Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers are in a war of words right now, and Adam Schefter just upped their beef
The Bucs and their starting QB have gotten a lot of publicity this week over their contractual dispute, and the awkwardness isn’t subsiding.
The contractual jousting between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield made its way into the public forum this week. Mayfield reported to the Buccaneers’ 2026 training camp, which served as his self-imposed deadline to negotiate a new contract, without a deal, and he has since stated that he’s done negotiating until after the season.
But Mayfield wasn’t done with making his feelings clear about his lack of a new deal as well as his view of the Buccaneers’ negotiation with him and others on the team, including All-Pro tackle Tristan Wirfs.
“I sat here and watched these guys go through it, even Tristan,” Mayfield said on Thursday. “And so, talk about the best best tackle in the league. (He’s the) only person in NFL history that’s been an All-Pro at right and left [tackle]. [He] had to have to have a hold-in in training camp to get it done. So disappointing. You hope they take care of their guys.
“I think I’m a franchise quarterback. I’ve been told I’m a franchise quarterback. It’s been said publicly from ownership down here. So, to not have a deal done is very disappointing. But I said the deadline was the deadline.”
As it turns out, the Bucs’ front office wasn’t thrilled with Mayfield’s public airing of his grievances, as Adam Schefter pointed out on Friday.
As far as the negotiations themselves, Mayfield said this past week that the team had only offered him a two-year deal, and that it wasn’t close to the $50+ per year he was seeking.
However, Schefter disputed that on Friday, saying that the deal was for two years and over $100 million total.
ESPN insider Adam Schefter clarifies Bucs’ offer to Baker Mayfield
“If you go back and look in Jeremy Fowler’s story last night, hold on, hold on, Jeremy Fowler last night reported the Buccaneers felt their offers in the final days of the negotiation were competitive, including a two-year deal worth slightly above one-hundred million in total. I don’t know what the guarantees were, but the offer was over fifty million dollars a year in average, and I think the Buccaneers, that’s their side, which is fair.
“And i think Baker’s side is fair. Two years, like, you’re the franchise guy. You deserve more than two years. So, that’s part of the issue. Baker’s got a point on the years. I think the value was a little bit more than was let on. The Buccaneers have made an offer over fifty million dollars per year, and Baker says it’s shut down. It’s shut down, and he’s not going to talk. Now, they can still franchise (tag) him at forty-seven million dollars, which would be less than fifty, and then fifty-seven the next year. So, essentially, they have him for the next two years for one-hundred and five million with the franchise tag.”
Schefter’s point is fair, in that the offer as he’s reporting it falls a bit short from both sides’ perspectives. It appears the two-year deal is a non-starter for Mayfield, and it’s fair to question why the Bucs aren’t willing to go with three years like they did after the 2023 season, given what he delivered in 2023-24.
We also don’t know what the guarantees are, and that’s a big factor in the negotiation, nor do we know the incentives or abilities to reach the the $50 million+ per year number that Schefter is claiming the Bucs have put in front of Mayfield.
As such, it’s impossible to know how much of a quality offer the Bucs delivered to Mayfield, and therefore how reasonable it was for Mayfield to decline said offer.
But what we do know is this spat has taken up way more national headlines than it should have, and that’s never a good thing ahead of an important season, like 2026 is for Todd Bowles and a number of people inside One Buc Place.