Baker Mayfield set to return for Buccaneers after three-game absence, will wear custom glove

After a three-week absence, Mayfield is back under center for Tampa Bay

Baker Mayfield will return against Carolina after missing three games with a thumb injury and will wear a specially designed glove to protect his throwing hand. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are getting their starting quarterback back in the lineup. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles confirmed on Friday that Baker Mayfield is ready to go for the team's Week 7 game against the division rival Carolina Panthers. Bowles said Mayfield practiced in full, as if it were a normal week. Mayfield has missed the last three games after dislocating his right (throwing) thumb back in Week 3 against the Minnesota Vikings. In his return to the field, he will wear a special glove with a restrictive plate on the back of his thumb so that it does not bend the wrong way, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

The Times reported that the glove was designed by Tampa Bay Rays clubhouse attendant Nick Bond. Bond ripped the thumb off a wide receiver's glove and inserted a support in its place. "(It's) not restricting because it's on the backside," Mayfield said this week, per the Times. "For me, just getting used to it. I don't feel the difference. It's just like me wearing a glove." Undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels has been filling in for Mayfield during his three-week absence, going 1-2 in