Numbers Suggest Baker Mayfield Earned His Bread
June 29th, 2026
“Baker, you’ve got the numbers. Get your bag!”
This will rankle some folks but Joe doesn’t believe this is crazytalk.
Hey, Joe doesn’t have an ego. If a fan has a good story idea, of course Joe is interested. And that goes for someone who uses the Twitter handle @bucs3000. This man (?) sent Joe the stats of when Tom Brady was slinging the rock for the Bucs and for when Baker Mayfield has been barking signals.
Naturally, Brady has better numbers but not by as much as you may think.
Remember, Brady in his first two Bucs seasons, played in Bucco Bruce Arians’ no-risk-it-no-biscuit offense. And Brady ranked No. 1 in the NFL in pass attempts (and the Bucs were last in rushing attempts) in 2022 under Todd Bowles.
Mayfield has played all three seasons with the Bucs using a run-heavy approach.
There was no question that, even in his mid-40s, Brady was the best in the business. Mayfield’s not No. 1. He’s no Brady, but he’s not bad, that’s for sure. (At least if you don’t factor in the final nine games last year.)
So based on the Bucs stats alone, Joe thinks Mayfield has a helluva case for a nice raise.
