Baker Mayfield Wants a New Contract by Training Camp. Here’s Why the Buccaneers Should Oblige.

The veteran quarterback spoke candidly about his contract situation with the Buccaneers on Friday.

Baker Mayfield made his desire for a new contract extension clear on Friday. | Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

If the Buccaneers want to re-sign Baker Mayfield this offseason, the pressure is on for them to do it sooner rather than later.

Mayfield is entering the final year of his contract with Tampa, and he spoke publicly about the situation to reporters on Friday, expressing that he wants to stay with the Buccaneers long-term and that his deadline to get a deal done is the start of training camp. Once training camp begins, Mayfield is turning his attention toward football and doing whatever he can to help the Buccaneers bring home the Lombardi Trophy.

Baker Mayfield says he wants to stay in Tampa but they’re not close on a new contract and he’s set a deadline of the start of training camp, not wanting to negotiate after that during the season. pic.twitter.com/RkVX9Nxg9s

— Greg Auman (@gregauman) June 5, 2026

After an up-and-down start to his career with the Browns, Panthers and Rams, Mayfield signed with the Buccaneers in 2023 on a one-year, $4 million deal. He easily outplayed that contract, and earned a three-year, $100 million extension the following offseason, an average of about $33.33 million per year. Now, Mayfield is nearing the end of that contract, a deal that is well below market value for quarterbacks.

Mayfield is currently the 16th-highest paid quarterback in the NFL. Of quarterbacks that are not bridge backups or on their rookie contracts, he only ranks ahead of Malik Willis and Aaron Rodgers in annual salary. The 11 highest-paid quarterbacks are all making more than $50 million per year, while the next tier, which includes Daniel Jones, Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson, are all earning $44 to $46 million. Mayfield certainly is better than some of the quarterbacks making over $10 million more than him, which should give him some leverage as these negotiations continue.

Related: NFL’s Highest-Paid Quarterbacks: Full Breakdown After Matthew Stafford Extension

General manager Jason Licht has addressed Mayfield’s contract situation on multiple occasions this offseason, noting on The Drive with TKras earlier this spring that “Baker is at the forefront of our mind at all times.”

“All of our plans revolve around Baker,” Licht added at the time. “That's something that we'll get to at some point. I have had a lot of discussions with Baker about the team. ... We have a great relationship. And listen, nobody here wants Baker to be playing for any other team, so I'll just leave it at that.”

Licht has made it clear thus far that Mayfield is their quarterback, but said at the NFL league meetings in March that there is “no timetable” on when the deal will be done, though he believes they’ll figure something out. Mayfield has now set the start of training camp as a deadline for the extension, and the Buccaneers would be wise to follow that timeline.

Why it would be smart for the Buccaneers to extend Baker Mayfield now

So long as the Buccaneers remain confident that Mayfield is the team’s quarterback of the future, as Licht has indicated, it certainly would make sense for them to try and get a new deal done before the start of training camp.

Outside of preventing the contract extension from being a storyline that carries into training camp and the regular season, the Buccaneers have a great opportunity to extend Mayfield before the quarterback market potentially explodes in 2027. The 2024 quarterback class—which already features four burgeoning stars in Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye and Bo Nix—will become extension eligible next offseason. If any or all of those quarterbacks have big years in 2026, they could challenge Dak Prescott as the highest-paid signal-caller in league history. Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud could also be up for extensions, and while there are still question marks surrounding them, they could raise the overall market if they do enough to get extended.

Looking beyond the quarterbacks on their rookie contracts, players such as Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, Jalen Hurts and Lamar Jackson could also be up for new deals next offseason. By getting an extension done with Mayfield this summer, the Buccaneers prevent having to potentially compete with the deals other quarterbacks begin earning.

Mayfield is notably coming off a down year as he and the Buccaneers dealt with injuries and missed the postseason for the first time since 2019. While this could cause hesitation for the organization, they have expressed their belief in Mayfield repeatedly this offseason. If anything, it could allow them to get a more affordable deal done, rather than wait until next offseason when the market rises and Mayfield potentially rebounds from a lackluster 2025.

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