Baker Mayfield of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a long list of free agents this offseason, with a lot of big names to bring back in 2024. Tops among them is starting quarterback Baker Mayfield.
Mayfield, 29, is projected to land a four-year, $120 million deal, per Spotrac. The contract specifies $85 million “practically guaranteed” on top of a $53 million bonus at signing.
The deal would allow the Buccaneers to bring him with only a $6.2 million cap hit in 2024.
“Baker’s comeback has been one of the more enjoyable storylines of the past few seasons, culminating with a playoff win this past season with the Bucs,” Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti wrote on February 22. “Tampa Bay is trying to keep Baker off of the open market at the final hour. We’ve projected a contract that essentially plays like a cap-adjusted version of Geno Smith’s deal in Seattle while using a double bonus structure to keep cap hits insanely low over the next two seasons.”
Mayfield finished the 2023 season with 4,044 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions and led the Buccaneers to the NFC’s divisional round, where they fell short to the Detroit Lions 31-23.
Baker Mayfield ‘Fit Right In’ With Buccaneers
Head coach Todd Bowles said it was important to bring back Mayfield.
“It’s an extremely high priority, obviously,” he said on the February 27 episode of NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.” “You know, we got a couple days before the league year begins, but we love Baker. Baker had a heck of a year. He fit right in with us all the way around. The chemistry was outstanding with him and all the receivers and the offense as a whole, so you want to hope to build on that.
“I understand the business side of it. Like I said, we like Bake and we hope things get worked out.”
On “Good Morning Football” on February 27, head coach Todd Bowles commented on the importance of bringing back Mayfield.
“It’s an extremely high priority, obviously.”
Bucs HC Todd Bowles wants to see Baker Mayfield back with the team next season @GMFB
General manager Jason Licht suggested the team will try to “make it work” in regard to signing Mayfield.
“When a player really wants to be with a team which we know, and when the team really wants a player, there’s a way that you can make it work,” Licht said February 29 on Sirius XM NFL Radio. “It usually happens, and we happen to have several of those situations going on.”
.@Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht discussed the future for QB Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay.
Mayfield ‘Would Love’ to Have Mike Evans on Team
Mayfield’s top target, wide receiver Mike Evans, is also a free agent, projected to sign a deal with an average annual value of $23.8 million. The Buccaneers have signaled a desire to sign Evans as well as Mayfield, according to Buccaneers.com’s Brianna Dix.
Licht told the media on February 27 at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis that Evans “is an unprecedented player” and that the team wants him “to be a Buc for life.”
Evans has had 10 consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons. Only two other receivers in NFL history, Jerry Rice and Hall of Famer Randy Moss, can say the same. Markedly, Evans is the first to make it happen in the first 10 seasons of his career.
Appearing on the February 7 episode of “Up & Adams,” Mayfield said he “would love to have Mike back,” adding that Evans “deserves to be a Buc for life.”
#Bucs GM Jason Licht said that WR Mike Evans is “an unprecedented player” and that the team wants Evans to be a Buc for life.