Backup material.

The more Joe thinks about it, the angrier Joe gets.

Look, who doesn’t love Baker Mayfield’s devil-may-care style of play? It’s fun and Joe is confident Mayfield won two, maybe three games for the Bucs before the bye, primarily on heart and guts.

That’s the kind of guy you want leading your team. But there’s a catch, to quote former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians on quarterbacks.

“Put yourself in harm’s way, harm will find you.”

And that’s exactly what happened with Mayfield after the bye last year, Joe is convinced. Mayfield was not the same player after the bye (technically, Mayfield was a shell of himself in the win at New Orleans right before the bye).

Why the Bucs allowed Mayfield on the field when he couldn’t perform frosts Joe. Why get him more injured? Why use a quarterback who is little more than a warm body, especially in a playoff chase?

The only logical reason is the Bucs didn’t trust Mayfield’s backup, Teddy Bridgewater. And if that’s true, then why in the world was Bridgewater even eating up a roster spot?

Thinking of that makes Joe twist and turn at night.

Joe doesn’t want to take the Baker Mayfield out of Mayfield. He’s dangerous because of what he can do with his feet. But that also puts him in harm’s way (see Arians’ quote above).

Running quarterbacks don’t get less brittle when they reach the wrong side of 30. So if the Bucs are going to ride or die with Mayfield and his intense will to win, they better get ready for the dark side.

Sadly in the NFL, there are no good backup quarterbacks, at least not for long. If the backup is any good, he will be starting somewhere making a lot more cash. So when looking for a backup, the key is finding one less awful.

Joe is thinking about veteran Carson Wentz. The former starter has bounced around the league since he was last a starting quarterback at Indianapolis in 2021.

Wentz hasn’t been horrible. Last year in five starts with Minnesota, Wentz was 2-3. For a starter, that’s poor. For a backup, that is very serviceable.

And that’s what the Bucs need. If (when?) Mayfield gets hurt, Wentz could maybe win a couple of games and get the Bucs over the hump until Mayfield is healthy enough to be effective.

At least with Wentz, if (when?) Mayfield does get hurt, the Bucs won’t have to worry about throwing the season away because they don’t trust their backup.

Allegedly.