Baker Mayfield spent the vast majority of the 2025 NFL season battling severe, undisclosed structural damage in his right leg. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback confirmed he played through a sprained MCL and PCL suffered in Week 2 against the Houston Texans. He also endured a left shoulder AC joint sprain and a badly bruised throwing biceps sustained in Week 3.
The physical toll derailed what started as an MVP-caliber campaign. Tampa Bay opened the year 5-1 before spiraling to an 8-9 finish. Mayfield’s production took a direct hit on the field. He dropped from averaging 264.7 passing yards per game in 2024 to just 217.2 yards in 2025. He never missed a start.
The true extent of the damage is being revealed on season three of Netflix’s Quarterback documentary, which premieres on July 14. Mayfield joins Jayden Daniels, Joe Flacco, and Cam Ward in a unique season where all four featured signal-callers led teams to losing records.
Former Buccaneers linebacker Lavonte David recently validated the quarterback’s grit on The Arena podcast, noting most quarterbacks would have benched themselves rather than play through that specific pain threshold.
The revelation exposes a glaring gap in league operations. Despite suffering the initial sprains early in the schedule, Mayfield did not appear on Tampa Bay’s official injury report with a knee designation until Week 8. NFL analysts have pointed to this delayed listing as a glaring omission that highlights major flaws in injury-reporting rules, especially given the rapid expansion of legalized sports gambling.
The joint took sustained abuse throughout the year. After the initial injury against the Texans, Mayfield aggravated the knee and suffered a bone bruise against the Lions in Week 7. His throwing velocity was visibly hampered for months by the Week 3 biceps contusion.
Mayfield is now entering the final year of his current contract. Extension talks with the Buccaneers remain at a standstill heading into training camp.