Baker Mayfield will not reach free agency. The Buccaneers’ efforts to retain their starting quarterback have produced a lucrative new pact. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports the sides are finalizing a three-year, $100MM contract featuring $50MM guaranteed. 
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler adds this pact -which the team has since confirmed – could reach a maximum value of $115MM. Even if that does not take place, this new deal marks a massive raise for the former No. 1 pick in his bid to cash in following his successful debut Bucs campaign and find stability in the process. After playing in Tampa on a one-year, $4MM deal last year, Mayfield has certainly accomplished that goal.
Rapoport’s colleague Tom Pelissero notes Mayfield’s $30MM salary in 2024 is guaranteed in full. $10MM in 2025 is guaranteed at signing, meanwhile, and a further $10MM comes in the form of an injury guarantee which is set to vest next year. The 28-year-old will see $40MM in 2026, and he can earn $5MM in incentives every year of the pact, per Schefter.
Mayfield easily surpassed expectations after winning out a training camp competition with Kyle Trask in the summer. Mayfield posted career highs in passing yards (4,044) and touchdowns (28) last season. His play helped lead the team to another NFC South title and a run to the divisional round of the postseason. Aiming to retain several main elements of their core, the Buccaneers faced the challenge of keeping Mayfield, Mike Evans and Antoine Winfield Jr. in the fold.
Evans landed a two-year accord after being linked to a free agency endeavor. Winfield, meanwhile, has received the franchise tag and as such will either play out the 2024 season on the tag or agree to his own long-term deal. Mayfield will join that tandem for next year and beyond as he looks to prove his first performance in Tampa Bay was not a fluke.
The Browns’ Deshaun Watson acquisition facilitated Mayfield being traded to the Panthers in 2022. His time in Carolina was short-lived, however, and his struggles led to a release and a late-season cameo with the Rams. The Oklahoma product parlayed that into a flier from Tampa Bay under new offensive coordinator Dave Canales. The latter has since departed (to take over the Panthers as head coach), but Mayfield was involved in the search for Canales’ replacement. That pointed to the player-team relationship being extended, and sustained talks in recent days has brought an deal together.
General manager Jason Licht confirmed the Bucs’ intention of keeping Mayfield in the fold, which has at all times been the expected outcome of this situation. Mayfield’s asking price was pegged as approaching (or perhaps surpassing) $40MM per year, and the base value of the pact falls short at $33.3MM. Maximizing its value would create an AAV of $38.3MM, though, a figure which represents legitimate franchise passer compensation and by far the most lucrative deal of Mayfield’s career.
Of course, the ripple effect of today’s news will be felt around the league. Mayfield was projected to be the second-best quarterback on the market, behind only Kirk Cousins. Many teams which could be suitors for the latter were connected to the former as a backup plan, but attention will now shift even further to Cousins and Minnesota. A new Vikings deal could come to bear in the immediate future; failing that, however, teams such as the Falcons will be able to negotiate a Cousins pact knowing Mayfield is not an option.
Tampa Bay entered Sunday with less than $15MM in cap space, a figure which will be affected by the particulars of the Mayfield deal. The Bucs are not expected to be big players on the open market with respect to outside additions considering their financial situation. Retaining each member of the Mayfield-Evans-Winfield trio was atop the offseason priority list, though, and it has now been achieved. Mayfield’s ability to replicate his 2023 success will be a major talking point for the Buccaneers next season and beyond given the investment made in him by the team.
That’s insane…
He has career numbers in TD, pass % and yds. Top 10 in TD and Yds. there really isn’t much of a market out there so the cards fell in his favor. For sure though the AAV for QBs is f’ing crazy. to think mid tier are making 25m+ is just mind blowing.
Why is it mind blowing? It’s the most important position not only in football but in sports. They were one of the last eight teams last year and were a drive away from beating Detroit. It’s essentially a two year contract paying him half of what the top QBs will be getting here soon.
“It’s All About The Quarterback” is Dumb Sportsball Fan ideology. You don’t win in the NFL without defense — and the Buccaneers are competitive when their D is stout.
uhh $30million for a starting QB is low now.
$100m for Baker Mayfield is still a lot
If you look at it without the details of the contract.
