Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles told reporters Friday that quarterback Baker Mayfield “looked good” in practice and is on track to start in Sunday’s matchup against the Arizona Cardinals.
On Wednesday, Mayfield told reporters he was weighing short-term availability over better health down the stretch when deciding whether to play through his left shoulder injury.
“Not to go back on what I was saying, that every game, in my eyes, is a must-win playoff scenario, but understanding that if I sit one game out, and that provides me to be healthier down the stretch, then that’s how I’m going to look at it,” Mayfield told reporters Wednesday (h/t the Tampa Bay Times‘ Rick Stroud).
“I have to be smart with that, understanding that our sights are still set on the playoffs, but to get there we have to win these games, especially the NFC matchups. We’ve got to look at it that way. And it’s kind of a double-edged sword, but we’ll see how it goes.”
Mayfield suffered an injury to his non-throwing arm during last Sunday’s Week 12 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Backup quarterback Teddy Bridgewater will meanwhile spend the week taking the majority of reps with the Bucs’ first-team offense, Bowles told reporters.
Mayfield told reporters there was still pain in his left shoulder, but that it was “decreasing for sure.”
He added that whether he ultimately suits up to play will hinge on if the injury impacts his “ability to play.”
“See how it goes through the week, but understanding that we have Teddy,” Mayfield said. “And I’ve been in this spot before, hurting the non-throwing shoulder. And if it’s going to hinder how I play, then I probably won’t go. But won’t know that until later in the week, getting practice reps, and see how that goes.”
Mayfield previously suffered a severe left shoulder injury during his 2021 season with the Cleveland Browns.
He suffered a torn labrum in Week 2 of that season, then played continued playing through the injury only to aggravate the injury to the point that he suffered a cracked shoulder socket in Week 6.
The quarterback said Wednesday, however, that his most recent shoulder injury— defined by ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler as an AC joint sprain— was “very different” from that issue.”
“I dislocated my shoulder completely, had a torn labrum, partial rotator cuff and cracked the bone in the socket. It’s very, very different,” Mayfield said about his 2021 injury. “Now it’s just truly about pain tolerance, management, being able to move around and being able to throw.”
Mayfield added, however, that his experience in 2021 would impact his decision as to whether to play through the injury “a little bit.”
“Just from the physical aspect of it, I don’t think I was physically able to do the things I wanted to in 2021 with the hurt shoulder,” Mayfield said. “That’s the biggest thing is, don’t want to hold this team back.”
The Bucs are heading into Week 13 having lost three straight games to the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills and Rams.
The Buccaneers have a crucial division gauntlet coming up starting in Week 14, when Tampa Bay heads on a run of three straight division matchups against the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers.
If sitting out Sunday against the Cards makes it more likely Mayfield will be ready to play this stretch, he could ultimately decide to hand the ball to Bridgewater ahead of Sunday’s 1 p.m. ET matchup at Raymond James Stadium.
