The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going into the season with Baker Mayfield as their quarterback for the third straight year.

During his time as the starting quarterback, Mayfield and head coach Todd Bowles have built a very strong rapport. Bowles explained to reporters his plan for Mayfield going into the season.

“We haven’t discussed it yet, but typically I don’t usually play starters for all three games. We’ll see, but he doesn’t need to play to be ready for the season,” Bowles said.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield speaks to head coach Todd Bowles before a game against the Atlanta Falcons. / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Bowles is willing to pivot if needed, but it doesn’t seem like Mayfield will appear for the Bucs before their Week 1 matchup against the Atlanta Falcons. Bowles isn’t worried about Mayfield’s potential for an injury, but he doesn’t foresee him playing in the team’s preseason finale against the Buffalo Bills.

“I’m not worried about the risk of it at all. We wanted to see him get a two-minute drive in, and we got that in on Thursday,” Bowles said.

“He would not have been in the game in two minutes last night anyway. He got tons of work in practice, and you do a lot more schematically in practice – they do and we do as well. He got a lot of different looks from those guys, played a bunch of practice, and did a heck of a job that way. Barring him having the two-minute [drill] that he wouldn’t have been in [there for], there was no need to play him in that game.”

Mayfield is entering his eighth season in the NFL. Sure, he could benefit from getting some of the rust off, but the Bucs are happy rolling with backups Teddy Bridgewater, Kyle Trask and Connor Bazelak until the real football begins on Sept. 7 when the team travels to face off against the Falcons.