Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ quarterback is disrespected in pre-free agency QB rankings by The 33rd Team.
Sunday night’s Super Bowl saw the Kansas City Chiefs defeat the San Francisco 49ers, led by Patrick Mahomes, who appears to be gaining ground on the all-time great Tom Brady. Now that the NFL season of 2023 has over, all eyes are on the 2024 campaign.
The National Football League commentators will be releasing way too-early lists, mock drafts left and right, free agency primers, and much more as the offseason heats up.
A few of these lists, such as Derrik Klassen’s pre-free agency quarterback rankings from The 33rd Team, have already begun to circulate.
At first sight, Klassen’s power rankings of the league’s quarterbacks heading into the 2024 offseason appear to be extremely disparaging of a few players, notably quarterback Baker Mayfield of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who he ranked as the 20th overall pick in the NFL.
“There always needs to be a mid-tier gunslinger in a starting job — just one guy who is unafraid to rip it and see what happens. Jameis Winston was the last guy to hold the mantle, but now it’s Baker Mayfield with his new lease on football life.
“Mayfield simply played with more confidence this season. There was a hint of that when Mayfield took over for the Rams late last season, but it turned up another notch with the Buccaneers. Mayfield was testing tight windows, pushing the ball down the field and standing strong in the pocket in ways he never had before. Not consistently, anyway.
Mayfield is still imperfect. He’s less athletic than he thinks he is. Sometimes, he sprays a few throws, and he is far from the NFL’s most reliable decision-maker. Mayfield is at least back to being a functional NFL starter, though. More importantly, he’s fun to watch again.”
Although Mayfield looked like a top-10 quarterback in the NFL towards the end of the regular season and helped lead his team to a playoff victory, Klassen’s criticism of the quarterback is still valid. It becomes even more puzzling why Baker is trailing quarterbacks like Anthony Richardson and Kyler Murray when you consider that he set career highs in throwing yards and passing touchdowns.
At the close of the season, many NFL reporters began to show Mayfield the respect he earned, but it seems like he will still need to earn people’s trust before 2024 arrives.
Leave a Reply