Baker Mayfield Camp Update — August 23: A ten-yard cameo starts the preseason
2026 NFL Season · Sunday, Aug 23
Mayfield made his preseason debut against Kansas City and it lasted two drives: two of four for ten yards before Jake Browning took over late in the first quarter. The real Mayfield tape this week was practice-field, where Yaya Diaby got him twice and rookie Ted Hurst kept catching his slants.
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Baker Mayfield's first game action of the summer lasted two drives. He started Saturday's 16-to-15 win over Kansas City at Raymond James Stadium and completed two of four passes for 10 yards before giving way to Jake Browning late in the first quarter, per Brianna Dix at buccaneers.com and the CBS Sports box score. Todd Bowles had announced on Monday that Mayfield and the healthy starters would play, per Matt Matera at Pewter Report, and the outing was exactly that size: a tune-up, against a Chiefs team that sat Patrick Mahomes entirely, per Pete Sweeney's game story. Nothing in the coverage flagged protection trouble in those two drives, but 10 yards of offense is too small a sample to clear the question either.
The fuller Mayfield week was on the practice field, and it cut both ways. Monday, outside linebacker Yaya Diaby beat the first-team protection for sacks on consecutive two-minute-drill snaps, per Matera — his own defense, but exactly the live-rush stress we have been watching for in a new system. Wednesday leaned the other way: rookie wide receiver Ted Hurst III caught slants from Mayfield, took a deep shot over Antoine Winfield Jr., and finished a red zone touchdown from him, per Matera, the second straight report pairing those two. With Emeka Egbuka out for the rest of camp with a toe sprain, per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, and Jalen McMillan just back to individual drills, Mayfield's August chemistry is being built partly with a rookie.
Our June preview built Mayfield's case on durability and volume — 51 straight regular-season games in Tampa — with the fourth new play-caller in four years as the variable to watch, and this week's mixed tape is that question still running. The contract file stays parked until March. What to watch next: whether Mayfield plays in the preseason finale or Tampa Bay banks the reps, and which receivers are actually available to him when cutdown to 53 arrives Sunday, August thirtieth. We'll check after cut day.
_Data via nflverse._
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