NFC Notes: Baker Mayfield, Bryce Young, Buccaneers, Panthers, Saints

Buccaneers

Former Buccaneers HC Bruce Arians said he has Baker Mayfield rated higher than all of the top four quarterbacks in the 2023 NFL Draft.

“I can honestly say out of these four, I had Baker rated higher,” Arians said, via Scott Reynolds of PewterReport. “That’s an honest opinion – coming out [of Oklahoma].”

Arians thinks Mayfield had a difficult time playing through injuries and compared him to fellow former Browns QB Tim Couch. 

“That’s not chopped liver,” Arians said. “He had a tough time playing hurt and things didn’t work in Cleveland. That happens to a lot of guys. Timmy Couch was no bust. Timmy Couch got broken the hell up in Cleveland. I coached him. Helluva player.”

Arians feels Mayfield brings “moxie” and was always impressed by him.

“Moxie,” Arians said. “When I was with CBS I was fortunate enough to do three of his games. Sitting down with him, watching him on Friday practices – because they used to have a lot of two-minute drills in Cleveland and the D (defense) got after their ass on Friday. I said, ‘I love this kid.’ He was super accurate coming out. You never had to worry about his (6-foot-1) height because his line was 6-foot-7, 6-foot-5, 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6, etc. That never was a problem.”

Panthers

Panthers GM Scott Fitterer discussed the process the team went through to land on QB Bryce Young as their No. 1 overall pick. He notes it was important for them to be as thorough as possible so that they could have confidence that the player who stood up under all that scrutiny would be worth the pick. 

“We went through a really continuous process, and we tried to poke holes,” Fitterer said via Pro Football Talk. “We looked at him from every different angle. We went to our analytics guys, we went to player engagement, went to, like, the psychologist. You look for anything that you might miss just on tape and on evaluation. We have all these fact-checks in place.

“Once that person’s able to stand in there and stay at the top of the board the whole time, you know you have your guy. But it was a real process. We really didn’t decide until the Monday prior to the draft. When I went and walked into Frank’s office said, ‘OK, who we taking?’ You know, just kind of a quick question. He said, ‘Bryce.’ I talked to Mr. Tepper about it. I think we were all on board. It was a consensus throughout the organization Bryce was the right guy for us.”

Fitterer added the moment Young really started to separate himself from the pack was when he had dinner with the team’s sizable traveling contingent before his pro day. 

“We’re sitting in a restaurant, and we’re talking to him. And this is the first time, you know, you’ve interviewed him at the Combine in an 18-minute interview,” Fitterer said. “We’ve talked to him at other places, but this is the time you see him in a social setting, where we’re sitting around a table, and we’re really just getting to know the guy, and he’s holding court. We had a couple-hour dinner with him, and as you’re sitting there at dinner, you’re just looking at this guy, and I’m thinking in my head the whole time, ‘OK, is this the right guy for us? Is this the guy we want kind of being our face? Is he the one we want leading our team in the huddle when it’s the fourth quarter?’ And you have all these questions in your head as you’re sitting at dinner just watching him talk to other people. And that’s kind of the moment that I had personally where I thought, ‘OK, this is the guy. This is the guy that we want leading the team.’”

Saints

• XFL OL Sage Doxtater has been invited to the Saints’ minicamp. The team previously brought him on as an undrafted free agent before he was hurt in camp. (Mike Triplett)