Bucs Fans Disgusted at Going from Tom Brady to Baker Mayfield After Reported Contract
Joseph Zucker@@JosephZucker
Featured Columnist IVMarch 15, 2023
The good news for Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans is the team finally has a replacement for Tom Brady. The bad news is, well.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported the Bucs agreed to a one-year contract worth up to $8.5 million with Baker Mayfield.
The 2017 Heisman Trophy winner threw for 2,163 yards, 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions across his spells with the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams last season. His stock has fallen precipitously over time from when it looked like he was the Cleveland Browns' franchise savior in 2018.
Not surprisingly, some Buccaneers fans are less than thrilled with Wednesday's news. Some are also wondering the thoughts of star wide receivers Mike Evans and Chris Godwin:
Mike Golic Jr @mikegolicjrwe should create the Baker Mayfield Game of the Year. Once a year, Baker is blindfolded and flown to a random team. He doesn't know the team, and they don't know he's their QB until he shows up at the facility. try to recreate the LAR vs LVR magic. <a href="https://t.co/tYAHxqKoRW">https://t.co/tYAHxqKoRW</a>
The truth is, there was no satisfactory path to replacing Brady this offseason.
Tampa Bay was significantly over the cap before the offseason kicked into gear, so signing Jimmy Garoppolo or Derek Carr was basically out of the question. The same went for a potential trade involving Lamar Jackson or Aaron Rodgers.
Anybody the Bucs signed was going to be a clear downgrade from Brady and likely a one-year stopgap before Kyle Trask is ready to take over or the team moves on to someone else.
No matter how bad things get for Tampa Bay in 2023, at least fans can reminisce about that Super Bowl LV run.