ESPN insider adds new layer to Baker Mayfield’s contract negotiations that will help keep people from freaking out
Baker Mayfield’s comments about his contract negotiations grabbed a lot of people’s attention on Friday and many are worried about his future with the Buccaneers. Take a deep breath, folks. Everything is just fine.
A lot of people are freaking out over Baker Mayfield’s recent comments regarding contract negotiations with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and frankly, it’s strange.
The wide assumption is Baker Mayfield’s training camp deadline for a new contract means negotiations are shut off for good, when that’s clearly not the case. Mayfield simply doesn’t want any distractions during the regular season so he can focus on providing his best play for the Buccaneers.
That’s exactly what one should want to hear from their favorite team’s starting quarterback. It shouldn’t cause any distress.
I mean, we’ve seen what in-season distractions can do. Remember when Tom Brady was going through his divorce in 2022? Sure, there were other factors holding the Bucs back that year, but Brady’s divorce didn’t get finalized until Week 8 against the Ravens. While a divorce and a contract negotiation aren’t the same (but do have some similar elements), it’s still something that pulled Brady’s attention away from the game of football and it affected his play to a degree.
Regardless, Mayfield’s comments are not a big deal and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler recently added credence to that thought.
“The conversations pretty simple. 11 different quarterbacks in the NFL make at least $50 million a year,” said Fowler. “Mayfield could make the argument that he’s better than at least a few of them, so he’s going to need a significant raise. Now, I’ve asked around, and I’m sensing that Tampa is not overly worried about this right now, because they have the next six weeks before training camp to potentially hash this out. They see Mayfield in their long-term plans. This hasn’t been an ugly negotiation from my sense, it’s still relatively fresh and new, so it’s not like they’ve been talking for months and hit an impasse.
“They just have to make some progress based on the initial talks. [The] Bucs are dedicated to try to do this, and my senses Mayfield won’t hold out. You heard him there, he sounds like a guy who’s going to be at camp regardless and try to put up big numbers in 2026.”
The top-11 highest paid quarterbacks based on an APY basis
The NFL quarterback market is insane. There are currently 11 players that make more than $50 million per year, per Spotrac:
- Dak Prescott: $60 million
- Matthew Stafford: $55 million
- Jordan Love: $55 million
- Trevor Lawrence: $55 million
- Joe Burrow: $55 million
- Josh Allen: $55 million
- Jared Goff: $53 million
- Brock Purdy: $53 million
- Justin Herbert: $52,500,000
- Lamar Jackson: $52 million
- Jalen Hurts: $51 million
Baker Mayfield is better off waiting until after the season for a new contract
For starters, there’s a chance CJ Stroud and Bryce Young could receive extensions at some point. Their deals will easily be north of $40 million per year. Stroud may even break the $50 million per year threshold, as crazy as that sounds. But hey, that’s the NFL quarterback market for you.
Baker Mayfield could easily make the point he’s better than both those guys during contract negotiations. Therefore, either (or both) deal would represent a starting point for he and his camp.
Secondly, Mayfield is guaranteed to get a new deal unless the bottom just completely falls out in 2026. That’s unlikely to happen, as well, but it’s not impossible. Still, the Buccaneers love him and would definitely still give him a new deal if he were to suffer a major injury. We saw it with Chris Godwin Jr. last offseason and to take an example out of the Bay Area – the Indianapolis Colts did it with Daniel Jones this offseason.
Mayfield would still get a raise in that situation, too. Hell, he’d get a new deal and raise even with a mediocre season. Again, though, a mediocre/bad season is unlikely to happen.
What is likely to happen is Mayfield has a good-to-great year and places himself inside that $50 million per year threshold. Hell, one can certainly make the argument he already belongs in that group, so a great year could even net as much as $55-$60 million per year.
The Buccaneers would be wise to get out in front of this, but there’s nothing they can do if Mayfield bets on himself. And let’s be real: If Mayfield bets on himself and has a great year that results in a deep playoff run or even Super Bowl appearance that prices him out of Tampa Bay, well, that’s not an awful spot for the Buccaneers to be in.
I’m sure that’s a trade Jason Licht and Co. could stomach.
Things are in a good spot, overall. Hopefully Fowler’s comments will ease some of the craziness we’ve seen since Friday afternoon, because this is simple NFL business that happens on a year-to-year basis.