Baker Mayfield’s time with the Cleveland Browns ended on a sour note, but that made him something of an underdog who was easy to root for once he landed with the Los Angeles Rams last season. And he made a nice little redemption arc for himself in Southern California, taking over for an injured Matthew Stafford for a few sharp games to end the season. It was enough to get him a starting job once again, this time leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as they rebuild in the wake of going all in on Tom Brady.
Fantasy Football analysis: Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield
In five games with the Rams, four starts, Mayfield completed 63.6 percent of his passes for 850 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions. It was an improvement over his time with the Browns that year when he had a sub-60 percent completion rate and six picks to go with six touchdowns.
Now, is that going to be enough to make him a viable starter in Tampa Bay or in a fantasy football lineup? Probably not the latter.
Start or sit in Week 1 standard leagues?
You should definitely not be starting Mayfield this week or any week. The Bucs and their paper-thin depth chart are traveling to play the Minnesota Vikings. Mayfield at least has some solid options at receiver with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin, so he might not end up being the worst starting quarterback in the final fantasy rankings this year.
Player(s) you would start ahead of Baker Mayfield
Almost anyone is a better start than Mayfield this week. If you’re scraping the bottom of the barrel to find quarterback help, consider someone like Mac Jones of the Patriots or Jimmy Garoppolo of the Raiders instead.