It is a 2 year contract for sure so he may not see that $40 or if he stays playing well it will be a new contract.
Have you seen Daniel Jones’ contract? Blame the Giants for resetting the market
If he duplicates or improves what he did in 2023 it’s still a steal compared to other QBs that put up those numbers. Bucs get him a better OL and it’s very possible.
He played behind one of the best lines in football and had one of the best running backs in the game and still put up average to below average numbers for his 4 years
Feels like anyone could put up numbers on that stacked team.
What are they stacked at? They have a HOF receiver with a declining guy on the other side from him, no running game, and an average offensive line.
They aren’t stacked, but Godwin is not declining at all. Canales was just bad at getting plays for him. With Brady Godwin was a focus playing the slot a lot and doing wr screens. Caneles rarely called wr screens for him and didn’t have him in slot until late in season.
White needs the ball more on the outside or in space. Edmond when healthy was solid running.
Otten is more of a #2 TE.
Oline is just really Wirfs the others need to get better.
Its fine. I don’t hate it for the Bucs.
But this wouldn’t stop me from still being active in the draft at finding a franchise QB. Maybe not this year, but Im paying attention.
Baker is better than he gets credit for, but he isn’t the long term answer either. Excellent bridge guy.
He likely doesn’t get that much money from any other team in free agency. But he also might be worth more to the Bucs than he would be on any other team right now. It’s been a good fit for both parties and this contract seems to acknowledge that.
He would have gotten that from another team. There are quite a few teams who need a starting QB.
Name them.
The agent was working hard to generate talk but Pats, ATL, and Vikings made no sense. Pats going no where and need fresh rebuild, ATL needs to draft a QB to be with young core, and Vikings have Cousins to talk to. Steelers were not an option. Broncos are drafting and Peyton wouldn’t have meshed with Baker.
Plus he knows this system has worked where he struggled to find a groove with his last two teams. If he and his family are happy in Tampa, that’s worth a lot.
Whoever loses between the Falcons and Vikings would have given him this contract for sure. That Patriot front office was enamored with him and barely got to work with him before they got fired. Raiders might have looked at him with how far down the draft they are.
Damn 38 mill a year. What a comeback. Even a a falcons fan I’m happy for baker.
It’s safe to say the mid tier QB market is dead. You used to have a class of guys like Matt Schaub, Alex Smith, Jake Delhomme, Andy Dalton, Chad Pennington, etc guys who are average to above average or good. You could build up your team around them and hope they can manage the game. Now you have this contract, Kirk Cousins getting a raise soon, Daniel Jones making crazy money, and watch Goff get a raise.
None of these are franchise QBs yet they take up so much of the cap. It’s why the Bears will trade Fields and why Jacksonville will be hesitant to pay Trevor.
Problem with Trevor is if Jax doesn’t sign him this year, it’ll cost them or another team; another $5m per season next year.
Trevor is getting paid. That’s why when you evaluate these QBs, you need to make sure it’s the right one and then do everything to make them successful when you do. Teams aren’t getting on that off ramp until he demonstrates he can’t play anymore once they go that route. Doug Pederson will just get fired if he can’t go deeper into the playoffs with him.
Jaguars have to worry about signing Trevor Lawrence? Jax just traded for Mac Jones, who had some success with the post-Brady Patriots.
The front office in Jax knows what it’s doing.
Andy Dalton signed a top of the market hundred million dollar contract. Alex Smith was the first pick in the draft back before they put a wage scale on the pick, so he kind of got paid right out of the gate. Schaub also signed a pretty lucrative deal when he was traded to Houston. The other guys you mentioned were draft picks or lower drafted guys like Delhome or Pennington who just never got big contracts. Pennington in particular just kept getting hurt, but had he played like he did when he was healthy, he most definitely would have gotten a big contract. Starting QBs have always gotten paid.
I disagree. I think with the QB market as it is, it’s a great deal for the Bucs. Only $50M in guarantees.
It is a very fair deal
The $50 million in guarantees is important. Not knowing the full structure, but it looks like they could walk away after the 1st or 2nd years and not be hurt too badly.
Agree, it’s also much better than the Giants’ QB deal.
