Baker Mayfield Has Security To Fail In Tampa Bay
It took a while for Baker Mayfield to establish himself, but he has done so with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
According to offensive coordinator Liam Coen, the quarterback still has ‘a chip on his left shoulder’.
Baker Mayfield began to revive his career under Liam Coen in L.A in 2022. The year after, he moved to the Bucs and led them to the NFC South title. Coen was then hired as OC by Tampa Bay.
Baker Mayfield hasn’t been Tom Brady, but he’s been enough to keep the Bucs competitive. As a result he has been rewarded with a new contract this offseason.
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With work underway to implement his offense in Tampa, Coen sees Mayfield maturing into a leader in earnest.
“There’s not many days I don’t think Baker wakes up and he doesn’t have a chip on his left shoulder, but there is definitely a feeling that this is his team, and it’s OK to fail,” said Coen.
“It’s OK. Go out there, and let it rip, and be yourself every single day no matter what because you’re gonna be the guy and we believe in you.
That’s something that ultimately he just hasn’t really had the opportunity to have all that often in his career. You definitely feel a quiet, calming confidence, but he’s still the same guy. He’s out there when we get on the grass, talking smack, getting after it and just having fun with the guys. I think that’s what ultimately makes him a great leader – it’s because he’s best friends with the O-line.”
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“Just a calm confidence, I think,” added Coen.
“The atmosphere that we want to establish in the meeting room is one of the players being the drivers of it. Yes, we are installing and teaching a new offense, but he knows a lot of these things already. He’s heard them, he’s repped them. He’s just taking it over, and he has done a great job in the meeting room setting, talking to some of the guys. … That’s what we’re trying to establish. The confidence of throwing the football has been impressive thus far. We haven’t had a ton of balls hit the ground, and he’s throwing it with a lot of confidence right now.”
