Bucs' David: Mayfield 'is great for our locker room'

Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker and team captain Lavonte David likes what he's seen from the team's quarterbacks so far, especially Baker Mayfield.

"Baker already has been 'the guy,' and he's expected to live up to what everybody expected him to be," David recently said, according to JoeBucsFan.com. "Baker is great for our locker room. I like the way Baker carries himself, coming in with a ready-to-work mentality. Everybody loves him already, and the way he approaches practice is great to see."

After Tom Brady retired this offseason, the Buccaneers signed Mayfield to a one-year deal in free agency.

The 2018 first overall pick is on his fourth different team in the last three seasons after stints with the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, and Los Angeles Rams. He's now competing for the Bucs' QB1 job with 2021 second-round pick Kyle Trask.

"(Mayfield is) a guy who's done it before, took his team to the playoffs, and done some great things so far," David said. "So the competition with those guys is going to be very, very competitive, and I'm glad to be a part of it."

He added: "During minicamp, it was really fun to see. Those guys are really having fun with it, and they're helping each other throughout the way."

Mayfield was once viewed as the Browns' franchise quarterback. He passed for 26 touchdowns against eight interceptions in 2020 en route to ending Cleveland's 18-year playoff drought.

However, he hasn't replicated that production since. Mayfield passed for only 10 TDs to eight picks while playing for the Panthers (seven games) and Rams (five appearances) in 2022. Cleveland traded him to Carolina during the 2022 offseason.

The Buccaneers won the NFC South last year despite finishing the campaign with an 8-9 record. Tampa Bay's season ended with a wild-card home loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

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