Look at all the comments already
Didn’t think this was going to get done today
My brother just texted me
I am happy and it’s a fair contract
Woo Hoo
Cripes Mayfield got me to pay attention to the Bucs again
They were fun again to follow
Maybe I can make it to a game next season and fire the cannon with Ric Flair and go Wooooo
The Browns gave up the farm and backed up the Brinks truck for a rapist so they could chase this guy out of town.
Ooops.
A rapist who is now a bad & injured prone QB.
It wasn’t working in Cleveland. They were right to move on from him. Watson might have been the wrong move, that remains to be seen since he’s barely played, but they were not wrong about moving on from Mayfield.
Wasn’t working? He made the playoffs one year and played injured the second. Think of the tools they could have added without trading the farm and giving a massive contract to the deviant.
He had a losing record in Cleveland and he threw more interceptions than anyone in football from 2018-2021. He was up and down his whole career. They gave him tools. Landry in his prime. OBJ in his prime. Austin Hooper after a pro bowl season. Signing Conklin. Drafting a LT in the 1st round. Drafting Njoku in the 1st round. Drafting Chubb. Practically every money they spent was on the offensive side of the football.
and the team is still not a contender. The deviant didn’t fix the problems.
Yep. That was a Super Bowl caliber roster. His fans in Cleveland talk like he was on the downtrodden version of the team from a couple of years earlier. He just didn’t get it done. It happens. Trying to play through that injury just exacerbated the situation.
Cleveland had every bit one of the top five rosters in the league when he was there. You talk like making the playoffs was something special. Fact is that their passing offense never advanced to a level that made them a serious Super Bowl contender. You can blame Stefanski or whoever you want, but that’s what it was.
Nothing works in Cleveland
WOW! Good for Baker, proved the haters wrong and re-established himself for a massive contract. Good on TB too, they know they have a great shot to win their division and are gonna run it back w/ Evans and Mayfield.
This indirectly puts pressure on Minnesota to pony up for Cousins because ATL just lost a QB option, so they’ll be even more aggressive to sign Cousins.
Happy for Baker.
His career has been up and down but I think he found his home in TB.
As a Niners fan, I’m so grateful to have Brock Purdy, who makes 900k a year
You do know that is only going to last 1 more season.
No way is he going to play next year until he gets the extension which would be $40-50 a year. He continues to win so he is going to get paid which means others are gone at that expense.
So what? It’s still one more year as a hell of a bargain
He’s about to get paid next off-season, and they’re going to pay $50 million a year.
Likely more with next year’s cap increase.
Basically 2 years so it isn’t a terrible deal. Baker has to continue to be a leader and stay healthy.
This looks like a bargain compared to what Daniel Jones signed for coming off his best season and Mayfield has had more success than Jones
I can see Baker making a SB. Jones? No way.
He’s not good enough to carry a team to the Super Bowl. There’s a better chance that he takes a step backwards next year.
Agree 100%. He is not good enough “to carry a team” to the Super Bowl. With the right talent and coaching, he’s a cog in the SB run wheel. Like a Jimmy G type journey.
This contract shows how foolish the Giants were in giving Jones that contract. Should have let him test free agency and Jones would have seen he was worth about $25m per year at best. Instead the Giants bid against themselves and paid him top 5 QB money for nothing.
Good bet by the Bucs, imho. Low guarantees forces him to focus a little more.
And not many good alternatives out there.
This deal is similar to what Carolina paid Teddy Bridgewater three years ago, adjusted for salary increases since then.
Go Bucs!
Great that the Bucs are keeping Mayfield, but this is a bit rich for his average performance. Could be worse. At least there are no picks lost (hello Jets, hello Broncos, hello Redskins – for Alex Smith and others).
good for both, probably sits well for the team getting it done & everyone moves on . The haters in Cleveland are stuck with what they have or have not . I find it funny when some call Mayfield a bridge filler until the Bucs draft another QB , every QB that does not win the SB that year is a tech a bridge filler & there are many in the league right now – Watson, Prescott, Jackson, Burrow, Murray, Carr, Hurts & Smith all are paid top money some may never to win a SB . Only to be compared in the same manner as a bridge much like Mayfield , what a shame , all had talent