After Dave Canales departed the Buccaneers to become the Panthers’ head coach, Tampa Bay brought in Liam Coen to be the team’s offensive coordinator.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield, who had familiarity with Coen from their shared time with the Rams, said on Tuesday that he’s liked the way Coen has installed the scheme during the spring.
“It puts a lot on you mentally in the front,” Mayfield said, via transcript from the team. “It is a little mentally taxing but it’s good in the long run.”
Mayfield added that he’s expecting the Bucs’ offense to be taxing for opponents, too.
“It just presents so many different issues for a defense when it comes to their rules,” Mayfield said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of shifts, a lot of motions, things like that. It makes them think about their rules and have to react on the fly. For us, it’s a lot of learning that part, because if we’re not doing our job, it doesn’t matter what the defense is thinking. It’s tough there, but it presents different issues that they have to conquer.”
After arguably his best season in 2023, Mayfield said he’ll now have “a lot more responsibility” within the scheme on a play-to-play basis.
“[At the] line of scrimmage, a lot more double play calls where you’re having to get the guys in the right positions,” Mayfield said. “But as a quarterback, you want to have that responsibility and accountability. You always want to put your guys in the best position to have success, so now Liam’s giving us the opportunity with a couple play calls to be able to do that.
“Like I said, it’s more mentally taxing but [I’m] just relearning the system and not taking it with the mindset that I’ve been here before but really starting from square one.”
After throwing for 4,044 yards with 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last year, Mayfield signed a three-year, $100 deal to stay with the Buccaneers in March.