Albert Breer on if BUCS Will PAY Mayfield?, Aiyuk DRAMA, GRASS Field for SB LXI?

All right.

Welcome in.

It's Thursday, June 11th.

We are, hold on, 321.

All right.

Welcome in.

It is Thursday, June 11th.

We have a mailbag edition of the Brew Report for you.

As always, we've got more answers to more of your questions at the MMQB.

com with the print edition of the mailbag, but as we always do.

We're gonna answer three of your questions right here, right now.

And the first question comes from Ronnie, that's at Trey 40.

Ronnie asks, what's Baker Mayfield's future with the Bucks?

Now, for people who missed it last week, Baker Mayfield said publicly, um, that the sides were not close to a deal that negotiations had started, but hadn't gotten very far, and he wasn't lying, but the reality is, Talks haven't really started at all.

The Bucks sent Baker Mayfield an initial offer.

They hadn't gotten a counteroffer yet when Baker Mayfield said that.

And in my estimation, this is Baker Mayfield maybe trying to push the pace of negotiations a little bit.

Now, if you, if you look at um his history and where he's coming from this, he's the first overall pick in the draft.

Um, he played on a cut rate one-year deal, um, his first year in Tampa, and then came back on a 3-year, $100 million dollar deal, $30 million in 2024 $30 million last year, and now in the final year of the contract, he's getting $40 million.

So he's been, he's been playing at like close to half the top of the market.

So you can see where he would want a correction on that, obviously, and You know, for the Buccaneers now, I think looking at this going forward, you have to start to look at some of the comps.

And I think Jared Goff is a fair comp.

I think Tuatungavalo is a good comp.

I think Brock Purdy is a good comp.

Baker Mayfield is firmly in that category of quarterback.

He's as good as those guys, I'd say better than Tua, um, right around the same range as the Jared Goff, right around the same range as the Brock Purdy based on their production over the last couple of years.

And if you look at the Tua deal and you look at the golf deal, and those deals were probably a little more analogous to where um Baker Mayfield is with what's left on his contract.

Both those guys got $150 million over the 1st 3 years of their deals.

Both those guys got $50 million a year, um, in new year, and new money APY.

Um, so there's really not a lot of reason for the Buccaneers not to go to that level.

On top of that, the projection for the franchise tag in 2027 is over $50 million.

So it's hard to see a scenario where Baker Mayfield is going to accept less than that.

And as difficult as it can be to come to the realization now that the 3-year discount that they've gotten on Mayfield has expired.

That's really where we're at.

Now, again, like I've mentioned here how Mayfield is pushing the pace of negotiations.

I think this is an important piece of it.

The Buccaneers' recent history is to do deals during training camp.

Mayfield said he wanted his deal done before training camp.

Now, there is one exception to this rule, and that's Antoine Winfield, who got a deal done in May of last year, in May of 2024.

Uh, but that was because the franchise tag forced the Buccaneers to do the deal earlier with Antoine Winfield.

If you look at some of the other recent deals, deals for Tristan Werths, um, Luke Gecky, the right tackle, Zion McCollum, a corner, they were done between the start of training camp and the opener.

And so it seems most likely.

That the timeline the Bucks would be working on would be that timeline.

We're gonna get it done at some point over the course of the summer.

If Mayfield wants to get something done before he gets out there for full contact work, you can understand why he would want to do that.

So maybe he's trying to push the pace of negotiations a little bit.

Regardless, I, I have a hard time seeing where this doesn't get done.

Generally, if a team wants to keep its quarterback and the quarterback wants to be there.

Then they wind up finding a middle ground.

I think the Buccaneers want Baker Mayfield to be there.

Baker Mayfield moved his family from Texas to Tampa full-time a couple of years ago.

It is where he wants to be, and I think it is where he will be for the foreseeable future.

My guess would be, Ronnie, that he does get a deal done there.

Question number 2, this is from MD Damage, that's at Bad Brad.

Bad damage.

Uh, MD Damage asks, do you expect Brandon Ayuk to to actually show up at training camp?

Does he actually have any other remedy to get off the left squad list?

He does not MD damage.

And so , you know, I think, when you're looking at the logistics of this situation, reporting for training camp is the best course of action for him.

The Niners don't want him around.

