Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield appears on track to return from a dislocated right thumb in Week 7 when Tampa Bay plays Carolina.
After he was listed as a full participant on Wednesday’s injury report, Mayfield was at the podium to speak to reporters at a Thursday press conference.
"Feel good, just improving," Mayfield said. "Never really missed time because of injury. So, not fun. You always want to be out there with your guys. But just doing the rehab process as much as possible each and every day and trying to recover as quick as possible. And take it one day at a time. So, it’s been feeling better and better. But that’s the frustrating part. It just takes time with an injury like that.
"But we’ve gotten it to a place where it’s strong enough to be able to play," Mayfield added.
Mayfield will be wearing a glove on his right hand with protection behind his thumb to help keep it stabilized. Mayfield mentioned that the Bucs' medical and training staff met with folks from MLB's Tampa Bay Rays to come up with a specific solution that works for him.
"Truly, when you’re throwing with a glove, you’ve just got to get used to it," Mayfield said. "Just changing your release points. Can’t grip it as hard because it’ll stick to the glove — different things like that. So, just getting a lot of reps, getting practice with it, getting used to it. So, it feels fine. But, training staff, equipment guys are doing an incredible job of — we went through all the scenarios, all the different things to possibly wear, and ended up being able to stick a pad on the backside of the thumb to prevent it from bending backward again. So, they’ve done an incredible job helping me out get to where I’m at and ready to practice and go."
Mayfield added he's "very confident" in his ability to grip the ball and throw and doesn't feel restricted.
"I think I was more so concerned about the impact of getting the ball from under center with Graham [Barton] sending it back there," Mayfield said. "It feels fine gripping it and throwing it. It’s just the impact stuff, that was really what my concern was, and it’s felt great so far."
So far this season, Mayfield has completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 615 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions in three games. He’s been sacked 13 times, on 11.9 percent of his dropbacks.