 49ers.
Joe thinks we are seeing a very special season unfold before our eyes the way Mayfield is willing this team to wins damn near every week.
Here in Tampa Bay, they treasure @bakermayfield’s confidence & grit like he’s one of their own.
It reminds me of a lyric from another Florida man, Jimmy Buffett, that sums up Baker’s Bucs tenure perfectly: “Yes, I am a pirate, 200 years too late.”
Our essay as aired on ESPN: pic.twitter.com/qFVRzidYrw
— Jeff Darlington (@JeffDarlington) October 12, 2025