4 Off-season mistakes the Atlanta Falcons will benefit from in 2023
By Nick Halden
3. Tampa Bay signing Baker Mayfield
Tampa Bay won the division despite clearly struggling with Tom Brady at the helm how much worse will this team be under Baker Mayfield or Kyle Trask? Mayfield had a rough 2022 season with neither side winning the divorce. Cleveland struggled when Deshaun Watson returned and Baker made stops with the Panthers and Rams as a starter struggling to generate offense in both landing spots.
Despite still having Chris Godwin and Mike Evans Tampa should be expected to take yet another step back considering it will be either Baker or Kyle Trask throwing to the star receivers. Tampa's step back in 2022 isn't simply on the players but has to be attributed to the coaching changes as well with the team firing the offensive coordinator that helped Bruce Arians and Tom Brady win it all two years ago.
Tampa deserves props for committing to a rebuild right away when Brady left, however, the decision at quarterback and the coaching staff have this team set up to take a large step back and should allow the Falcons to be favorites over Tampa in both matchups for the first time since Brady left New England.
Atlanta's division couldn't be more perfectly set for a young team to have success considering both Tampa and New Orleans.