The waiting games are over for the Carolina Panthers when it comes to which quarterback the defense will face on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield is expected to return to the starting lineup following a three-game absence due to a thumb injury. Mayfield was back at practice this week and will be wearing a special glove to provide added support for his right thumb going into Sunday’s game.

“Anytime you dislocate something, there’s gonna be ligament damage. It just didn’t happen to be the ligaments and tendons that I needed surgery on,” Mayfield explained earlier this week. “So, just giving it time to heal, doing as much as possible to come back stronger and work on that. And, yeah, it’s football. If something like that happens, that’s the nature of the game, unfortunately. But we’ve gotten it to a place where it’s strong enough to be able to play.”

The Panthers have had some frustrating QB situations to prepare for going into games this season, such as the Week 2 game against the Atlanta Falcons and last week’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s good to know on Friday who you’re going to face on Sunday, and it’s an opponent the Panthers know very very well.

Carolina Panthers preparing to face Baker Mayfield again on Sunday

Much has been made about Mayfield’s history with the Panthers. He spent 152 days with the Panthers in 2022 after getting traded from the Cleveland Browns. After playing just seven games (with six starts) Mayfield was released by the Panthers and has since been pretty spiteful about his time in Carolina and how things ended.

Getting to face them twice a season in the NFC South was an added bonus for him signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers back in 2023. Since then, Mayfield is 5-1 in his career against the Panthers. The Panthers are well aware of what to expect with Mayfield in the lineup and what this matchup means to him.

“You know what he is,” Panthers defensive tackle Derrick Brown told A to Z Sports. “He’s a fierce competitor, right? So you know he’s going to try to try to push the limits, get the ball downfield, and you know at the end of the day he wants to win. This is a division game for us, so I mean it’s studying to go out and put our best foot forward. No matter who the quarterback is.”

Another key figure in Carolina that knows Mayfield is head coach Dave Canales, who served as Mayfield’s offensive coordinator in Tampa Bay prior to being hired by the Panthers in 2024.

“If I know Baker and he’s out there practicing, he’s playing,” Canales said on Wednesday. “This is a guy that’s going to try to fight through things, going to try to get back out there and help his team. He’s a great teammate. He’s tough, so I expect to see him out there.”

Beyond his fiery mentality and external motivations, Mayfield presents a tough matchup for Carolina’s defense with his play-style and his ability to scramble. The Panthers have struggled with mobile quarterbacks this season (Caleb Williams and Deshaun Watson) while having better success against pocket passers. So, the challenge will be keeping Mayfield contained in the pocket and forcing him to win with his arm.

This is a big divisional game for both teams

Even though the Buccaneers are 1-5 on the season entering this game, this is still a big divisional game for both teams. Given how things went last year, and how the NFC looks so far after six weeks, the road to the playoffs for the NFC South is going to likely come down to winning this division and every divisional game matters.

Getting off to a 2-0 start in divisional play (and 4-2 overall record) would be huge for the Panthers’ chances of repeating as division champs. And this is a game the Panthers need to be able to come out with at home.

“I mean, the only way through the road to the playoffs is through your division,” Brown explained. “We know that, and you know everybody else knows that, right. So I mean, it’s no secret. We don’t hide that. Just like everybody else, we want to go out and win our division.”

The path to doing that comes one game at a time, and the Panthers will have a big one on Sunday and I’m sure Mayfield will have more motivation than ever to beat this team after losing out on the NFC South title to the Panthers in 2025. It’ll be a tough test.