![\"Tampa](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/tampa-bay-buccaneers-v-jacksonville-jaguars-jacksonville-florida-august-28-baker-e1788287649946.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Baker Mayfield #6 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers warms up.<\/p>\n
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> could soon be on the lookout for a new quarterback.<\/p>\n Baker Mayfield is the team\u2019s franchise quarterback and has more than lived up to his billing since arriving in 2023. Mayfield has gone to the Pro Bowl twice and led Tampa Bay to the playoffs in each of his first two seasons.<\/p>\n However, he has an uncertain future in Tampa Bay due to his contract situation. Mayfield is entering the final year of his contract and is seeking a new deal before the start of the season. The 31-year-old quarterback had set a hard deadline at the start of training camp for resolving the situation.<\/p>\n If the Buccaneers and Mayfield are unable to come to terms on a new deal in the near future, Tampa Bay will be forced to find another franchise quarterback. As Sports Illustrated\u2019s Gilberto Manzano predicts in his 2027 NFL Mock Draft<\/a>, he projects the Buccaneers to select USC\u2019s Jayden Maiava with the No. 16 overall pick.<\/p>\n \u201cTaking a quarterback in 2027 now seems probable after Tampa Bay and Baker Mayfield failed to agree on a contract extension this summer,\u201d said Manzano. \u201cThe 6\u20194\u2033, 230-pound Maiava has ideal size, arm strength and often flashed playing with Makai Lemon and Ja\u2019Kobi Lane last season. He\u2019ll need to do it again playing with a receiving corps that may not be as talented as last year\u2019s group.\u201d<\/p>\n Jayden Maiava Finished as Davey O\u2019Brien Award Semifinalist<\/p>\n The 6-foot-4 Maiava has emerged as one of the nation\u2019s top quarterbacks while at USC. The 22-year-old posted 24 touchdowns \u2014 with six rushing touchdowns \u2014 against 10 interceptions with a 157.8 passer rating last season, finishing as a semifinalist or the Davey O\u2019Brien Award, given to the nation\u2019s best quarterback. Maiava ended the year ranked fifth among all quarterbacks in passing yards.<\/p>\n Athlon Sports\u2019 Luke Easterling writes in his scouting report of Maiava\u2019s strengths<\/a> that the senior quarterback has the \u201cprototypical\u201d size for a quarterback and has a strong enough arm.<\/p>\n \u201cMaiava has prototypical size for a traditional NFL<\/a> pocket passer, and enough arm strength to effectively deliver the ball with adequate zip to all levels of the field,\u201d writes Easterling. \u201cHe shows the ability to put the right amount of touch on the ball when needed, as well as the velocity to hit deep shots and cross-field routes from the opposite hash. Maiava has a smooth, sharp release, and he\u2019s able to adjust his arm angles at times to get the ball where it needs to go.\u201d<\/p>\n Buccaneers Will Probably Draft Young QB if Baker Mayfield Leaves<\/p>\n In his weaknesses for Maiava, Easterling writes that the quarterback\u2019s \u201cmechanics\u201d leave some room for improvement.<\/p>\n \u201cThere can be some disconnect between his lower-body and upper-body mechanics at times, as Maiava\u2019s base can freeze mid-throw, which leads to underthrown balls downfield that are missing the power that should be coming from that leg\/hip torque,\u201d writes Easterling.<\/p>\n Based upon Manzano\u2019s draft projections, he\u2019s predicting the Buccaneers to fall just short of a playoff appearance for the second consecutive season. That could lead to a reload for the franchise, leading to the departures of Mayfield and head coach Todd Bowles.<\/p>\n If that ends up being the case, the Buccaneers could simply trend young and select their quarterback of the future rather than being aggressive in free agency for a veteran quarterback. Maiava would certainly be a viable option.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDJ Siddiqi<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has covered the NFL and NBA for Forbes, ClutchPoints, CBS Sports, 24\/7 Sports and Bleacher Report before joining Heavy. More about DJ Siddiqi<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Baker Mayfield #6 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers warms up. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers could soon be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-391789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391789","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=391789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}