Since the start of the 2023 season, only three quarterbacks in the NFL have started every regular season and postseason game played by their teams: Buffalo's Josh Allen, Detroit's Jared Goff and Tampa Bay's Baker Mayfield. Unfortunately, after 57 straight starts, Mayfield will be dropping off that short list come next Sunday.
Mayfield exited Tampa Bay's Week Three loss to the Minnesota Vikings in the final minutes after suffering a dislocated thumb on his right (throwing) hand. An MRI examination on Monday confirmed what the Buccaneers' initially believed, that there is no fracture or tendon tear in the joint, and Head Coach Todd Bowles said he does not believe surgery or a stay on injured reserve for Mayfield will be needed. That said, he will miss some starts for the first time since he took over as the team's starting quarterback.
"It's consistent with everything we thought it was, a dislocation," said Bowles. "Right now we're probably talking a minimum of three weeks."
Jalon Daniels, who made the team as an undrafted rookie out of Kansas after an impressive training camp and preseason, will become the first quarterback other than Mayfield to start a game since Tom Brady in 2022 when he takes the field against the Green Bay Packers next Sunday at Raymond James Stadium. Thrust into a difficult end-game situation on Sunday against the Vikings, Daniels ran once for nine yards and had two incompletions before his Hail Mary attempt on the final play was intercepted among a throng of players near the goal line. Bowles is confident that Daniels is up to the challenge for the next three games, at the least.
"The same confidence that he made the team with," said Bowles of what gives him that belief in the young quarterback. "Just going out there, performing, doing his job and being him going through his reads and making throws and playing football. His performance speaks for itself when he's out there. His confidence speaks for itself and they rally around him.
"It's going to be like every other rookie. But he played well in the preseason. He's very bright. He's not going to be out there by himself. We just expect him to do his job and play at a high level, as he expects of himself."
This marks the first time in eight years that the Buccaneers have been forced into an in-season change at quarterback. Jameis Winston started every game in 2019 and Tom Brady opened all of the Bucs' contests from 2020-22 before Mayfield began his current run. Winston was suspended for the first three games of the 2018 campaign and replaced by Ryan Fitzpatrick but eventually took the starting job back in Week Six.
Winston is also the last rookie to start at quarterback when he opened every game in 2015 after being selected first-overall in that year's draft. Daniels is set to become the first undrafted rookie ever to start a game at quarterback in Tampa Bay's 51 seasons so far. Bowles expects the Packer and other upcoming opponents to try to take advantage of Daniels' lack of NFL experience.
"Depending on what kind of scheme, but I'm sure they'll blitz him a lot, show him a bunch of different looks and I'm sure he's going to get a lot of pressure," he said.
The Buccaneers currently have a third quarterback on the practice squad in veteran Easton Stick, who played under Offensive Coordinator Zac Robinson last season in Atlanta. Bowles said the team may look to add a third passer either to the active roster or the practice squad while Mayfield is sidelined.
