Buccaneers’ Practice Observations, Baker Mayfield Shreds Defense

Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers first-team offense was in great rhythm today, he is starting to build more chemistry with his star receivers...

The Buccaneers just finished up training camp for the day. Yesterday Baker Mayfield was announced as the starter, today he shredded the Buccaneers' second-team defense.

Reporting from Buccaneers training camp, Baker Mayfield shredded the Bucs defense today #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/RbHZV5ouiF

— Benjamin Meyerson (@ByBenMeyerson) August 23, 2023

There was no big news on the day, John Wolford was back and practiced with no restrictions, Calijah Kancey was there in shorts but did not practice, and Ryan Jensen was at practice but is still not practicing.

READ MORE: How the Relationship Fell Apart Between Buccaneers, Kyle Trask

You can see Kancey stretching here:

A good sign seeing Calijah Kancey get some stretching in.

There’s strong optimism he’ll be available to play week one against the Vikings. #GoBucs pic.twitter.com/91FLpNdpO3

— Logan B. Robinson (@LogansTwitty) August 23, 2023

The day started off hot for Bake Mayfield and the first-team offense. They were in an install period and he threw four touchdowns in the span of six pass attempts. Baker and the offense looked great. 

Two of the touchdowns were thrown to Deven Thompkins, and one was thrown to Mike Evans.

Next, we saw the red zone 11-on-11 period. Trask started with the second-team offense versus the first-team defense. Then Baker was playing with the first-team offense versus the second-team defense.

Trask went 4 of 6 in the red zone, with one touchdown to Kade Warner. For his two incompletions, he had one pass breakup from a defender and a throw-away in the back of the endzone.

Baker went 2 of 5 in the red zone but that doesn't tell the whole story. Mayfield threw a touchdown to rookie tight end Payne Durhman. One of his incompletions was a throwaway, one was a drop from Trey Palmer, and the last one was a scary throw into double coverage.

READ MORE: Baker Mayfield Speaks After Being Named Buccaneers’ Starting Quarterback

Next, Trask and Mayfield both got two drives in the full 11-on-11 period. 

Trask went 9-14 in that period. He had an incompletion that likely would have been a sack. This period was up and down for Trask, he had one good stretch where he went 4-5 with the lone incompletion being a drop. But he also had multiple inaccurate incompletions, with a missed overthrow, and a miss behind the defender.

Mayfield went 8-12 in that period. But two of those incompletions were drops. He had multiple completions to Godwin and Evans. There was a stretch where he was 4-6 when both of the drops happened. He had multiple throws downfield and across his body. 

Overall this was a great day for Baker and the first-team offense. They are looking in rhythm and are starting to build chemistry. Baker was aggressive downfield and had a few throws that he ripped into a tight window. Impressive day from QB1.

On the other hand, Trask looks like a competent backup but is still the limited prospect we saw coming out of the draft. He is accurate at times, but he also had a stretch where he overthrew, underthrew, and just missed his target.

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