Tampa Bay Bucs Name QB Baker Mayfield the Week 1 Starter
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers testament go Baker Mayfield at field general in Week 1 when they play the Gopher State Vikings in the season opener.
Mayfield edged come out Kyle Trask as the starting quarterback. Head tutor Sweeney Todd Bowles tapped Mayfield to begin the harden as Uncle Tom Brady’s successor.
I’ve just now got to conduct similar I cognize how, and the real thing is correct around the corner,” said Mayfield. “It’s an exciting time.”
Mayfield, 28, was the #1 plectron inward the 2018 NFL Draft. He had a storied collegiate vocation with OK and won the Heisman Trophy in 2017. Many NFL scouts believed Mayfield lacked the physical attributes to follow an NFL quarterback. But that didn’t deter the President Cleveland Browns from taking a flier on him with the first of all break up inwards the draft.
Mayfield led the Browns to an 11-5 track record and unity playoff victory inward 2020. The Browns discomfited the Pittsburgh Steelers inward the first off troll of the playoffs, but missed to the Kansas River City Chiefs inwards the divisional round. That was their high-water score under Mayfield. They went 8-9 in 2021 and missed the playoffs after Mayfield sustained a articulatio humeri injury.
In 59 games with the Browns, Mayfield was 29-30 as a starter. He threw 92 touchdowns and 68 interceptions piece completing 61.6% of his passes.
Last Chance for Mayfield
The Browns gave upwardly on Mayfield last-place summertime and went all-in on Deshaun Watson. They traded Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers, where he was expected to vie for a starting task with Sam Darnold.
When Darnold suffered an ankle joint trauma inwards preseason, Mayfield was tapped as the starter. In half dozen starts with the Panthers, Mayfield was 1-5 before he was benched in favor of Darnold. The Panthers burn Mayfield in December.
The Los Angeles Rams signed Mayfield later(a) inwards the harden when Matthew Stafford went pile with an injury. Mayfield went 1-3 as a starter motor with the Rams, and won his first of all bug out on “Thursday Night Football” inwards a comeback win against the Las Vegas Raiders. Despite the initial success, Mayfield lost his next iii starts.
Mayfield was a disengage federal agent inward the off-season and headed to Tampa Bay after Uncle Tom Diamond Jim Brady retired for good this off-season. He inked a one-year contract worth $4 million, but there are incentives where he could garner upwards to $8.5 million.
Heading into training camp, Mayfield was expected to vie with Trask for the QB #1 position. Mayfield outplayed Trask in the preseason to garner the starting job and will now bug out at field general for his fourth different squad inwards the endure tierce seasons.
Baker’s our starting quarterback, Kyle’s our figure two,” Bowles told bunk reporters. “We love everything Kyle has done, but Baker’s our guy cable flop at present experience-wise and understanding the playbook a little chip better.”
“I look to live the starter,” Mayfield said. “I live how talented i am, and cognize what typewrite of leader i am. Now it’s clip for the real thing.”
“All-around, Baker can buoy stroke it, he’s real smart, he understands football game real well, he tin record defenses, he’s really sound for the strategy we’re using,” added Bowles.
Trask the Backup … for Now
Trask, a second-year player out of Florida, was a belatedly second-round pickaxe from the 2021 NFL Draft. He exercise set a single-season touchdown record book at FL with 43 inwards 2020. He was a Heisman Trophy finalist and finished 4th overall in voting behindhand buster quarterbacks Trevor Ernest Orlando Lawrence from Clemson and Mac Jones from Alabama.
Brady started inwards every gamey he played during his tercet seasons with the Bucs. Trask appeared inward only when ace spirited as Brady’s computer backup lowest season, completing only when 33.3% of his passes and non throwing a touchdown.
Kyle is on the come up,” said Bowles. “He’s gotten leaps and bounds better than he was inward the spring and he’s continuing to get under one's skin meliorate and we’re excited around him.”
If Mayfield falters, and so Bowles testament have got no more qualms nearly giving Trask a shot. From what the system has said virtually Trask, they believe he’s the quarterback of the future. But he’s non rather ready yet.
John Wofford, who was a backup with the Los Angeles Rams for the past times terzetto seasons, is currently the third-string quarterback on the Bucs.
Betting the Futures Market inward Tampa Bay
The Bucs recently lost astray pass receiver Henry Russell Gage to a season-ending human knee injury. But they relieve experience ii salient wideouts in Mike Sir Arthur John Evans and Chris Godwin.
The Bucs are the defending NFC South champions. They clinched a playoff bunk with a losing 8-9 put down because the NFC South was the whip division inward the NFL inwards 2022. The Bucs are a long shooter to win the NFC South at +800 odds.
The New Orleans Saints are the consensus favorite to win the NFC South at +120 odds. The battle of Atlanta Falcons are +215 betting odds to win the naval division because futures bettors are heights on rookie running rear Bijan Robinson. The Panthers, single of Mayfield’s former teams, are +450 betting odds to win the division.
The Bucs get in this flavor with a win total of 6.5 over/under, which is the lowest identification number inward the NFC South.
The Bucs are a favorite to miss the playoffs at -500 odds, according to a prop bet past DraftKings. You canful endorse the Bucs at +400 betting odds to measure up for the postseason.
The Bucs lead off the regular time of year as a +6.5 route underdog against the Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium inward Week 1.