Bucs’ Baker Mayfield to miss several weeks after injuring throwing hand

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be without their starting quarterback for a bit. Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield injured the thumb on his throwing hand near the end of the Buccaneers’ Week 3 23-16 loss to the Minnesota Vikings and is expected to miss three weeks, according to head coach Todd Bowles.

The MRI he had on Monday revealed there was no fracture and no ligament nor tendon damage, according to ESPN.

The next three games for the Buccaneers are against the Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. Mayfield would seemingly be good to go, based on Bowles’ current timeline, for their game on Oct. 25 against the Carolina Panthers.

The injury took place with less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Facing a fourth-and-13 down four points, Mayfield bought time in the backfield before throwing an interception to Andrew Van Ginkel while being hit. The Bucs’ quarterback was seen writhing on the ground in pain and heard screaming as he grasped at his right hand. Mayfield eventually walked off the field with trainers and headed straight for the locker room. 

Undrafted rookie quarterback Jalon Daniels replaced him under center on the Bucs’ next possession. He rushed once for nine yards and failed to complete any of his three passing attempts, including a Hail Mary attempt that was intercepted by Isaiah Rodgers 

Mayfield completed 17 of 34 passes for 217 yards, one touchdown and one interception before exiting the game. It’s been a tough start to the season for the Buccaneers, as they began with losses to the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns and Vikings to move to 0-3. Just three weeks ago, Mayfield signed a three-year contract extension that averages $55 million — tying him as the No. 3 highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.

This is the Buccaneers’ first 0-3 start since 2014, and they are the sixth team in the past decade to start 0-3 with all three losses coming in one-score games, per CBS Sports Research.