Baker Mayfield's standing among the NFL's top quarterbacks has been a topic of debate for months as he continues to be involved in a contract stalemate with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Though he is generally regarded as a franchise quarterback, Mayfield rarely finds himself in the top-10 QB rankings, usually falling somewhere in the 11-15 range.
In a new set of rankings, Dan Orlovsky of ESPN doesn't rank quarterbacks' overall ability. Instead, he ranks his top 10 QBs for seven different individual traits: arm strength, ball placement, mechanics, decision-making, pocket presence, second reaction, and rushing ability.
While Mayfield may not crack the top 10 in overall QB rankings, how did he fare in the rankings of specific traits?
Not great. Mayfield placed in the top 10 in only three of the seven rankings. He finished sixth in arm strength, 10th in second-reaction ability, and eighth in rushing ability.
While only showing up in three top-10 lists out of the seven traits Orlovsky believes are the most important for a QB to have success, two of the quarterbacks Mayfield is hoping to be paid similarly to, Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence, showed up in even fewer.
Love only appeared in the top 10 for two of the seven traits, while Lawrence was only in one, coming in 10th in pocket presence.
Should Mayfield Have Been In More Top 10s?
Mayfield, like the rest of the Bucs, had a down season in 2025. However, Mayfield was put into a very difficult situation that any quarterback would have struggled to overcome. He was without his top three wide receivers from 2024 for large chunks of the season. Bucky Irving, Tampa's top running back, missed seven games. Four of Tampa's five starting offensive linemen each missed at least five games.
Mayfield himself dealt with several injuries throughout the season, which were detailed in the Netflix docuseries Quarterback, despite not missing any games.
How much all of Tampa's injuries factored into Orlovsky's rankings is unknown, though it is reasonable to believe Mayfield would have earned higher rankings if he had his full arsenal of weapons all year.
Although not in a class with guys like Josh Allen, Matthew Stafford, or Patrick Mahomes, Mayfield has always had a strong arm and is capable of making any throw a quarterback needs to. Seeing him ranked sixth is no surprise.
His rushing ability as a QB is underrated. Mayfield consistently makes plays with his legs and had 382 rushing yards last year, with a 6.9 yards-per-carry average. In my opinion, Mayfield should have been ranked a couple of spots higher than eighth.
Mayfield may have gotten a generous ranking of 10th for his "second-reaction ability," meaning his skill while throwing from outside the pocket. His 90.6 passer rating on throws outside the pocket only ranked 21st last season. However, his rating on similar throws from 2022-2024 was 95.6. It looks like an area that was clearly affected by not having his most reliable targets for much of the season.
As for Mayfield's decision-making and mechanics, both could improve. It's no surprise that he wasn't included in the top 10. Ball placement was another trait where Mayfield didn't make the top 10. After an impressive 71.4 completion percentage in 2024, that number dropped to only 63.2% in 2025, perhaps another stat affected by injuries.
Mayfield's pocket presence can be shaky at times due to his height. At 6'1, he sometimes drifts to find a clear passing lane and can wander into pressure. He doesn't have the gift of being able to see over rushing defensive linemen the way QBs who are 6'5 or 6'6 can.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think Mayfield's rankings were fair. He has room to improve in several areas, and having his teammates healthier in 2026 should help.
Mayfield will be on a mission this season. He is betting on himself in a contract year and has always performed at his best when he feels like he has something to prove.
Expect a big season from Mayfield, and expect him to show up on more of Orlovsky's top 10 lists when he makes the same rankings next year.