Yeah, it’s fair to question the Buccaneers’ ability to scout quarterbacks.
And perhaps that means the Bucs should be leaning toward paying Baker Mayfield what he wants.
Joe looks at the drafting and non-development of Kyle Trask, the selection of Teddy Bridgewater as a backup for a Super Bowl hopeful team and this year’s swing and miss on Jake Browning, and wonders if the Bucs can be trusted in the 2027 draft when it comes to a quarterback.
Of course, the Bucs don’t want to be quarterback shopping next spring because they want Mayfield to sign an extension through the 2028 season. Mayfield balked publicly at the Bucs’ offer last month. He can become a free agent in March.
Joe realizes the Bucs have the franchise tag option on Mayfield, but that’s not foolproof. No team wants to use a tag on a player who wants out, especially a quarterback, and Mayfield could land in that boat. The Bucs could tag and trade Mayfield; that’s happened several times across the NFL. But then they’d be back to QB shopping.
Joe gives the Bucs great credit for signing Tom Brady when other teams passed on him. The Bucs also deserve credit for Mayfield.
That’s a six-year run of strong quarterback play. But Trask, Bridgewater and Browning make Joe take pause, and the five-year Jameis Winston saga remains a polarizing subject.
Nobody at JoeBucsFan.com headquarters is lobbying for the Bucs to overpay Mayfield. But Joe can’t say the Bucs have a quarterback-guru front office that is a strong bet to replace Mayfield successfully in the draft, if it came to that.