Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield has been a rare commodity since entering the league, but even more so during his time in Tampa Bay. The heart, the moxie, the willingness to win at all costs. It’s been the calling card of the Bucs’ starting quarertback. He’s the Energizer bunny of the team.

Going into his fourth season in Tampa Bay, Baker Mayfield will have a fourth different offensive coordinator. Each play-caller will say the same about him Mayfield and what he brings to this offense. With the latest addition of new offensive coaches getting to work with Mayfield this season, there are more people to witnesses what the phenomena of Mayfield has become in red and pewter.

Baker Mayfield Has An Edge This Offseason

Baker Mayfield has a whole group of new coaches that will be directly working with him. He does have some familiarity with offensive coordinator Zac Robinson during their time together in Los Angeles at the end of the 2022 season, along with Ken Zampese first coaching Mayfield in Cleveland. But this is the first time he’s working with passing game coordinator T.J. Yates and quarterbacks coach Chandler Whitmer.

Whether they’ve crossed paths before or it’s their first time working together, everybody feels Mayfield’s energy.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Nathan Ray Seebeck

“I think Baker naturally already has that edge to him and you can feel it even more,” Robinson said. “He’s been so intentional with his footwork and all the fundamentals and the details that Whitmer our coaches are preaching to him. He’s off to a great start, and obviously we got a long way to go with just learning some new things. There’s a lot of carryover but also a lot of new and he’s diving into that. You definitely feel the edge and overall urgency from the group, which is what you’re looking for at this time of the year.”

It’s Difficult To Find Players Like Baker Mayfield Today

Passing game coordinator T.J. Yates became enamored with Baker Mayfield even though he has worked with him for a short time. Yates played seven years in the NFL as a quarterback, giving him the most NFL experience amongst coaches on the offensive side. Because of that, he can probably relate to the Mayfield the most.

The knock on Mayfield’s style of play is that he goes so all out to the point where his body is constantly in harm’s way and that can lead to injury. Mayfield hardly ever comes out of games, but not playing at 100 percent also can hurt the team. Yates spoke about finding that balance while also appreciating his toughness compared to others.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and RT Luke Goedeke – Photo by: IMAGN Images – Bob Donnan

“There’s always times in games where everything goes,” Yates said. “You’ve got to go make the play – you’ve got to go win the game, whatever it is. But it’s the moments in between the games that you’ve just got to make sure that you protect yourself. You’ve got to protect the team, you’ve got to protect the organization, all that stuff. It’s really, really hard because you look for guys like Baker that have that competitive edge, who have something about them. That “it” factor that, in my opinion, is kind of going away at the quarterback position in this league.

“It is just so refreshing to see a guy that has that in him. What that does for the guys in the locker room, you don’t see that very often these days in the league and it’s so awesome to see. It does have its detriments at points because you don’t want him to get hurt, you don’t want him to get dinged up, all these things.”

Yates continued.

“He’s going to play no matter what,” Yates said. “You’re going to have to drag that guy off the field, because that’s just his competitive nature. But you got to dial it back a little bit, you got to calm that competitive edge down but you don’t want to take his stinger away, because that’s what makes him great, and that’s what makes the rest of the team great. There obviously is a happy medium in between, and we’re going to try to do the best we can do find it.”

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

They don’t make them like Baker Mayfield anymore in today’s NFL. That’s the message that Yates continued to deliver. It’s rare scene to have a quarterback today as fiery and competitive as Mayfield is with his alpha energy. That’s why he won over his teammates so fast when he arrived in Tampa Bay in 2023.

“Baker’s kind of one of the last of a dying breed of just competitive alpha quarterbacks,” Yates said. “There’s a lot of guys across the league that … they’re a little softer-mannered, they’re a little mildly mannered. They’re just the way of social media and sensitivity that goes on with the younger generation. I can say that now because I’m a little bit older. Baker’s just different compared to the rest of the guys that I’ve been around.

“I know there are good examples across the league of guys that are like that. But the guys that I’ve been around, the dudes that really know how to play the position and just earn that respect from their teammates by the way they carry themselves as a leader and the competitor they are – that’s what Baker really does to stand out across the league”