Every NFL team has at least one player who doesn’t get the respect he deserves, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are no exception.
Doug Farrar at Touchdown Wire recently put together a list of every team’s most underrated player heading into the 2024 season, and his pick for the Bucs was none other than quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Here’s what Farrar had to say about Mayfield:
Whether you think Baker Mayfield is underrated or not depends largely on whether you think he’s a random play generator without the required consistency to succeed at a high level in the NFL. Mayfield did all he could to bust that myth in 2023 for the Buccaneers, completing 412 passes on 643 attempts for 4,731 yards, 34 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, and a passer rating of 96.0. He completed 26 of 84 deep passes for 835 yards, 11 touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 89.0. Moreover, Mayfield proved quite efficient in the area of the field where efficiency is most important.
Mayfield’s 2023 season prodded the Bucs to give him a new three-year, $100 million contract with $50 million guaranteed, which may be about what (or more than) he’d get anywhere given his career oeuvre. But I still think he’s undersold as a quarterback who can play among the top half of the players at his position.
It’s hard to argue with Mayfield as the pick for the Bucs, though they have plenty of other worthy candidates for the title of most underrated player on the team. Star linebacker Lavonte David still doesn’t get enough credit on a national level for his elite level of play (especially at his age), and wide receiver Chris Godwin remains one of the league’s most underappreciated pass-catchers.
Now that he’s got a new contract, though, Mayfield will have a big opportunity in 2024 to prove himself worthy of the respect Farrar thinks he deserves.
To check out Farrar’s full list over at Touchdown Wire, click here.
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