Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield gets even more fuel to prove haters wrong with ESPN snub

One of the biggest storylines hanging over training camp for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has been the lack of a new contract for quarterback Baker Mayfield. Instead, Mayfield is poised to play out the rest of his current deal and raise his price even more this year, proving to the Tampa Bay brass that they should have been willing to play ball.

In case he needed any more motivation, ESPN recently dropped its list of the top 100 players in the NFL, and Mayfield did not make the cut, although he was listed as one of the biggest snubs.

“When he’s healthy, he’s a top-10 quarterback,” an NFL personnel evaluator said, per NFL insider Jeremy Fowler of ESPN. “I don’t think he was healthy last year. He should have a big season.”

“Mayfield is poised for another big year, which should help his standing on the list,” noted the publication.

Mayfield certainly didn’t look healthy down the stretch of last season, when he and the Buccaneers’ offense largely fell off a cliff, missing out on the playoffs altogether for the first time since he arrived in town.

Tampa Bay is bringing back most of the same core of players this year, although Mayfield did lose one of his key weapons when wide receiver Mike Evans opted to take his talents to the San Francisco 49ers in free agency.

Still, it would seem to be a safe bet that wideout Emeka Egbuka will take a big step forward in Year 2 after he ended his rookie season with a whimper, and with millions of dollars potentially on the line, Mayfield will look to follow suit.

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