It feels as if every week during the offseason there’s a new argument over Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield and where his placement should be amongst all the league quarterbacks. There’s no doubt he’s in improved his justification after a season of 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns, but his stature is still all over the place.

Some rankings don’t even have Baker Mayfield in the top 10, while others, such as a recent one that came from Fox Sports, has Baker in seventh overall just behind Jared Goff and ahead of Justin Herbert. That might be the right spot for him going into the 2025 season.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Rondé Barber Says Baker Mayfield Is A Top 10 QB

Ask 10 people where Mayfield should be and likely there will be 10 different answers. What there’s no denying is that Bucs’ Hall of Famer Rondé Barber firmly has Mayfield’s back, saying there’s without a shadow of a doubt that he’s a top 10 quarterback. Barber spoke about Mayfield on his show, The Rondé Barber Show, with co-host JB Biuonno on WFLA and spoke about his importance to Tampa Bay.

“The leadership qualities just jump out at you,” Barber said. “The dude makes tough plays in tough situations. He elevates the entire team. We’ve seen that, just the highlight plays show that. It helps of course that he has talent around him. The best, or second best according to some people, wide receiver room in football. But it starts with him. Baker’s a top 10 quarterback for me, man. I don’t see how anybody can say otherwise.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

“He’s got pocket toughness. He’s gritty, stands in there and takes hits. There’s nothing wrong at all with the way he throws the football. It’s a quick release, he can throw with timing, he can throw out of the pocket, the improvisational skills that he has, the off play skills that he has are second to none other than these young guys that are ridiculous athletes. And he’s got great fire.”

His last point about it might be the best talking about how much he’s gotten better each season.

“He’s thrown for (at least) 4,000 yards in his two years here,” Barber said. “He’s had a new coordinator every single year of his career, including this year. And I don’t know that it matters. The guy just elevates his game to whatever level he needs it to be at and people just trail and follow him. It’s pretty awesome to watch.”

Comparing Baker Mayfield To Other QBs

Now Barber didn’t go as far as to say that Mayfield is the best quarterback in the league. There’s still a tier 1 group that he is still outside of and that includes Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow.

“Those are your MVPs, your perennial MVPs.”

But when it comes to many of the other well known quarterbacks across the league, Barber is taking Mayfield over most. Biuonno rattled off names one-by-one compared to Baker Mayfield with Barber picking who he would take for the 2025 season as a franchise quarterback.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“I think I’m going to say Baker Mayfield to every one of these,” Barber joked. And quickly without even a second of thought, Barber took Mayfield over Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love.

The more names that were mentioned, though, the tougher of a decision it was to make. Next rattled off were C.J. Stroud, Justin Herbert, Matthew Stafford and Jalen Hurts. Barber still stuck to his gut and went with Mayfield. There was only one quarterback when asked to compare that Barber had over Mayfield and that was Jayden Daniels, who knocked the Bucs out of the postseason.

All in all, Barber made it evident how confident he is in Baker Mayfield.

What Must Baker Mayfield Do This Season?

What can Mayfield do in his third year with the Bucs? How does he get even better and have the Bucs go further into the postseason. Barber has an idea while also speaking about how he can duplicate he stat production as a premiere quarterback throughout this league.

“What I’d love to see Baker do is not turn the ball over so much. He threw 16 interceptions, that jumps out. The good and bad of that is he’s obviously able to come back from it, but there’s games where those mattered. I see the same production, you got a new offensive coordinator in here but I don’t think it changes much at all.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

“I think it’s going to be similar if not the exact same system. Maybe the way they call plays are different, but the way it’s set up is the exact same. I don’t see why he doesn’t have the same type of production. It’s not like Baker’s getting old. Baker’s still got a lot of exuberance to his play, in his demeanor. I can see another 4,000-plus, 40 touchdown year for him. He’s got more talent at wide receiver, he’ll have healthy Chris Godwin, healthy Mike Evans and two of the young guys that are really, really good.”

Check out the entire hour long episode of The Rondé Barber Show and his discussion about the Bucs going into this season as a potential Super Bowl contender.