The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were coming off their first loss of the season heading into Week 5. They went on the road to Seattle to play a tough Seahawks team, and they needed every second of the 60 minutes of regulation to secure a win, but the important thing for them was that they did.
Following the win, the Bucs saw their spot in ESPN’s Week 4 power rankings go into their rearview mirror. They had been at the sixth overall spot in the rankings, but now they find themselves all the way up to the fourth-ranked spot.
Within the rankings, ESPN’s Jenna Laine was asked who has been the biggest surprise for the team…from a fantasy perspective. She writes, “It’s not a big surprise that Mayfield is No. 2 among quarterbacks in fantasy. It is surprising that he’s averaging 21.1 points per game without two key wide receivers. Mayfield hasn’t had franchise-leading scorer Mike Evans and was without Chris Godwin Jr. for the first three games…The explosion of rookie wide receiver Emeka Egbuka, who has five touchdowns this season, is a big reason Mayfield has been on such a tear.”
Fantasy numbers or not, Mayfield has been a surprise for this Bucs team that finds itself riding high going into Week 6.
Mayfield has cemented himself as an MVP frontrunner through five weeks as the Bucs are 4-1. He has just one turnover, which is down compared to his usually high turnover rate, and he has led the Bucs on four game-winning drives as well. As the Bucs continue to climb the power rankings, so do the odds of Mayfield winning the MVP at season’s end.
