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

QUESTION: It sounds like a lot of players are gravitating towards Baker Mayfield. We didn’t hear much of this with Tom Brady. Does Mayfield go out of his way, or was Brady more standoffish?

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: That’s a very good question, and one that needs quite a bit of examination. We need to remember that when Tom Brady arrived in 2020 the world was beginning to be mired in the COVID-19 pandemic. Brady had interaction with the team, but mostly just the offense due to social distancing measures that were in place within One Buc Place. I think he ingratiated himself within the team as best he could, and as COVID dissipated, he got to know his teammates better and spend some more time with them away from the team facility.

At the same time, Brady was an icon – not just a celebrity. It was very difficult for him to go out in public in the Tampa Bay area away from his Davis Island home without attracting attention or a mob of fans. Baker Mayfield is a very popular Bucs quarterback, but certainly not in Brady’s class when it comes to the size of his fan base. And it’s also worth pointing out that Brady was going through a very public and painful divorce in 2022, so he probably wasn’t hanging out with his teammates very much his final season in Tampa Bay.

Mayfield loves getting to know his teammates, and not just the ones on offense. In his first OTA practice with the team in 2023, he was seen going through calisthenics and warm-ups embedded with the defensive linemen on their side of the field. Mayfield wanted to be a team captain – not just a captain on offense. In training camp, he roomed with offensive linemen like Tristan Wirfs, Robert Hainsey and Luke Goedeke rather than the team’s backup quarterbacks.

Simply put, Mayfield is a dude. That’s not to say that Brady isn’t, but Mayfield is just a bit different in terms of his personality. He can strike up a conversation with anyone and he operates with a lineman’s mentality. Mayfield thinks of himself as a football player first and a quarterback second. He relishes being a leader as that is part of his DNA.

I think because of Brady’s iconic status, he was deemed unapproachable by some of the younger Bucs players due to the awe factor around the G.O.A.T. That’s not necessarily what Brady wanted, as he was pretty humble as an individual to begin with. I also believe the divorce he went through probably put some distance between he and some of his teammates as a natural byproduct of being distracted during the 2022 season.

QUESTION: What’s the prospect for Rakim Jarrett year? He looked great in college and the preseason but was hurt most of the year.

Bucs WR Rakim Jarrett – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

ANSWER: Rakim Jarrett gets a fair amount of buzz around One Buccaneer Place, but he needs to gain some traction. He played in two preseason games last year and caught seven passes for 132 yards. Then in the regular season, Jarrett had four catches for 60 yards (15 avg.), including a 41-yard catch at San Francisco in which he tore a quad muscle and spent the next four weeks on injured reserve.

In his three seasons at Maryland, Jarrett caught 119 passes for 1,552 yards (13 avg.) and 10 touchdowns. His best season came in 2021 when he hauled in 62 receptions for 829 yards (13.4 avg.) and five touchdowns. In his final season in 2022, Jarrett caught 40 passes for 471 yards (11.8 avg.) and three TDs. His regression statistically was one of the reasons that caused him to go undrafted.

He certainly has some talent, but can he be WR3 on a team or is he better suited for life on the practice squad? Jarrett flashed during the mandatory mini-camp, beating veteran cornerback Bryce Hall for two deep passes, including a touchdown on the opening play of one of the 11-on-11 sessions on Day 2. Instead of flashes, Jarrett needs to become consistent and start stacking quality days together in training camp.

The Bucs are high on Jarrett and I think right now he’s in the running for the final spot on the wide receiver depth chart – whether that’s WR5 or WR6. I think there is a chance he also ends up as Tampa Bay’s return specialist, although he’ll have to beat out Trey Palmer and rookies Bucky Irving and Kameron Johnson for that role in camp and the preseason.

QUESTION: Now that Deven Thompkins has been cleared of any wrongdoing as it pertains to the NFL’s code of conduct, do you see the Bucs re-signing him in time for training camp?

ANSWER: I know that Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles said he was going to leave the door open to a possible return by Deven Thompkins – assuming he would be healed up (and cleared of any wrongdoing from his estranged wife, apparently). Remember that the Bucs waived Thompkins injured during the offseason. Per Fox Sports’ Greg Auman, the NFL has cleared Thompkins of the accusations from his wife, which means he will not face any discipline from the league.

Bucs WR-KR-PR Deven Thompkins – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Yet I don’t think the Bucs need him. Tampa Bay drafted another wide receiver in Jalen McMillan in the third round this year. Then, the Bucs signed a pair of wide receivers after releasing Thompkins in veterans Sterling Shepard and Cody Thompson. Tampa Bay also signed three undrafted free agent receivers in May in Kameron Johnson, Tanner Knue and Latreal Jones. The team now has 13 receivers and I don’t think they need a 14th.

The Bucs will only keep as many as six receivers with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin atop the depth chart and McMillan and Trey Palmer vying to be WR3 and WR4. So then the team will only need one or two more receivers and second-year players Rakim Jarrett and Ryan Miller are in the mix for that along with Johnson, a very athletic rookie from tiny Barton College.

Johnson is 5-foot-9, 190 pounds, whereas Thompkins is just 5-foot-8, 155 pounds and I think he replaces Thompkins on the roster. Even if he’s re-signed and brought to camp, I don’t think there is room on this team for Thompkins, who would need one heck of a preseason as both a return specialist and a wide receiver to make the 53.

QUESTION: Do the Bucs have a Top 10 NFL roster? If not, where does it land?

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

I’m actually not qualified to answer this question because I’m a Bucs beat writer and not an NFL beat writer where I have a complete understanding of other NFL teams’ rosters. I have tunnel vision on the Bucs first, then the NFC South second, NFC teams third and the AFC fourth. Someone like Pro Football Focus’ Trevor Sikkema, a former Pewter Reporter, would be a better candidate to answer this question.

When you say a Top 10 roster, that’s different from the Top 10 teams because teams also include coaching staffs. Sometimes, there are NFL rosters that are talented but are held back by poor coaching. I think the Bucs are a Top 10 team – coaching staff included. They were a year ago as it pertains to the team’s advancing to the NFC Divisional Playoffs. Tampa Bay was one of eight teams left standing heading into the NFC Divisional playoffs last January.

I don’t think Tampa Bay’s roster has gotten worse this year. I actually think it’s gotten better. That could be said of other teams like the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs, too. So I think it’s fair to say that the Bucs have a Top 10 team. Probably closer to No. 10 than No.1 right now, but we’ll see how the team fares in the 2024 season.