Baker Mayfield’s numbers took a nosedive last year. Now we finally know why, and it’s going to make some league lawyers very uncomfortable.
According to the upcoming season of Netflix’s “Quarterback” docuseries, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signal-caller played through a sprained MCL and PCL starting all the way back in Week 2. That is a brutal physical toll for any athlete, let alone a franchise quarterback. It is also news to the NFL front office.
If you look back at last season’s official injury reports, Mayfield’s knee was barely a footnote. The league mandates strict transparency on these things, yet “knee” only popped up four times over ten weeks of listings. Instead, the team blamed his struggles on a rotating carousel of ailments: a bad shoulder, a torn oblique, a messed-up biceps, and the occasional illness.
This isn’t just speculation. Linebacker Lavonte David basically let the cat out of the bag back in April during an appearance on “The Arena” podcast, hinting that Mayfield was secretly duct-taped together. David marveled at the quarterback’s willingness to play through a laundry list of unpublicized ankle and knee issues just to keep the team afloat.
But grit doesn’t pay the bills, and it certainly didn’t help Mayfield’s stat sheet. After a monster 2025-26 campaign where he racked up 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns, his production cratered. He finished last season with a mediocre 3,693 yards, 26 touchdowns, and a completion percentage that plummeted to 63.2%. He failed to even cross the 200-yard passing mark in nearly half his games.
That steep decline explains the current icy silence in contract negotiations. Mayfield is entering the final year of his three-year, $40 million extension, and the Bucs are suddenly holding the checkbook tight.
With training camp opening on July 24, the front office has to be sweating. Are they dealing with a fragile quarterback, or just one who likes to keep secrets from the medical staff? Either way, Tampa Bay will likely demand a clean bill of health before they write another massive check.
