Former first overall pick Jared Goff has turned his career around with the Lions. Former first overall pick Baker Mayfield is trying to do the same with the Buccaneers.
"Baker's playing good football," Dan Campbell said Wednesday.
The Lions and Bucs meet Sunday in Tampa, in a battle of two first-place teams in the NFC. And while the Bucs' hot start has been fueled by their defense, Mayfield has been better than anyone expected after the team signed him off the scrapheap this offseason. Through four games, his 101.5 passer rating is eighth in the NFL. Goff checks in at 104.4.
Mayfield had a rating of 79.0 last season with the Panthers and Rams, and 83.1 the season before that with the Browns. In Tampa, offensive coordinator Dave Canales has put him in spots to shine. He has a career-high completion percentage and seven touchdowns to two picks.
"Honestly, number one, I think what they’re asking him to do and the scheme really suits him well," Campbell said. "They’re making a true commitment to the run, there’s a lot of boots that are involved, play-action pass and when you’re playing good defense, too, man, that’s right in his wheelhouse."
Mayfield, 28, is also using his legs more than ever this season. He's apt to scramble and extend plays, which will pose a new challenge for the Lions' pass rush. Mayfield isn't as mobile as some of the other quarterbacks the Lions have faced this season, but he'll fight you all the way to the ground.
"He’s very competitive, like he’s always been, and he’s finding ways to make plays if it’s not there," Campbell said. "He’s able to move in the pocket, eyes downfield, finds a throw, breaks contain. And then, look, he’s not going down, now. He’s not taking a knee. He’s looking to run somebody over, so he is a competitive sucker, man."
Canales was a longtime offensive coach for the Seahawks, most recently quarterbacks coach when Geno Smith had a breakout season at age 32. Campbell said he sees "a lot of similarities" between Seattle's offense and Tampa's, especially the play-action bootlegs that gave the Lions fits against the Seahawks this season for the second year in a row. In two games against Aaron Glenn's defense, Smith is 55-71 for 648 yards, four touchdowns and no picks.
Helps that Smith has two elite receivers in DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett, just like Mayfield has in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. (Evans, who looks headed for his tenth straight 1,000-yard season, is currently nursing a hamstring injury. His status for Sunday is unclear.)
"Baker will throw it," said Campbell. "If it even feels like it’s a one-on-one, he’ll lay it out there and give the guy a chance to go make a play. Anything down the field, (Evans) is a problem. And then Godwin is back to what Godwin was before his injury (torn ACL/MCL in 2021). You can see it. He’s back to playing really good football and he’s playing a little more outside, which I think suits him well.
"So the one-two punch of those guys is something. We’re going to have to be able to challenge these guys. We can’t just let them run down the field. But I think it’s all-encompassing. We have to close this pocket in on Baker because this ball gets out quick.”