The Buccaneers head into 2024 leaps and bounds forward of the place they had been final 12 months, thanks largely to at least one man: Baker Mayfield. The previous 2018 first-overall decide went from being a reclamation venture for a rebuilding workforce to a true-blue beginning quarterback for the defending NFC South champions. The place not way back, every part in Tampa Bay revolved round Tom Brady, it should now orbit Mayfield.
Whereas signing Mayfield to a three-year extension secured a lot wanted consistency for the Bucs, he enters an all-too-familiar state of affairs going into this 12 months’s coaching camp. As soon as once more, Mayfield has a brand new offensive coordinator, former Kentucky and Los Angeles Rams coordinator Liam Coen. After taking part in for seven offensive coordinators in six seasons, taking part in for Coen has one small mercy: Mayfield has performed for him earlier than, throughout their quick stint in Los Angeles.
At first blush, this reunion seems problematic. When Mayfield final performed for Coen, he averaged -0.040 EPA per play, twenty fourth within the NFL in the course of the span he performed in Los Angeles. The distinction now’s the surroundings. Mayfield’s most dependable goal with the Rams was tight finish Tyler Higbee whereas taking part in behind one of many NFL’s worst offensive traces that season.
The synergy between Mayfield and Coen would be the key to persevering with the Bucs’ offensive progress up to now 12 months. With Mayfield below heart, the Bucs had the NFL’s eighth-best EPA per dropback (0.110). Enhancing on final 12 months’s offensive effectiveness might be a problem with the implementation of a brand new offensive system that Mayfield has already known as “mentally taxing.”
Mayfield might want to take agency command of the offense early in coaching camp as Coen’s system closely implements motions and shifts, which earlier Bucs offenses haven’t. The remainder of the offense might be extra reliant on Mayfield’s familiarity with the system to function at or above the place it did final 12 months.
The opposite benefit Mayfield will get pleasure from heading into this 12 months’s camp might be his unquestioned standing as Tampa Bay’s beginning quarterback. Final 12 months, Mayfield competed, if even nominally, with Bucs’ 2021 second-round decide Kyle Trask for the beginning job. That won’t be the case this 12 months. Mayfield will take the lion’s share of the beginning reps.
With Mayfield entrenched because the starter, Trask could lastly be out of possibilities to show his beginning high quality within the NFL. Coming into the ultimate 12 months of his rookie contract, Trask doesn’t have the identical upside he had sitting behind Tom Brady and might be searching for a backup cope with Tampa Bay or maybe elsewhere within the subsequent 12 months.
Third-string QB John Wolford has extra expertise with Liam Coen than anybody else on the roster. Coen was Wolford’s assistant QB coach throughout his rookie season in Los Angeles and spent a full season with Coen when he was the Ram’s offensive coordinator. That familiarity may even be sufficient to push Wolford to snag second-string snaps from Trask. On the very least, it ought to maintain Wolford on the roster come the top of camp and the preseason.
The newcomer to the group is Zack Annexstad, an undrafted rookie out of Illinois State. Barring a miraculous exhibiting in coaching camp, Annexstad won’t to unseat Trask or Wolford for a roster spot. His most sensible aim might be to earn a spot on the Bucs’ follow squad.
Story initially appeared on Buccaneers Wire
