On Monday evening, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will look to push their record to 6-1 on the 2025 NFL season when they hit the road to take on the Detroit Lions in front of a national audience. Baker Mayfield has another opportunity to make another big push in his ongoing MVP campaign, which continued last week with his strong performance in a win against the San Francisco 49ers.
Recently, Golden State Warriors power forward Draymond Green took to the Schultz Report to break down which NBA comparison he has in mind for Mayfield, considering his career trajectory.
“Younger Isaiah Thomas,” said Green, per Jordan Schultz on X, formerly Twitter. “He was the 60th pick, but when you talk about having to go through the s***, you are with one team. He worked his way up on the Sacramento Kings, so although he was the 60th pick, he became their starting point guard, then had to go take a backup role in Phoenix, to ultimately get to Boston and become an MVP candidate. I think very similar journeys.”
While Mayfield was not the last pick in his draft like Thomas was (he was quite literally the opposite, going number one overall), he has indeed had to bounce around the league quite a bit in order to finally find a home in Tampa Bay, where he has turned himself into a leading MVP candidate this season.
How far can the Buccaneers go?
Heading into this season, the Buccaneers were projected by most to be a solid playoff team in the NFC, if not a fringe Super Bowl contender. At this point, they're looking like the latter. It's true that the Buccaneers have survived several close calls this year that could have gone the other way, and the law of averages will ultimately take effect, as the Washington Commanders are currently finding out after their frequent brushes with defeat last year.
However, there is something to be said about performing in the clutch, and Mayfield certainly knows how to do that.
The Lions and Buccaneers are slated to kick off at 7:00 PM ET
