Sources: Mayfield out 3-6 weeks, depending on when QB can grip football — SkimNews
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- Baker Mayfield is expected to miss three to six weeks with a dislocated right thumb, per sources, with the timeline hinging on when he can grip a football; an MRI showed no additional ligament or tendon damage, no surgery is needed, and the stitches from the dislocation are set to come out soon.
- Tampa Bay did not place Mayfield on injured reserve and does not expect to add him even if the absence stretches past four weeks, privately hoping for the shorter end of the three-to-six-week window rather than the five-to-six-game scenario they fear.
- Jalon Daniels, an undrafted rookie out of Kansas who won the backup job over Jake Browning in training camp, becomes the first of this year's 10 drafted-or-signed rookie quarterbacks to start a game when he faces the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
- Daniels' contract included a $25,000 signing bonus and a rare fully guaranteed $247,500 practice squad salary, a structure that underscored the Bucs' belief in him; he will be the first Tampa Bay rookie to start at quarterback since No. 1 pick Jameis Winston in 2015.
- Easton Stick will serve as Daniels' backup against Green Bay, with veteran Brett Rypien added to the practice squad this week as additional insurance for the next three-plus starts.
- Tampa Bay's schedule after the Packers includes a Thursday night visit to Dallas in Week 5, home games against Pittsburgh (Week 6) and Atlanta (Week 8), and a trip to Carolina in Week 7 — a gauntlet that frames how long Mayfield's recovery actually takes.
- Coach Todd Bowles said the team expects Daniels to "do his job at a high level" and stressed he "won't be out there by himself," after Daniels went 0-for-3 passing in four snaps against Minnesota in his NFL debut last week.
Why it matters: An 0-3 Buccaneers team is handing its season to an undrafted rookie, with the next three-to-six weeks determining whether Tampa Bay's gamble of keeping Mayfield off injured reserve pays off. The longer Mayfield is out, the more important Daniels' rare guaranteed practice-squad deal looks as either a bridge or a revelation.
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