The Bucs can put an exclamation point on their regular season by going out and defeating the Saints at home in Week 18 to clinch the NFC South division championship for the fourth season in a row and punching their ticket to the playoffs for the fifth straight year. And as we’ve come to see, the Bucs have been led by the offense all season long, particularly by the play of quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Baker Mayfield’s second season in Tampa has been a career year for him. With one game to go, Mayfield has already accomplished his career bests with 4,279 passing yards, 39 passing touchdowns, a passer rating of 107.6 and a completion percentage of 71.7. While we’re at it, Mayfield has tied his career best with three rushing touchdowns.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

Baker Mayfield isn’t just surpassing his personal best, he’s blowing it out of the water. Take his touchdowns for example. His previous best was 28 from the previous season; he’s beaten it this year by 10 and counting. We are at the point of discussion where if Baker Mayfield goes off against New Orleans, who is a team that the Bucs scored 51 points against earlier this season, he could tie or break Tom Brady’s single-season touchdown passing record of 43.

Brady is in first place and second place in this category with 43 and 40, so Mayfield just needs one touchdown pass to move into a tie for second place. Considering that Baker Mayfield literally just threw for five touchdowns last game and was named NFC offensive player of the week, this is definitely on the table.

Speaking of Brady and Mayfield being linked together. Brady named Mayfield as a star of the week, where he highlights three players each week for their performances.

“He was absolutely in the zone,” Brady said. After he named all of Mayfield’s stats, Brady informed us that he would be in Raymond James Stadium for the Week 18 finale.

Tristan Wirfs Shows MVP Support For Baker Mayfield

As great as Baker Mayfield has been, we don’t even have to talk about where he lands in terms of Bucs’ history. We can discuss where he should be amongst the best players in the league.

Is Baker Mayfield in the MVP conversation?

His left tackle and good friend Tristan Wirfs believes so.

Wirfs is fairly active on social media. Most of his interactions on X come in the form of retweeting other accounts. The last time he wrote something himself was April 7th, 2024 when he gave a shoutout to the Iowa Women’s basketball team. That was until New Year’s Eve when Wirfs posted in support of Baker Mayfield and being in the running for MVP. Apparently, it had to be important to Wirfs to go to social media about it.

The general consensus for the MVP discussion this season has been between Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and Bills quarterback Josh Allen along with Eagles running back Saquon Barkley. There’s also been an uproar lately for Bengals’ quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase for what they’ve done together as Cincinnati tries miraculously to make the postseason. And as we can see, CBS would like Sam Darnold in that conversation, too.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

We can spend hours and hours making the case for all of the above named players. What seems right is to make sure Baker Mayfield is on that list. Mayfield’s career year has coincided with having a new offensive coordinator, a rookie center snapping him the ball, and going through parts of the season with neither of his top two targets at the receiver. Mayfield’s case is as good as anyone’s to at least be considered in the top five.

Fellow Heisman Winner RGIII Defends Baker Mayfield 

At this point we know that the Bucs are the beneficiaries of a colossal mistake when they moved on from Baker Mayfield for the checkered reputation of Deshaun Watson, leaving the franchise in turmoil. Mayfield’s five touchdown performance on Sunday was another reminder of what the Browns let go of.

Even with all the greatness that Baker Mayfield has brought the Bucs this season, some will always still remember him as a fantastic college football player at Oklahoma and a winner of the Heisman Trophy. Well, it was another Heisman Trophy winner that had Mayfield’s back.

Former number one overall pick and 2011 Heisman winner Robert Griffin III completely roasted the Browns and gave credit to Mayfield for his journey and accomplishments this season. Griffin is a well-known broadcaster in his post-playing career who has a successful podcast called “Outta Pocket,” so many paid attention to his words on X, especially when saying Mayfield is the adult in the room.

Baker Mayfield was once ran out of a couple of towns. He’s now the talk of it. While he might not win MVP this season, he’s moved up in the rankings of the best quarterbacks in the league while also winning in public opinion and being favored by many.