Baker Mayfield’s Buccaneers backup suffers back injury after preseason revelation

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are just over one month away from kicking off their 2026 NFL regular season. All eyes have been on quarterback Baker Mayfield during training camp as the star prepares to play out the final year of his three-year contract and prove to the Buccaneers that they should have offered him an extension sooner.

On Tuesday, the team got an unfortunate injury update impacting their quarterback depth chart.

“Bucs No. 2 QB Jake Browning appeared to injure his back. Todd Bowles had no update but Browning was expected to start Friday vs Jets. He said Baker Mayfield will not play,” reported Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times on X, formerly Twitter.

If Browning is unable to go on Friday, the starting job for that day’s game against the New York Jets would then likely fall to either Connor Bazelak or Jalon Daniels, although it’s likely that both players will see some time during this preseason.

Browning is an NFL veteran who has bounced around the league for several years and is figured to be a serviceable backup for Mayfield this season. Hopefully, the injury is nothing serious and will not impact his status for the regular season.

Meanwhile, Mayfield is hoping that the backup quarterback position will be an afterthought this year, as he looks to bounce back from a brutal stretch to close out the 2025 regular season. Despite getting off to a hot start to last year, Mayfield tapered off significantly down the stretch, and the Buccaneers ended up missing out on the playoffs as a result for the first time in several years.

The Buccaneers are slated to kick off their regular season on September 13 on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals.

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