Getty Baker Mayfield of the Buccaneers
Throughout the early part of this offseason, the Buccaneers have appeared to be in the driver’s seat when to comes to re-signing quarterback Baker Mayfield after landing him on a make-good contract that started at $4 million last year. Mayfield made good, indeed, and now he says he wants to stay with the Buccaneers as he looks to establish some career stability after wild 2022 and 2023 seasons.
The Buccaneers just need nothing to go haywire in the next month so that they can bring back Mayfield and get him established as the team’s franchise quarterback. But at ESPN, at least one insider is rooting for things to go haywire—Jeremy Fowler wrote this week that the move he’d most like to see this offseason would be for the Patriots to sneak in and sign Mayfield from underneath the Bucs’ noses.
“The Patriots submarine the Buccaneers by signing QB Baker Mayfield,” he wrote. “While Tampa is the clear-cut favorite to re-sign Mayfield, now a coveted free agent after a banner year with the Bucs, anything can happen in free agency. And the Patriots’ new brain trust — including lead personnel man Eliot Wolf and personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith — were part of the Cleveland regime that took Mayfield No. 1 in the 2018 draft. They believed in him.”
Baker Mayfield in Line for $108 Million Contract
It would be a heartbreaker, of course, if Mayfield were to leave Tampa. He was one of the great stories in the NFL last season, working for his fourth team in the space of a year when he signed up with the Buccaneers—taking the tall task of replacing Tom Brady.
Mayfield seized the reins as the franchise leader, though, finishing ninth in the NFL with 4,044 yards passing, and 12th in quarterback rating (96.0). He threw 28 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions, leading the Buccaneers to the NFC South championship and a playoff win over the Eagles.
The Buccaneers clearly want Mayfield back, and are likely to be the favorites in the NFC South again if they do. It won’t be cheap, though, and Tampa does have other salaries to dole out. The quarterback market is pretty limited once the first two names—Kirk Cousins and Mayfield—are off the board.
Mayfield is the No. 3 quarterback on Pro Football Focus’ free-agent list, and the site projects him to land a three-year deal worth $75 million. At Spotrac, Mayfield is projected to earn four years and $108 million next season.
Buccaneers Remain Clear Favorite
As Fowler mentioned, the Buccaneers are the clear favorite to re-sign Mayfield, who has said he wants to stay in Tampa Bay and values stability. That jibes with most recent reporting around Mayfield’s situation.
Just ahead of the Super Bowl, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport noted that the Bucs even hired Liam Coen as the offensive coordinator, mostly because he’d worked with Mayfield in his short time with the Rams.
From Super Bowl Live: The #Bucs have the inside track to re-sign QB Baker Mayfield.
“The Bucs kind of have the leg up on everyone,” Rapoport said this week. “He’s not a restricted free agent, right? It’s not like they have the opportunity to match. But the Bucs having the offensive coordinator he’s been with in Liam Coen, having these weapons and the head coach that he’s familiar with is obviously a really big deal.”