The Niners don't want that distraction there.

Um, and, you know, really, the minute that he shows up for something.

He'll accelerate the process of getting offloaded from the roster.

His guarantees are already gone as a result of his actions from last year, and there are a handful of reasons.

Why the 49ers were within their rights to void the guarantees.

So, obviously, those guarantees have been voided.

He's probably not making another dollar from the 49ers.

The 49ers have been able to hold on to him through all of this because there aren't any early triggers in his contract when we're talking about like the, you know, March and April roster bonuses, those sorts of things that can oftentimes force the team to make a decision.

Um, the Niners avoided putting those in his deal, so they're in a position now where they can hold him, hold on to him until he makes it uncomfortable for them.

And if I'm Brandon Ayuk now, Just make it uncomfortable on them, and then they'll get rid of you.

And once they cut you, then you can go to the commanders like you'd like to go to, or wherever you wanna go, or wherever you wanna go.

Um, I think the reality of the situation is a very weird one, but, you know, the Niners have been able to play out of sight, out of mind for months now, and the minute you change that dynamic where you're no longer out of sight, you can't be out of mind anymore.

Um, again, I think it would accelerate a decision on the team's part, and then Brandon Ayuk would be free to go seek employment somewhere else.

Finally, question number 3, this is from Brian Gho, that's at BGBJGNO12.

Brian asks if the grass field installed inside Soi Stadium for the World Cup gets good reviews.

Do you think the NFL would consider doing that as well for Super Bowl?

61 when it's played there next Valentine's Day.

Absolutely not, Brian.

And I think the reason why is because that would open the conversation.

And it's already out there, right?

You have all of these different stadiums that have artificial surfaces.

I'm talking Atlanta, I'm talking New York.

I'm talking Dallas, I'm talking LA, um, Seattle, all of these stadiums that have artificial surfaces.

They have artificial surfaces for a reason.

That reason isn't to benefit the players.

That reason isn't, uh, is , isn't because it's the right thing to do.

That reason is because the cost of the stadiums has risen to the level where you want to put a million events in those stadiums.

It's very difficult to maintain a grass surface.

In a stadium that is hosting 100, 150 events, whatever it might be over the course of a year.

Um, it's expensive to do that.

It's very difficult to do that again.

So rather than having natural grass and having to maintain it over the course of a year, You put down the fake stuff and that makes things easier.

And that's the way most owners would like to operate.

Um, we've already seen, again, the players bring up that hypocrisy that you've got all these different stadiums that are laying down the grass for the World Cup, and the soccer players demand it, so the soccer players are gonna get it because the, because FIFA had leverage over all these different countries that you, you have to play by our rules if we're gonna put the World Cup in your stadiums.

And it's the same thing over in Europe.

The European soccer leagues play on grass.

Why?

Well, because they're competing with other leagues for players.

The owners can't cut, the owners don't get together and say this is the way we're gonna do it.

You have the league in England, the Premier League competing against Ligo in, um, in, in France, against Serie A, in Italy, against the Bundesliga in Germany.

And to compete for players, it takes money, of course, but it also means optimizing playing conditions and for the players, that means playing on grass fields.

And so, um, the NFL doesn't have that.

The NFLPA is trying to point out the hypocrisy now, um, and the issue with putting grass down for the Super Bowl and so far.

it would highlight that it can be done.

And it would highlight that this is something that, that, that, that, that the NFL if they wanted to spend, which they can't, they could, if the NFL wanted to spend on the grass fields, they could spend in the grass fields, they could put grass down, which by the way, is a much better situation for players.

The smoking gun in all of this, 32 out of 32 teams practice on grass every single chance they get.

So, if you are the NFL and you are laying a grass surface down for Sofi, and that would look great on TV and it would, you know, again, be what's best for the players, you are opening up the conversation of why aren't we doing this full-time.

And I don't think the NFL or its owners want to do that.

And so, like my guess would be, there's zero chance that we see Sofi.

Um, with a grass field on Valentine's Day for Super Bowl 61.

Appreciate you guys coming out as always.

You can leave more questions and more comments down below here on the YouTube page.

You can also get to me on my social media, that's at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert R.

Breer on Facebook, at Albert_Breer on Instagram.

Appreciate you guys coming out.

We will see you next week.