The Buccaneers head into 2024 leaps and bounds ahead of where they were last year, thanks largely to one man: Baker Mayfield. The former 2018 first-overall pick went from being a reclamation project for a rebuilding team to a true-blue starting quarterback for the defending NFC South champions. Where not long ago, everything in Tampa Bay revolved around Tom Brady, it will now orbit Mayfield.
While signing Mayfield to a three-year extension secured much needed consistency for the Bucs, he enters an all-too-familiar situation going into this year’s training camp. Once again, Mayfield has a new offensive coordinator, former Kentucky and Los Angeles Rams coordinator Liam Coen. After playing for seven offensive coordinators in six seasons, playing for Coen has one small mercy: Mayfield has played for him before, during their short stint in Los Angeles.
At first blush, this reunion appears problematic. When Mayfield last played for Coen, he averaged -0.040 EPA per play, 24th in the NFL during the span he played in Los Angeles. The difference now is the environment. Mayfield’s most reliable target with the Rams was tight end Tyler Higbee while playing behind one of the NFL’s worst offensive lines that season.
The synergy between Mayfield and Coen will be the key to continuing the Bucs’ offensive growth in the past 12 months. With Mayfield under center, the Bucs had the NFL’s eighth-best EPA per dropback (0.110). Improving on last year’s offensive effectiveness will be a challenge with the implementation of a new offensive system that Mayfield has already called “mentally taxing.”
Mayfield will need to take firm command of the offense early in training camp as Coen’s system heavily implements motions and shifts, which previous Bucs offenses have not. The rest of the offense will be more reliant on Mayfield’s familiarity with the system to operate at or above where it did last year.
The other advantage Mayfield will enjoy heading into this year’s camp will be his unquestioned status as Tampa Bay’s starting quarterback. Last year, Mayfield competed, if even nominally, with Bucs’ 2021 second-round pick Kyle Trask for the starting job. That will not be the case this year. Mayfield will take the lion’s share of the starting reps.
With Mayfield entrenched as the starter, Trask may finally be out of chances to prove his starting quality in the NFL. Entering the final year of his rookie contract, Trask does not have the same upside he had sitting behind Tom Brady and will be looking for a backup deal with Tampa Bay or perhaps elsewhere in the next 12 months.
Third-string QB John Wolford has more experience with Liam Coen than anyone else on the roster. Coen was Wolford’s assistant QB coach during his rookie season in Los Angeles and spent a full season with Coen when he was the Ram’s offensive coordinator. That familiarity could even be enough to push Wolford to snag second-string snaps from Trask. At the very least, it should keep Wolford on the roster come the end of camp and the preseason.
The newcomer to the group is Zack Annexstad, an undrafted rookie out of Illinois State. Barring a miraculous showing in training camp, Annexstad will not to unseat Trask or Wolford for a roster spot. His most realistic goal will be to earn a spot on the Bucs’ practice squad.