Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield has enjoyed a stellar start to the 2025 season, and now finds himself among the betting favorites for NFL MVP
15:13 ET, 14 Oct 2025Updated 15:29 ET, 14 Oct 2025
Led by Baker Mayfield, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are 5-1 and sit atop the NFC South
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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers sit atop the NFC South with a 5-1 record(Image: Photo by Logan Bowles/Getty Images)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield has jumped up to third-favorite in the NFL MVP betting market following Week 6, trailing only two former recipients of the award.
Mayfield, priced at +350 to take home the MVP award at season’s end, sits behind Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (+185) and Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (+300) in the odds.
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After Mahomes, Allen and Mayfield, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is the shortest price at +1600.
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The Tampa Bay signal-caller has led his team to a 5-1 start to the season despite injuries to key wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. Mayfield ranks fourth in passing yards (1,539) and tied-for-third in passing touchdowns (12) while throwing just one interception.
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Baker has been at his best in clutch time, leading four game-winning drives in the fourth quarter to account for 80 percent of the Bucs’ wins so far.
Winning the prestigious award would mark a seismic turnaround in Mayfield’s career.
Mayfield began his professional career well with the Cleveland Browns, leading the franchise to its first playoff win in 26 years in 2020. But he was soon an afterthought when the team signed Deshaun Watson to a record five-year, $230 million contract.
No longer an asset for the Browns, Mayfield was traded to the Carolina Panthers in 2022, where he competed with Sam Darnold for the starting quarterback spot.
Baker Mayfield won just one game in six starts during his 2022 stint with the Carolina Panthers
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Baker Mayfield won one game in six starts during his 2022 stint with the Carolina Panthers(Image: Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
Mayfield won the job, but suffered a high-ankle sprain in Week 5, causing him to miss the next two games. When he returned, his starting spot was no more, and he requested a release from the team in December 2022.
One day later, the former Heisman Trophy winner was claimed off waivers by the Rams after Stafford went down with a spinal cord injury.
Considered by many to be a quarterback sanctuary under the guile of offensive guru head coach Sean McVay, the Rams got Mayfield up to speed in time for a Thursday night game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Mayfield then famously led a 13-point comeback in the game, including a 98-yard game-winning drive to win 17-16.
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Mayfield later pinpointed his stint with the Rams as a “fresh start” that “brought the fun back,” he revealed in an interview on Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast.
When he signed with Tampa ahead of the 2023 season, he was expected to compete with Kyle Trask for the starting role. Mayfield won the job and has not looked back in more than two years since.
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