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At least one Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan was proud of the way quarterback Baker Mayfield played in the 31-23 loss to the Detroit Lions in the NFC divisional round on January 21.
Former world champion professional wrestler Ric Flair posted on X (formerly Twitter) that Mayfield earned his respect and that he would “love to hang out” with the quarterback during the offseason. While he didn’t explicitly endorse the Buccaneers re-signing Mayfield, Flair certainly sounded like a fan of the gunslinger.
“@bakermayfield, We’ve Only Met Once. As Of Today, I Have So Much Respect For You And The @Buccaneers! You Played Your Heart Out,” Flair wrote after the game. “I Would Love To Hang Out With You! You’re Such A[n] [Expletive]! I’m So Proud To Say That I’m A Buccaneers Fan! To The Whole Buccaneers Team, God Bless You! You Went Places You Weren’t Supposed To Go! Next Year, Let’s Kick Ass! WOOOOO!”
.@bakermayfield, We’ve Only Met Once. As Of Today, I Have So Much Respect For You And The @Buccaneers! You Played Your Heart Out. You’re A Badass! I Live In Tampa. I Don’t Have Your Number. I Would Love To Hang Out With You! You’re Such A Badass! I’m So Proud To Say That I’m A…
Tampa Bay had an up-and-down game behind Mayfield’s arm. He threw for 349 yards and 3 touchdowns – including a late score that put the Buccaneers within one score of the Lions – but also threw 2 interceptions: one on the team’s first drive and one on the final drive to seal the win for Detroit.
Despite Mayfield’s uneven performance, Flair appeared to appreciate what he saw from Mayfield in his first season with the Buccaneers. The 74-year-old wrestler also watched Mayfield beat the Philadelphia Eagles a week earlier in the wild-card round, when Flair quoted his famous “if you want to be the man, you have to beat the man” line before claiming that “the man” is the Buccaneers during the pregame broadcast.
Throwing Alley-Oops to Ric Flair
WOOOOOO!!!!
The biggest question for the Mayfield and the Buccaneers now is what the two sides will do in 2024. Mayfield is an impending free agent after he completing a one-year, $4 million contract and beating out Kyle Trask in training camp to take the starting job.
Mayfield proved more valuable than his contract, too, posting a career-high 4,044 yards and 28 passing touchdowns. He built a solid rapport with wide receiver Mike Evans, who is also an impending free agent.
Buccaneers, Mayfield Want Tampa Reunion
While it’s unclear whether Mayfield and the team have begun discussing a new contract, the two sides appear interested in staying together, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. After the loss to the Lions, Mayfield embraced Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht and told reporters he would “love” to return to the Buccaneers in 2024 and that it would “mean a lot” to him to run it back for at least another year.
“Who knows how it’s going to play out but I can’t say enough about this organization they gave me this year,” Mayfield added. “Just thankful. Hope it works out.”
Buccaneers offensive coordinator Dave Canales also implicitly supported bringing Mayfield back in 2024 ahead of Sunday’s game against the Lions.
“Continuity is huge, right? But we all know every team is going to be different,” Canales told reporters on Thursday.“Even the guys that come back are all going to be different.”
Mayfield’s worth will be one of the biggest questions Tampa Bay will need to answer this offseason. The 2018 No. 1 overall pick played well enough to lead the Buccaneers to their first NFC South title without Tom Brady under center since 2007 but had some down games as well.
This season was the best Mayfield looked as a franchise quarterback since leading the Cleveland Browns to a playoff win in 2020. He quickly flamed out in Cleveland and then later with the Carolina Panthers before a short half-season stint with the Los Angeles Rams in 2022.
Recent non-record-setting deals of quarterbacks include Daniel Jones‘ four-year, $160 million contract with the New York Giants and Geno Smith‘s three-year, $75 million contract with the Seattle Seahawks.
Buccaneers Offseason Full of Questions
Mayfield isn’t the only big decision the Buccaneers will need to make this offseason.
Evans is an impending free agent who put up career-high numbers as well, while key defensive starters — including safety Antoine Winfield Jr., linebackers Lavonte David and Devin White — will all look for new deals in the spring. Tampa Bay failed to come to a long-term extension agreement with Evans this offseason and White demanded a trade during the 2023 offseason as he sought a new deal.
The team could place the franchise tag on any of these five players with varying levels of cost. Mayfield is a candidate for the tag if Tampa Bay believes they can’t come to a long-term agreement and are comfortable paying him top-five quarterback money.
Tampa Bay would have at least one supporter in a Mayfield deal, though, in Flair.
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