Baker Mayfield Making Final Push to Be Tom Brady’s Successor

On the day I saw the Bucs, they were scheduled to have their second day of joint practices with the Jets. Plans changed. So instead, I hooked up with them at the Giants facility, in the shadows of MetLife Stadium. Here’s what I saw …

1) The competition to replace Tom Brady should be coming to a head soon, and Baker Mayfield’s final push has come. The six-year vet has come on over the last week, his best since arriving in Tampa, with more consistency in his play and fewer turnovers against the Bucs’ aggressive veteran defense. Kyle Trask has done all the right things to stay in the running, looking limber and more refined (particularly with his footwork), but it’s fair to think, at least to start, Tampa might want to give the proud vets at the core of their roster a veteran leader. A focused, dialed-in Mayfield can give them that in new coordinator Dave Canales’s varied offense, which is a blend of the different systems Canales worked in with the Seahawks.

Mayfield is joining his fourth team of the last three years in Tampa.

Chris O'Meara/AP