Managing your family’s wealth means more to Amuni Financial than simply allocating your assets. It means legacy planning, brokerage & advisory services, retirement accounts, college savings accounts and insurance services. With 40 years of experience, let Amuni Financial help you plan ahead and stay ahead.

Call Amuni Financial at (800) 868-6864 or visit Amuni.com.

Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account each week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: Your honest opinion on the prospect of Baker Mayfield as QB1 next season? It makes sense from a monetary standpoint, but do you think it makes sense from a football standpoint?

Rams QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: The Bucs don’t have a lot of great options when pursuing a “value quarterback” this year due to salary cap constraints. Baker Mayfield appears to be the best of the bunch. The former No. 1 overall pick turns 28 next month and still has plenty of upside. He has a strong arm, good mobility and 69 NFL starts under his belt. The physical tools are there with Mayfield, and he would provide Kyle Trask with some real solid competition.

Mayfield won the starting job last year in Carolina by default as Sam Darnold suffered a serious ankle sprain in the preseason. But Mayfield might have won the job outright anyway because of his talent and competitive nature. What followed was a disappointing 1-5 record before he suffered his own high ankle sprain and lost the Panthers’ starting job after that.

He asked for his release and wound up starting four games for the Rams after being claimed off waivers. Mayfield went 1-3 as the Rams’ starter down the stretch as L.A. limped to a disappointing 5-12 record after winning the Super Bowl in 2021.

A fresh start in Tampa Bay with a quarterback-friendly offensive scheme from new coordinator Dave Canales might be what Mayfield needs at this stage of his career. Very few outside of Seattle felt like Geno Smith had any real chance of a putting together a Pro Bowl season as Russell Wilson’s replacement. But that’s what happened to Smith en route to winning the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year honors. Perhaps Mayfield can experience a similar career renaissance in Tampa Bay?

At the very least, Mayfield’s competitive nature could spur Kyle Trask to rise to the occasion and win the starting job. It will certainly be an interesting and entertaining quarterback competition if the outspoken Mayfield ends up joining the Bucs.

QUESTION: I will say one thing for Baker Mayfield, at least he makes games exciting. Jacoby Brissett is literally turn-the-TV-off boring.

ANSWER: The Glazers might be thinking the same way. Replacing Tom Brady is impossible. The star power and national attention Brady brought to Tampa Bay was truly a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon. There was going to be an inevitable falloff from Brady to his replacement in terms of wins and fan interest.

But signing Baker Mayfield in free agency sure would make things interesting. Mayfield is a cocky character who will surely make for some headlines and national interest – certainly over Jacoby Brissett and Kyle Trask.

I’m not saying this will be a Glazers decision if the Bucs wind up signing Mayfield to compete with Trask for the starting quarterback job. Head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht will be making the best football decision for the team.

But the Glazers love sold out stadiums and primetime TV games. Just the chance of having Mayfield on the team as a potential starter could sway some more national exposure for the Bucs when the schedule comes out in early May after the 2023 NFL Draft. In fact, the Bucs could feel quite dangerous with Mayfield as the starter if he wins the job.

QUESTION: When you look at the Bucs’ track record, we have never had a long-term franchise QB. Why is that? I believe five years is the longest stretch and none of them have been a legit franchise QB. Where is our Justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes, Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen? They always turn into a bust for us.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

ANSWER: The Bucs have certainly had their opportunities to find a franchise quarterback. All of the quarterbacks you listed are first-rounders, and Tampa Bay has had plenty of chances to draft a star QB in the first round. The Bucs have drafted five quarterbacks in the first round since the inception of the franchise, including Doug Williams (1979), Vinny Testaverde (1987), Trent Dilfer (1994), Josh Freeman (2009) and Jameis Winston (2015).

None of them made it to a second contract in Tampa Bay. The Bucs have even spent Day 2 picks on four other quarterbacks in Shaun King (1999, second round) Chris Simms (2003, third round), Mike Glennon (2013, third round) and Kyle Trask (2021, second round). That’s nine premium picks on QBs since Williams was drafted in 1979. Part of this dilemma is the fact that the Bucs may have missed on some of these signal callers. But the other part of it is that most of these quarterbacks landed on really bad Bucs teams over the years.

