TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) -- It's a fresh start for Baker Mayfield with Tampa Bay, and his approach to this coming season with the Bucs is a mix of veteran maturity with a rookie's eagerness.
“[I am] just trying to learn and not act like I have it figured out each day, so for me, it’s now going into year six, so act like I’ve been here, but also still have the young mindset," Mayfield said. "I always have room to grow and learn, but also take command of it – be a leader and just show that instead of just focusing on the gameplan only. Yeah, I have to do my job but also bring everybody else along at the same time.”
“Just grasping the offense and making it his," Bowles said about Mayfield's progress over the past few months.
"Just the mental part of the game – there's so much you have to learn installing a new offense, as far as audibles, and getting us into the right plays and everything else. I thought both of them, for the most part, did a great job at that, but Baker really kind of took off on it the last two weeks.”
"I feel like he's playing really confident," Godwin said about Mayfield. "I think he feels really good with where he's at. I think, again, that's a testament to his hard work and also the guys that are around him. It's hard for a quarterback to feel comfortable if his offensive line isn't protecting him. It's hard for him to feel comfortable if the receivers aren't in the right spot. So I think that it's on us as a whole to make his job easier and to make the rest of the offense's job the easiest that it can be."
“It is a fresh start – new organization, they do it extremely well," Mayfield said about his new chapter with the Bucs. "This is a veteran group – yeah, we have a lot of new, young pieces, but there’s still a lot of key veterans that have won a lot, a lot of games. So, for me, it’s to cherish that moment – take advantage of the opportunity. I know what’s at stake here, but it’s one game at a time. If I take care of business here, we’re going to win a lot of football games.”
Mayfield will make his regular-season debut with the Bucs on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. ET.