Baker Mayfield has been telling anyone who'll listen that he's not trying to negotiate through the season. He set a soft deadline of training camp to get a new deal in Tampa, and camp opens any day now. That's the pressure point Jason Licht and the Bucs front office are staring down.
Jeff Darlington laid out where the number stands heading into camp.
Darlington's framing is the whole story in one quote: Licht has had Mayfield at a discount for two years, and now the price is catching up fast. Mayfield is playing out the final year of the 3-year, $100 million deal he signed back in March 2024, a contract that could max out around $115 million with incentives. That deal made him a bargain — he currently sits 16th in average annual salary among starting quarterbacks despite outplaying most of the guys ahead of him on that list.
For context on how far behind market he actually is, 12 quarterbacks around the league are already making $50 million or more a year. Mayfield resurrected his career in Tampa, took the Bucs to the playoffs, and has been arguably one of the best value contracts in football. That's exactly why he wants to get paid before he plays another down under the current terms.
The Bucs already made one move to buy some peace: they reworked Mayfield's 2026 salary so he's now fully guaranteed $30 million for the year, up from zero guaranteed money previously. That's a stopgap, not the extension. It signals the front office isn't trying to lowball him into camp — but it also isn't the long-term number Mayfield and his camp are pushing for.
Now it's a game of chicken. If camp opens without a new deal, Mayfield reportedly plays out the season on his current terms and revisits it later — which could mean an even bigger price tag next offseason if he has another strong year. Licht has to weigh locking in a QB who just led Tampa back to relevance against the risk of the number climbing past $50 million the longer this drags. Either way, camp is the deadline everyone's watching now.