While there are several quarterbacks joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers roster as undrafted free agents following the NFL draft, but only one of them has modeled their entire career after 2-time Pro Bowl quarterback Baker Mayfield.
That quarterback would be West Virginia’s Garrett Greene, who now finds himself in the position of hopefully catching passes from Mayfield as he tries to make the switch from quarterback to wide receiver in the NFL.
“It’s hard to make the NFL as a 5-foot-10 quarterback,” Greene told the Tallahassee Democrat’s Jim Henry. “When I started playing football in middle school, high school, I also played receiver and am pretty comfortable with doing that. I just thought it was my best way to make an impact on an NFL roster.”
Greene has the type of athleticism that might see him wind up on an NFL roster asooner than later after the 5-foot-10, 195-pound Tallahassee native ran the 40-yard dash in 4.50 seconds and recorded a 36.5 inch vertical leap at Big 12 Pro Day.
Greene Was Electric Playmaker at WVU
Greene was a 2-year starter at West Virginia, where he went 17-11 over the last 2 seasons and ended his career with 5,370 passing yards and 36 touchdowns and added 2.136 rushing yards and 28 touchdowns.
In 2022, he even had 4 receptions for 32 yards.
Greene wore Mayfield’s signature No. 6 jersey throughout his college career.
“A lot of West Virginia’s fortunes in 2024 will rest on the shoulders of Greene, whose favorite players growing up were Johnny Manziel and Baker Mayfield,” ESPN’s Harry Lyles Jr. wrote before the 2024 season. “Greene’s game and on-field charisma emulate their styles; he even wears No. 6 as a salute to Mayfield.”
West Virginia went 9-4 in his first year as a starter in 2023 and capped the year with a win in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. In 2024, the Mountaineers took a step back and went 6-7 with a loss in the Frisco Bowl.
NFL’s Long History of College QBs Turned WRs
The NFL has a long history of taking college quarterbacks and turning them into wide receivers — there are 2 notable times where the players turned into some of the NFL’s very best at that position with former New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman and former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward.
Ironically, both players ended their careers as Super Bowl MVPs — Ward in 2005 and Edelman in 2018.
“Somebody needs to take a chance on Garrett Greene as a WR, those QB turned WR works out good Greene could be like Julian Edelman in the slot,” X user Steven Sparks wrote on April 26.
Edelman threw for 1,820 yards and 11 touchdowns and rushed for 1,370 yards and 13 touchdowns as a senior at Kent State in 2008 before the Patriots selected him in the seventh round (No. 232 overall) in the 2009 NFL draft. Edelman played 13 seasons —all with the Patriots — and was a 3-time Super Bowl champion.
Ward was a standout quarterback, wide receiver and tailback at Georgia before the Steelers selected him in the third round (No. 98 overall) of the 1998 NFL draft. He played 14 seasons — all for the Steelers — and was a 2-time Super Bowl champion, 3-time NFL All-Pro and finished his career with 1,000 receptions for 12,083 yards and 85 touchdowns.
