The Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ 2025 season wasn’t just a disappointment; it was a freefall. Tampa started the season with a 6–2 record, but after that, they lost seven of their final nine games and lost the NFC South division title for the first time in a decade. And according to Lavonte David, the blame doesn’t belong where most fans are placing it on quarterback Baker Mayfield.

“Just a lot of factors that go in with football – the main thing is injuries,” Lavonte David said on the Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams. “Injuries all across the board from the offensive line to the back end to the skill guys, and for himself [Baker Mayfield]. So, see, it’s just hard to deal with that to continue to play at an extremely high level. And defensively, we didn’t have him out as much as we should have when we were on the field, too.”

“But what you saw out of Baker is what you’re going to get from Baker. That first half of the season, he’s a complete dawg. Playing healthy and controlling the offense – being high powered, that’s what he is.”

Lavonte pushed back against the idea that Baker Mayfield suddenly struggled as a player, pointing to what Tampa saw early in the season as the true version of their QB. Before injuries began to stack up in the 2025 season, Baker Mayfield posted a passer rating of 97 while throwing for 2,365 yards, 17 touchdowns, and just three interceptions over the first 10 games. Tampa went 6-4 in that stretch and looked dangerous. 

But over the final stretch of the 2025 season, Baker Mayfield had appeared on the injury report with at least five injuries, including an oblique strain, a left AC joint sprain, an unspecified right shoulder issue, and two separate knee issues. It did not help that most of the players in Tampa Bay’s offense also ended up on multiple injury reports by the end of the season. However, the quarterback continued to shoulder the responsibility, but the margin for error disappeared fast. 

Over the final seven games, Baker Mayfield’s passer rating dipped to 79.8, with 1,328 yards, 9 touchdowns, and eight interceptions. Adding to the frustration, the Bucs held second-half leads in four of those seven late-season losses. Flip just one of those games, and Tampa likely would have walked away with another NFC South title. 

So, Tampa Bay’s defense did not help matters either, finishing 20th in the league in scoring defense (24.2 points allowed on average). But Lavonte David also believes another off-field factor quietly made it harder for Baker Mayfield: Tampa Bay’s revolving door at offensive coordinator.

How did the OC changes in Tampa Bay add to Baker Mayfield’s struggles?

Since arriving in Tampa Bay in 2023, Baker Mayfield has been forced to adapt on the fly. He started under OC Dave Canales, then transitioned to Liam Coen a year later. In January, Coen left to become the head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, prompting the Bucs to promote Josh Grizzard. Lavonte David believes that turnover was one of the factors adding to Mayfield’s struggles. 

“Having all these different OC’s played a huge part in it [Mayfield’s struggles],” Lavonte David added. “I know it’ll be different for me. My first whatever years, I had about five different defensive coordinators. And I know how being able to transition and how to get on the same page, and trying to figure out what the coaches want and how they want things to operate and stuff like that. So, I can really imagine how difficult it is for Baker, being the quarterback of a football team.”

Now, Tampa is making yet another change at OC, but this one comes with familiarity for Baker Mayfield. The Bucs recently hired Zac Robinson as their new OC, a coach Mayfield already knows from their time together with the Los Angeles Rams. It will still be Mayfield’s 11th OC in nine seasons. But Lavonte David sounded excited about Robinson and what he could do for Mayfield and his offense next. 

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“Having a little bit of familiarity with Zac Robinson and what he did with Atlanta and college… defensively, with the stuff he was doing over there,” David said. “So, definitely looking forward to seeing him get the offense back going because they got the weapons, got the guys, and you got Baker to distribute the ball throughout to those guys.”

Robinson recently helped guide the Atlanta Falcons to top-15 offensive finishes in back-to-back seasons, even with limited personnel. Now, he takes over an offensive unit in Tampa Bay that could perform as the league’s best when healthy. But apart from getting a new coordinator, there was more exciting news for the Bucs recently on the offensive side. 

Baker Mayfield drops a major update on one of his offensive weapons

Beyond coaching changes, Tampa Bay also received intriguing news regarding wide receiver Mike Evans. This past season, Evans played in just 8 games due to injuries and caught a career-low 30 passes for 368 yards and 3 TDs. With free agency approaching in March, questions about Evans’ future have only grown louder. But according to Baker Mayfield, Evans is not retiring anytime soon.

“I told Mike, this is your decision, take your time doing it,” Baker Mayfield said recently on The Ronde Barber Show. “But understanding who Mike is, that is my guess, that he didn’t want it to end this way. He knows the potential that if we’re able to stay a little bit more healthy, Zac [Robinson] will do great things for us, and we’ll go from there. But Mike’s got more in the tank. You could tell with the energy, the fire he had at the end of the year.”

Mike Evans’ historic run of 11 straight 1,000-yard seasons just ended because of injuries, not decline. Still, Baker Mayfield believes Evans still has plenty left, at least physically. The bigger question is, can Evans picture another full offseason of OTAs, training camp, and a 17-game-long regular season? If Evans does return, and Zac Robinson brings stability in the offense, the 2026 season can look dramatically different for Mayfield and the Bucs.