Baker Mayfield has started 45 consecutive regular season games since joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2023, and he’s about to extend that to 46 in a row.
Mayfield watched the second half of last week’s game in Los Angeles from the sideline with his left arm in a sling after sustaining a shoulder injury, and he wasn’t able to practice on Wednesday. However, he subsequently made steady progress in his recovery and was able to practice fully on Friday. He is not among the Buccaneers’ inactives on Sunday and is expected to start against the Arizona Cardinals.
Mayfield will spend some time on Sunday afternoon handing off to second-year running back Bucky Irving, who is back in action after missing the Bucs’ last seven games due to shoulder and foot injuries. Mayfield and Irving were two of six players listed as questionable on the Buccaneers’ Friday injury report, but all six have been cleared to play. Starting left guard Ben Bredeson is back after missing two games with a hamstring injury; cornerback Jamel Dean will end up missing just one game with a hip injury; outside linebacker Haason Reddick is back after sitting out four contests with ankle and knee issues; and outside linebacker Anthony Nelson has overcome a ribs injury suffered last weekend.
Rookie cornerback Benjamin Morrison wasn’t as fortunate; he will miss a second straight game due to the hamstring injury he suffered in practice late last week.
The Buccaneers and Cardinals submitted their list of inactives at 11:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, 90 minutes before the scheduled kickoff of their Week 13 meeting at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The Buccaneers elevated safety Marcus Banks from their practice squad for the game and thus had to name six inactives to get down to the game-day limit of 48. The Cardinals elevated tight end Pharaoh Brown and linebacker Channing Tindall from the practice squad to give them 54 available players, which meant they had to name six players inactive on Sunday.
Arizona had a lengthy injury list this week and ruled out six players on Friday, though two – running back Trey Benson and offensive lineman Christian Jones – are technically still on injured reserve. Another Cardinals running back, Emari Demercado, will be sidelined for the game due to an ankle injury; he leads the team this season with 241 rushing yards. Arizona’s starting right guard, Will Hernandez, is also unavailable due to hip and knee ailments, and he was placed on injured reserve on Saturday. The Cardinals’ defense will be missing rookie defensive lineman Walter Nolen, the first-round draft pick who returned a fumble for a touchdown in last weekend’s overtime loss to Jacksonville.
- QB Connor Bazelak (3rd QB)
- G Luke Haggard
- G Elijah Klein
- S Kaevon Merriweather
- CB Benjamin Morrison
- DL Elijah Simmons
Morrison is out due to injury.
- RB Emari Demercado
- G Hayden Conner
- CB Elijah Jones
- CB Max Melton
- DL Walter Nolen
- S Dadrion Taylor-Demerson
Demercado, Melton, Nolen and Taylor-Demerson are out due to injury.
