BREAKING: Buccaneers Todd Bowles reviews shocking secrets of Baker Mayfield that led to…

During an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles seemed to downplay what losing former offensive coordinator Dave Canales will mean for quarterback Baker Mayfield this coming season.

I would say that Dave helped Baker as much as Baker helped Dave,” Bowles explained, per the JoeBucsFan website. “It was a two-way street from that standpoint. Dave put him in some positions and Baker bailed Dave out some. So I thought it was a good collaboration.”

In their one season working together, Canales helped Mayfield become a Comeback Player of the Year candidate, with the signal-caller ultimately earning a new three-year contract from the Buccaneers. Canales left Tampa Bay this past winter to become head coach of the Carolina Panthers.

“I’m happy Dave got the [Carolina] job but we still have Baker and we’re still confident in him,” Bowles insisted. “And with Liam Coen coming in, we feel we have some continuity there.”

It’s hardly a secret that Mayfield played a big part in the Buccaneers hiring Coen as Canales’ replacement. Mayfield played under Coen when both were with the Los Angeles Rams late in the 2022 season.

He brings the team in,” Bowles said about what Mayfield means to Tampa Bay. “He gives them hope because he always talks to [offensive and defensive players] and when he leads on the field you want to listen because he’s the same every day, as far as trying to win every play.

According to Pro Football Reference, Mayfield ended the 2023 regular season ranked 12th in the league among qualified quarterbacks with a 94.6 passer rating. He also finished seventh with 28 touchdown passes and ninth with 4,044 passing yards.

He tries to win in practice,” Bowles added about Mayfield. “The way he prepares, he tries to win. And that gave us a different leadership when we had people from the past, when we had [Tom Brady] and those guys. Because Tom was already established; Baker wasn’t established, at least not here from a credential standpoint. So, it was important that he came in to be himself and those guys embraced him that way, and that’s how they saw him.”

As of Wednesday morning, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Buccaneers at +300 betting odds to claim the NFC South division title for the 2024 season. The Atlanta Falcons topped the list at -130 odds.

“He’s Confident And Comfortable”

The Pro Bowl quarterback of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Baker Mayfield, led the squad to playoff victory and division title in the last campaign, which was touted as a successful one after the seven-time Super Bowl champion, legendary quarterback Tom Brady, left in 2022.

The quarterback has also signed a three-year, $100 million contract with the organization as well. The position coach of Mayfield, Thad Lewis, shared in a press conference that the quarterback’s outlook and attitude have not undergone any change.

He mentioned, “It’s different because we know who the quarterback is, that’s first. Secondly, he has a contract so the guys know it’s his team, he knows it’s his team. He’s confident and comfortable because he’s been in this scheme before, before he came here, and it has some similarities. So, he’s not thinking

He further continued, “I think the chip on his shoulder can not completely fall off, but he can be at ease a little bit. And I think that’ll never go away because of how was brought up and I think that’s his motivating factor. But, at the same time, he’s confident, comfortable. You can tell he’s getting guys in order. They’re communicating. He’s demanding it from the guys and himself so you can kind of see it’s not a learning curve right now. It’s more, let’s grow as a team and as a unit.”

The position coach also noted that the quarterback is confident given his approach and feels at ease as well. The assessment of Mayfield while growing with the unit is also observed by Lewis. He further expressed, “I think anybody with a chip or not, you’re playing the quarterback position, you have to go out there and let it rip. I think right now, he can see where things can go, what guys can do best, what he can demand out of certain guys, what he can demand out of himself. He can push the envelope in that aspect because he knows what’s going on.

I think it gives us an added confidence that he can just go in and play freely. Last year, his message was that we allowed him to be himself. He knows that we’re going to allow him to be himself as long as it’s within the grand scheme of the offense, with him being himself, we can be a great unit, for sure.”