Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Todd Bowles: Baker Mayfield Has the Keys to the Bus

After a resurgent season with the Buccaneers in 2023, QB Baker Mayfield heads into his second camp in Tampa with added responsibilities in the huddle and the full confidence of his coaches and teammates

Jul 24, 2024 at 02:45 PM

Scott Smith

Senior Writer/Editor

On Wednesday, Baker Mayfield began his second training camp as a Tampa Bay Buccaneer, and a lot has changed in one year.

Last year, Mayfield came into camp in a wide-open one-on-one competition with Kyle Trask to win the Buccaneers' starting quarterback job, having signed with Tampa Bay after the retirement of Tom Brady. He eventually won that job and delivered a Pro Bowl season, throwing for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns while leading his new team to the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

This year, Mayfield is entrenched as the starter, heading into Year One of the multi-season contract he landed in the offseason as a result of his resurgent 2023 campaign. He has the admiration of his teammates and the confidence from his playmakers that he is going to get them the football in a position to succeed. He also has even more ownership in the offense than last year, as new Offensive Coordinator Liam Coen plans to give him much more responsibility to change play calls in the huddle.

Mayfield and Coen had months to work together in the Bucs' offseason program and the Buccaneers' coaching staff is fully confident that the veteran quarterback can handle his new assignments and get the most out of Coen's schemes.

"Baker has the keys to the bus," said Head Coach Todd Bowles after the Bucs' first camp practice on Wednesday morning. "He's driving it. He's comfortable, we're comfortable with him. We're both in a great place right now. He has to run the offense – we talked about this, as far as getting the ball out where he needs to get the ball out and understanding the offense and making the correct checks. I think he's taken it upon his shoulders. He came back in great shape and we expect him to do that. There's a lot more stability there than there was last year."

Bowles said the same thing directly to Mayfield during a team meeting on Tuesday evening, telling him, "Bake, you run the show. It's your team. You've got athletes everywhere – give them the ball." Indeed with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin hitting the ground running to start camp Wednesday, Rachaad White coming off a breakout season of 1,539 yards from scrimmage and a number of intriguing young receiving options to sort through, the Buccaneers have the weapons to make any quarterback's job easier.

Oh, and getting a lucrative new deal after a couple of itinerant and unsatisfying seasons in the league hasn't done anything to dampen Mayfield's eagerness to prove the doubters wrong.

"He's probably got a bigger chip [on his shoulder] now," said Bowles. "Baker is going to be the same every day. He works his tail off to be the best he can be. The guys believe in him and would run through a brick wall for him. I don't see any change."

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TAMPA, FL - July 23, 2024 - Wide Receiver Sterling Shepard #25 and Wide Receivers Coach Bryan McClendon of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers arrive for 2024 Training Camp at AdventHealth Training Center. Photo By Tori Richman/Tampa Bay Buccaneers