New Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard talked about taking Tampa Bay’s offense to “the next level” quite a bit in his introductory press conference on Thursday. As the team’s pass game coordinator, Grizzard was on hand last year to witness quarterback Baker Mayfield take his game to the next level.
Mayfield made his second Pro Bowl in 2024 while throwing for a career-high 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns, which is second-best to Tom Brady’s single-season Bucs record of 43 TDs in 2021. Mayfield, who also had a career-high 71.4% completion percentage in 2024, only threw 28 touchdowns in 2023 with Dave Canales as the team’s offensive coordinator.
One of the reasons why Mayfield was so successful last year is that new offensive coordinator Liam Coen put a lot more on his plate, especially at the line of scrimmage. Whereas Canales didn’t allow Mayfield to audible much at the line and prefer he stick with the called play, Coen preferred Mayfield read the defense’s alignment at the line of scrimmage and check out of plays that looked like they would be D.O.A. – dead on arrival.
Grizzard plans on continuing to allow Mayfield to do that – and then some – as he takes over the play-calling duties as Coen’s replacement.
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today
“Absolutely,” Grizzard said. “That’s why it’s so great to have the continuity of the scheme and the coaching staff, so that his baseline knowledge of what we’re trying to get done is there and now we can put more on him to potentially get us out of a bad play or adjust something that we hadn’t prepared for. That way, it’s just something that is built in and not something that we have to actually give him a play call.”
So while Grizzard will be calling the Bucs’ plays – either from the sidelines or the coaches box – he wants Mayfield to become an extension of himself as a play-caller on the field. Like how Peyton Manning took over the offense in his days playing for the Colts and the Broncos, and how Tom Brady took over the Patriots offense in New England, Grizzard wants Mayfield to run the show in Tampa Bay.
That’s because Grizzard has a ton of respect for the veteran quarterback, who is entering his eighth season in the NFL and his third with the Bucs.
“What he was able to do was take what we were installing in the classroom, and to apply it to the practice field, and then communicate to the O-line, the halfbacks, receivers, get everyone on the same page and then put in the work behind the scenes to be able to go out and execute on game day, so that the practice execution can become game reality,” Grizzard said. “With him being able to put that work in and get everyone on the same page, and try to take practice fundamentals to the game, that’s where you see a lot of his success and that’s what it’ll take to take it to the next level moving forward, as well.”
Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today
Grizzard believes Mayfield and the Bucs offense can reach the next level because of the continuity already in place – from the verbiage, to the playbook, to the concepts within the system to the coaching staff, which will remain unchanged outside of the departures of Coen and John Van Dam, who was the team’s pass game assistant.
When asked what was the one aspect of Mayfield’s game that surprised him in 2024, Grizzard said it was the quarterback’s scrambling ability. Mayfield ran for a career-high 378 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 6.3 yards per carry and picking up 24 first downs. Grizzard credits Mayfield for some of the Bucs’ success as the league’s best third down conversion percentage team at 51%.
“I’ll say this about his ability to scramble – you didn’t necessarily see it as much in the spring and in camp, because he’s so aggressive trying to throw the ball down the field. But when you get into the games and his ability to do that – it just moves the sticks.
“And I know a lot has been said about the third down conversion rate, a lot of that is him making off-schedule plays and finding guys and the whole line holding up in protection. So it was that was huge, and that will be huge going forward.”
Josh Grizzard Loves Baker Mayfield’s Competitiveness
Bucs OC Josh Grizzard – Photo by: Matt Matera/PR
Aside from Baker Mayfield’s high football I.Q., the thing that new Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard admires most about his quarterback is his competitiveness. Mayfield is the type of competitor that wants to win at whatever he is doing, whether it’s football, a skills competition, a foot race or any other competitive element.
“Love him because you know what you’re getting every day,” Grizzard said. “You know he’s going to compete and he’s not going to back down from anything. When it gets tough, that’s when he is at his best. You can’t say that about a lot of people, but you know what you’re getting from him. He loves to win, and he loves to compete. I like to look at myself the same way, so it’s a pretty good marriage.”
In a recent interview with Barstool, Bucs running back Rachaad White said that the 34-year old Grizzard had plenty of swagger. While he’s not overly brash, Grizzard labels himself as a competitor and is ready to take on the challenge of taking Tampa Bay’s offense to new heights even though he’s never had any play-calling experience.
That self-belief and self-confidence was on display in Grizzard introductory press conference on Thursday.
“I don’t know if there was a specific time where I said I was ready, but I would say two years ago I really started thinking like a coordinator,” Grizzard said. “When you’re in the booth and you’re looking at coverages and just doing your mundane ‘QC’ (quality control) work, you start thinking, ‘Okay, what do I call next? What do I call next? What’s this situation?’ Whatever it might be. Over the last two years [I was] trying to think in that way to prepare myself for this day.”
Josh Grizzard’s final statement during his press conference was a message directed to Bucs fans.
“I’m fired up,” Grizzard said. “You guys know the foundation that’s in place. We didn’t come here to go to the playoffs and lose a home game, so we’re trying to take it to the next level [and] try to bring a championship back to Tampa, and I’m fired up to be here and try to lead this unit down the road.”
