Evan Winter of A to Z Sports Bucs<\/a> for his thoughts \u2014 plus I\u2019ve got a few of my own. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785629492_173_2025-10-05T201521Z_1464847420_MT1USATODAY27254874_RTRMADP_3_NFL-TAMPA-BAY-BUCCANEERS-AT-SEATTLE-SEAH.jpeg\")
Oct 5, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Tampa Bay quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) wearing the Buccaneers throwback helmets as he warms ups prior to a game against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field. Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Will the Tampa Bay Buccaneers get the best Baker Mayfield by having him play \u201cangry\u201d in 2026?<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, I think it\u2019s a great idea to have Baker playing angry. He typically is at his best when the world is against him (in his mind) and there\u2019s no reason to think that would be any different in 2026. Where you have to take pause is what comes after the fact. Will Baker give the Buccaneers a chance to \u201credeem themselves\u201d after a good, or great, season or will he give them the cold shoulder in an act of retribution, so to speak? <\/p>\n
My gut says he wouldn\u2019t shut the door on the Bucs, but you never know. That\u2019s where the real risk lies in all of this. But at the same time, it\u2019s still a win for the Bucs if he has a good season and subsequently walks, because that likely means they\u2019ve had a good season as a team.\u201d \u2014\u00a0Evan Winter, A to Z Sports NFL<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any question that Baker is at his best when playing and living on the edge. Do I worry about Baker Mayfield pressing too hard and trying to make too many things happen at times? Perhaps a bit. But Mayfield hasn\u2019t become the player he has without acclimating within the pressure cooker. There\u2019s been high stakes before and Baker has been to the absolute brink of the league (Carolina and with the Rams). I don\u2019t think the moment will become too overwhelming for Baker Mayfield either. <\/p>\n
Will Baker Mayfield be able to compartmentalize?<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a good question, because while I think he can indeed compartmentalize the situation, we won\u2019t truly know until the season is under way. He\u2019s setting himself up to potentially be the center of a lot speculation, here. If he\u2019s healthy and providing average or inconsistent play, many will start chirping about whether or not he\u2019s fully bought in.<\/p>\n
That may be unfair, but that\u2019s just how the NFL world turns. Still, a motivated player with literally tens of millions on the line should be able to shut out the noise and concentrate and that\u2019s where I lean. But only time will tell.\u201d \u2014\u00a0Evan Winter, A to Z Sports NFL<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not worried at all about Baker being able to properly compartmentalize. But I do worry about the noise from the outside. As much as we\u2019d like to pretend that the old cliche of \u201cnoise outside the building isn\u2019t heard\u201d, in reality those talks are often loud and persistent. <\/p>\n
Speculation from the outside will seep through if drama unfolds, at the very least through the questions the players will face through the media and the local reporting. The good news is we\u2019re talking about Tampa Bay, not New York or Los Angeles. But yes \u2014\u00a0my biggest worry here is that the talking point lingers as a distraction through fan and media noise all season long. And that is especially the worst case scenario if\u2026<\/p>\n
\u2026and what if the 2026 season doesn\u2019t go well?<\/p>\n
\u201cBaker, along with guys like Cody Mauch, have said this won\u2019t be a distraction. I tend to agree.<\/p>\n
What I do wonder, however, is how will guys like Mauch, who\u2019s in his own contract year, approach his own negotiations after seeing what Baker (and even Tristan Wirfs, Mike Evans, and Chris Godwin Jr.) have gone through? Will they be vicariously jaded, in a sense, once it\u2019s time to engage in contract talks? That\u2019s where the actual \u201cdistraction\u201d lies, to me. I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll affect the season or the on-field product.\u201d \u2014\u00a0Evan Winter, A to Z Sports NFL<\/p>\n
I\u2019m taking a different angle than Evan here. Tampa\u2019s first five aren\u2019t exactly a day at the beach<\/a>. Cincinnati, Cleveland at home (okay, I dig it), Minnesota, Green Bay, and in Dallas on a short week. If the Bucs start slow, the noise riles up, and Baker Mayfield does end up pressing? That could set the stage for a toxic run. The Bucs always have the franchise tag in their back pocket for 2027 if things go well. They would, in my opinion, be foolish not to use it and protect themselves if necessary. <\/p>\nBut if things start really slow and this season gets off the rails? Would Todd Bowles be out? If he\u2019s out, does a new coach want to jump into a long-term contract marriage with Baker? There\u2019s more questions than answers here, which means everyone involved needs to hope Baker rides the lightning to a stellar, successful season in Tampa Bay this fall. <\/p>\n
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers going to get the best of Baker Mayfield by playing with fire and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[9909,146822,8730,112707,135,2964,137,136],"class_list":["post-360352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-baker-mayfield","tag-baker-mayfield-contract","tag-buccaneers","tag-buccaneers-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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