Before emerging from his second retirement in 2019 to coach the Buccaneers, Bruce Arians said he’d return only to coach the Browns — where Baker Mayfield at the time played quarterback.
Arians, now the former Buccaneers coach, is very pleased with the fact that the Bucs signed Mayfield.
“Great competitor, extremely accurate,” Arians told Ira Kaufman of JoeBucsFan.com. “I loved his competitive spirit [coming out of college].”
Arians became even more smitten when working for CBS during Mayfield’s first season, in 2018.
“I loved everything about him,” Arians told Kaufman.
And Arians has no concerns about Mayfield’s demeanor.
“He’s not a punk, he’s cocky,” Arians said, “but at that size you better be.”
Arians also thinks third-year quarterback Kyle Trask, a second-round pick in 2021, is cocky enough to give Mayfield a fight.
“Kyle is not going to give in,” Arians told Kaufman. “Not a chance. It’s a great situation for the franchise.”
Some would say going from the GOAT to Mayfield or Trask is hardly “great,” but the Bucs still have plenty of solid pieces in place. And Mayfield performed well in 2018 and 2020.
Maybe he’s got a little magic left, a little something that can help the Bucs, who woefully underachieved in 2022, exceed expectations in 2023.