Mayfield’s $40 Million Guarantee From Tampa Bay Criticized

Getty Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers paid big money to bring quarterback Baker Mayfield back in 2024 by signing him to a three-year, $100 million contract with $40 million in guaranteed money.

It was an astronomical raise from the one-year, $4 million deal Mayfield played under in 2023, when he brought his career back to life by stepping in to replace Tom Brady and leading the Buccaneers to a third consecutive NFC South division title.

According to ESPN’s Seth Walder, the Buccaneers may have grossly overpaid for Mayfield with the new deal — this despite Walder giving the Buccaneers an overall “B” grade for their offseason moves.

“Mayfield signed for a deal that can be one year for $40 million, two for $60 million or three for $100 million,” Walder wrote. “It’s a little more than I thought they should or would spend. Though he had a bounce-back season in which he ranked 18th in QBR, there’s a reason Tampa Bay was able to sign Mayfield a year ago for just one year at $4 million. If the Bucs had guaranteed something like $27 million — what Geno Smith got a year ago — would anyone have topped that? I would have liked to have seen Mayfield do it again — with a new offensive coordinator after Dave Canales was hired as the Panthers’ head coach — before giving him $40 million.”

Breaking Down Mayfield’s Career Year in 2023

In typical Mayfield fashion, his path to securing the $100 million payday was done in the most dramatic way possible.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns, Mayfield was on his fourth team in three years with the Buccaneers in 2023 and by Thanksgiving seemed destined to be one-and-done in Tampa Bay.

Following a 27-20 loss to the lowly Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 26, the Buccaneers were 4-7 and seemed on track for a Top 10 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft — and a new quarterback. That’s when Tampa Bay turned the NFL on its head, winning five of their last six games to finish the season 9-8 and make the playoffs.

Mayfield was brilliant down the stretch with 13 touchdowns and 4 interceptions over the last six games, including four games without any turnovers. He capped the season by leading the Buccaneers to a win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Wild Card Round, going 22-of-26 passing for 337 yards, 3 touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Do Buccaneers Have Backup Plan at Quarterback?

Mayfield has started the majority of the games in each of his six NFL seasons headed into 2024 and has a career record of 40-46, although 2023 was only the second time he’s had a winning record following an 11-5 season with the Browns in 2020.

The Buccaneers don’t have a really concrete backup plan at quarterback should Mayfield falter or get injured. Backup Kyle Trask, a second-round pick in 2021, has only played in three games over the last three seasons and is 3-of-10 passing for 23 yards, no touchdowns and no interceptions.

Third-string quarterback John Wolford might actually be more qualified to start in a pinch — he was 2-2 as a starter over three seasons with the Los Angeles Rams from 2019 to 2022.