John Romano: Looks like keeping Baker Mayfield healthy is more important than ever

John Romano, Tampa Bay Times on Sep 2, 2026

Published in Football

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TAMPA, Fla. — Now that it’s official — now that the Buccaneers have opted to move rookie Jalon Daniels to No. 2 on the quarterback depth chart — there are a couple of worrisome issues heading into the regular season.

No. 1, Baker Mayfield gets hurt and needs to leave a game.

No. 2, Mayfield gets hurt and refuses to leave a game.

Nothing against Daniels, who looked special at times during the preseason, but it’s rare for an undrafted rookie to start a game at quarterback. In the last decade, rookie quarterbacks with zero draft pedigree started 0.5% of the possible games in the NFL. And they compiled a 10-19 record, according to Pro Football Reference.

Should that be a concern for the Bucs?

Um, yeah.

No matter how much potential Daniels has, there’s a real possibility of the season going down the drain because of an injury. Of course, the Bucs bought themselves some insurance by signing veteran Easton Stick to the practice squad, but for now Daniels remains the first QB off the bench.

Which brings us back to the idea of Mayfield getting hurt.

Few quarterbacks have been as durable as Mayfield since his first snap as a starter in Cleveland eight years ago. He’s missed only four games to injury (and one to COVID) and none since mid-October in 2022, when he twisted an ankle with the Panthers.

That’s the good news.

The issue is the amount of punishment Mayfield absorbs. And his refusal to come off the field.

Case Keenum, who spent 11 years in the league and was Mayfield’s backup for a spell in Cleveland, saw it firsthand in 2021. Mayfield injured his left shoulder in two different games — and eventually had offseason surgery — and still played through constant pain in November and December. Keenum called it “the gutsiest, toughest” performance he’d ever seen from a quarterback.

That’s high praise but, in a way, it’s also damning praise.

The Browns went from 11-5 and a playoff berth in 2020 to 8-9 with a hobbled Mayfield in 2021. They traded him to Carolina a few months later.

The Bucs saw a similar storyline in 2025. They got off to a 6-2 start but began to struggle as Mayfield’s medical chart grew. He had a sprained knee, a bruised bicep and a left shoulder injury among other ailments. Still, he suited up for every game.

During that 6-2 start, Mayfield threw 13 touchdown passes with two interceptions. As the Bucs stumbled to a 2-7 finish, he had 13 touchdown passes and nine interceptions. He went from a career-high passer rating of 106.8 in 2024 to 90.6. He was still effective at times, but unable to pull off the magical comebacks we’d seen earlier in the year.

The question today is whether Mayfield will be even more reluctant to leave the field if he has an unproven backup behind him.

At 31, the rigors of playing in the NFL have surely had an effect on his body. He has to know he cannot continue playing with the same reckless swagger that has defined his first eight seasons in the league. You just wonder if he’s capable of turning the volume down himself.

“That’s a great question. He is, I think, very mindful of that,” Bucs general manager Jason Licht said. “I think all quarterbacks, as they have progressed through their career, are a little more in tune with that. I think if you would ask him, I’m not sure what the answer would be, but I think he’s pretty mindful of that.”

When asked about injuries earlier this summer, Mayfield was dismissive. He hasn’t missed a game in three years, he said, so injuries aren’t an issue.

And if that’s how he really feels, the Bucs have a problem.

During his time in Tampa Bay, Tom Brady got rid of the football as quickly as any quarterback alive. That was partially because he had very little mobility, but also because he was fanatical about avoiding injuries. If he had to throw a ball away, it was better than ending up in a cast or a sling and missing multiple games.

Mayfield will never be like that. It’s not in his DNA.

But he needs to learn that he’s not the only one who suffers when he tries to play through pain. It’s probably not coincidental that if you break up the past three seasons into four- or five-game increments, the Bucs are 9-3 in the first quarter of those seasons. They are 4-8 and 5-7 in the middle quarters, and 9-6 at the end.

The Bucs need Mayfield on the field, but they also need him at full strength.

Particularly if his backup is untested.

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