It’s crazy to think that the Bucs’ only real postseason success has come from free agent quarterbacks like Brad Johnson, Brian Griese, Jeff Garcia and Tom Brady. Perhaps Baker Mayfield – if he joins the Bucs – will be the next free agent difference-maker in Tampa Bay.

This doesn’t mean the Bucs can’t find a franchise quarterback in the draft. But who knows when that will happen?

QUESTION: With the Panthers getting the No. 1 pick and the Derek Carr signing, Todd Bowles and Jason Licht can no longer say they believe they have the best QB in the division.

ANSWER: Well, when general manager Jason Licht said the Bucs had the best quarterback in the division, that was before the Saints signed Derek Carr. But how much of an upgrade will Carr actually be in New Orleans? Fox Sports’ Greg Auman posted the statistical comparison between Carr’s numbers last year with the Las Vegas Raiders and all of the Saints’ quarterbacks – Andy Dalton, Jameis Winston and Taysom Hill. It was just about a wash last year – and Carr actually had a better supporting cast in Davante Adams, Darren Waller, Josh Jacobs and Kenyan Drake.

The Saints have a more talented QB under center in Carr and one with a great deal of experience. But time will tell if Carr is truly an upgrade and worth the money.

As for Carolina, the Panthers are poised to draft a quarterback at No. 1 after trading up with the Bears. Whether it’s Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud or Alabama’s Bryce Young is almost inconsequential in 2023. The Panthers’ offensive line isn’t as shaky as it was in 2021, but still surrendered 36 sacks last year.

And who will Stroud or Young have to throw to? Top wide receiver D.J. Moore was sent to Chicago in the trade, and that leaves receivers Shi Smith and Laviska Shenault Jr. and tight ends Ian Thomas and Tommy Tremble left to throw to. Those four combined to catch 89 passes for 729 yards and five touchdowns last year.

For every Cam Newton, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes that gets drafted in the first round, there have been plenty of less-than-stellar picks, too. In fact, there are more QBs like Winston, Marcus Mariota, Mitchell Trubisky, Sam Bradford, Blaine Gabbert, Zach Wilson and Sam Darnold who don’t pan out.

It’s too early to be worried about Carolina’s rookie quarterback. Unless the Panthers build a better offensive line and surround that QB with much better weapons to throw to, it won’t matter who they select. And we’ll see who the Falcons wind up with at quarterback after passing on acquiring Jackson from Baltimore.

QUESTION: Your thoughts on bringing back Ryan Griffin? What a good mentor.

Bucs QBs Blaine Gabbert, Ryan Griffin and Tom Brady – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Ryan Griffin is an absolute stud of a human being. While his career never panned out on the field, he made a damn good living as a backup or third-string quarterback with the Saints and the Bucs. Griffin, who turns 34 in November, is one of the best locker room guys and teammates.

He’s a very intelligent QB who would thrive as a quarterbacks coach someday at the college or NFL level. In fact, I could see Griffin become an offensive coordinator one day if he chooses to go into coaching.

As for his chances of returning to the Bucs this year as a training camp arm and a potential backup, I’d love to see it. I’m just not sure if Dave Canales wants to have him back or reboot the quarterback position with some new faces around Kyle Trask.

I would be fine having Griffin back as a mentor to Kyle Trask and whoever else the Bucs bring in to compete for the starting job. Even if he’s the veteran practice squad QB again, Griffin could find a way to help the Bucs in the film room at the very least. I’m just not sure it’s in the cards this year, but we’ll find out soon enough with free agency starting this week.

QUESTION: If Lavonte David is truly leaving, I wish the team would just trade Devin White because his stock will drop without David there to cover the many mistakes he makes. Better to get a second-round pick this year then a compensatory fifth or sixth pick when he leaves next season.

Bucs LBs Devin White and Lavonte David – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Three things are certain when it comes to Devin White and Tampa Bay. First, as long as Todd Bowles is the head coach, he will have Devin White as his middle linebacker. Bowles loves White and doesn’t see the flaws that others see in White’s game. White is Bowles’ blind spot the way that Byron Leftwich was Bruce Arians’. Bowles won’t trade him.