Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Baker Mayfield: "Elite IS the Standard"

The Buccaneers could win a record fifth-straight NFC South title in 2025, but they have set their goals higher, and with continuity on offense plus a reduction in turnovers, their offense should be among the league's very best

Jul 24, 2025 at 03:00 PM

Scott Smith

Senior Writer/Editor

On Wednesday, after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers completed their first training camp practice, team leader Lavonte David admitted that he probably wouldn't be about to go into his 14th season if he didn't believe the team around had the potential to go all the way. On Thursday, the Buccaneers' starting quarterback and emotional tone-setter, Baker Mayfield, made it clear that sort of belief permeates the entire team.

"We know we have potential. I think everybody in this building knows that. The roster that Jason [Licht] has built, the chemistry that we have, the standard that [Head] Coach [Todd] Bowles sets each day. Elite is the standard. We realized that we have had mid-season lulls. We have had to scratch late in the year to get into the playoffs. The mindset is to be hungry, be killers, and finish it out early. That is whether [you mean] the games or the season, clinching our division. That is the whole mindset when you stepped on this field."

The Buccaneers have won four straight NFC South titles and will strive to be the first team ever to do it five times in a row, but it hasn't always been easy. After running away with the division crown in 2021, the Buccaneers finished with a one-game cushion in 2022, won it on a tiebreaker against the Saints in 2023 and didn't clinch last year until the final day of the regular season.Furthermore, Mayfield is right about the "lulls." In his two seasons with the team have a 1-6 midseason stretch in 2023 and a 1-5 midseason downturn in 2024. That has necessitated late-season rushes with the team clawing and scratching to get to the finish line.

Still, the Bucs are the only NFC team to make the playoffs in each of the last five seasons, and there's a Super Bowl championship mixed in there, albeit before Mayfield's arrival. Tampa Bay was definitely not favored by national media to win the South in either of Mayfield's first two seasons, but that has changed in 2025. The Bucs are an established NFC power and an obvious contender. But for Mayfield and his teammates, that type of standard is set inside the building, not from outside expectations. And it doesn't stop at a fifth division title.

"You want to set your own expectations," he said. "That is a perception. When you look into our roster from top to bottom, it probably should be the guess and the bet. But we set our own standard, and our standard is we win the division the last few years. We are not just trying to do that; we are trying to take it to the next level. So, when you set the standard, you try and live up to it each day. That is what we are trying to do in training camp right now, elevate each other, get better each day at whatever you are trying to focus on. So yeah, the goal is Super Bowl."

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TAMPA, FL - July 24, 2025 - Linebacker Deion Jones #45 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during 2025 Training Camp at AdventHealth Training Center. Photo By Kyle Zedaker/Tampa Bay Buccaneers