Baker Mayfield Talks March Revitalization
February 1st, 2026
At high noon on Monday, March 9, the annual free agency dinner bell will ring.
That’s when Bucs fans will begin to find out if Tampa Bay is all-in on the 2026 season.
It’s also near the time when Bucs franchise quarterback Baker Mayfield will start thinking about Xs and Os and winning games again.
Mayfield joined The Rondé Barber Show last week, a WFLA-TV streaming property. There Mayfield talked about how he’s in full body-recovery mode and how he has to remove himself from the game every year.
“I have to step away from it a little bit,” Mayfield said. “I’m mentally drained … and it’s more of a mental break for me than it is physical.
“I’ll start itching to get back and start working out way more so than I will [think], ‘Alright what schemes do I need to go look at today?’ I’ll start working out first, and then I’ll start looking at tape. I’d rather have a conversation about schemes than actually sitting down and watching tape. Until about March for me, that’s when I start thinking, ‘Ball.’ …”Until March hits, I’m not really thinking football.”
Mayfield added that he’ll return to training in February — and always wants to — but he won’t grind with video until March.
Barber, the Bucs legend, noted he was a March guy, too. Why? Because that was when chatter heated up about free agents possibly coming to the Bucs and potential plans to replace him,” Barber said.