Baker Mayfield has done just about everything a quarterback can do to shake the “overlooked” label in Tampa Bay, and somehow he’s still getting parked in the wrong neighborhood.
He arrived in Tampa on a one-year, “prove-it” deal worth up to $8.5 million, came through with a Pro Bowl season, and turned that into a three-year, $100 million contract. Since then, he’s kept the Buccaneers steady in the post-Tom Brady era and made two Pro Bowls in three seasons with the team. Yet in Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports’ new tier rankings of every starting QB in the NFL, Mayfield lands in Tier 4, “Volatile Veterans.”
That puts him alongside Aaron Rodgers, Daniel Jones, C.J. Stroud, and Bryce Young.
The tier system itself is split into six groups. Tier 1, labeled “Transcendent Stars,” includes Matthew Stafford, Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Joe Burrow.
Tier 2 is made up of 12 “Borderline Stars,” and Tier 3 is reserved for four “Promising Prospects.” Mayfield is two levels down from that group.
That’s a hard sell.
In his only non-Pro Bowl season in Tampa, 2025, Mayfield still threw for 3,693 yards with 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, and he posted a 61.3 QBR, the second-highest of his career. He did that while losing his top running back and top three wide receivers from 2024 for a significant chunk of the season.
So what exactly makes him “volatile”?
Mayfield’s career has been a winding one. After going first overall in the 2018 NFL Draft, he spent his first four seasons with the Cleveland Browns and helped make them relevant again, including a dramatic playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cleveland then moved on from him during its failed pursuit of former Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson, an ugly split Mayfield still hasn’t fully gotten over.
He later split the 2022 season between the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams before finding a home in Tampa. Since then, he’s stabilized the quarterback spot and kept the Bucs competitive.
That’s why the ranking feels off. Mayfield isn’t being treated like a top-tier superstar, and nobody’s asking for that.
But there’s a strong case that he belongs closer to Tier 2 than to a group that includes quarterbacks with less proven résumés or aging names. Trevor Lawrence, Brock Purdy, Jayden Daniels, and Jordan Love being listed a full two tiers above him is a tough one to square.
Mayfield has built a career out of proving people wrong, and this is just the latest reminder that he still has plenty of fuel left.
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Bucs Rookie Just Drew A Comparison No Linebacker Can Ignore
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Josiah Trotter, the son of former Eagles linebacker Jeremiah Trotter, is drawing plenty of attention for what he might become in the NFL. Former Buccaneers guard Ian Beckles has already put a heavyweight comp on him, and it is the kind of praise that instantly raises the stakes for a young defender trying to carve out his place in Tampa Bay. [Read more 🡒]