Baker Mayfield resurrected his career in Tampa, signed a $100M deal to prove it wasn't a fluke, and now finds himself entering the final year of that contract with zero urgency from the front office to lock him up longer. That's the update from NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, and it's not exactly the vibe you'd expect for a guy coming off 3 straight NFC South titles.
Garafolo's report, laid out with the Spotrac contract numbers attached.
Some context on how we got here: Mayfield signed his 3-year, $100M deal back in March 2024 after resurrecting his career on a 1-year, $4M prove-it deal the year before, throwing for over 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns in his first full season under Liam Coen. That extension was the reward. Now it's 2026, that deal is in its final year, and instead of a new one getting hammered out before camp, the two sides are reportedly still far apart.
"There's a lot of work that needs to be done on this one. The Bucs are in no rush," is how Garafolo framed it, and that's about as blunt as it gets for a starting quarterback heading into a walk year. Per Spotrac, Mayfield's $33.33M average annual salary already has him sitting around 16th among NFL quarterbacks, middle of the pack, not top-tier money, despite being the guy who's steadied the post-Tom Brady era in Tampa.
Mayfield isn't the only Buc in this boat, either, Vita Vea's extension is reportedly in the same holding pattern. But the quarterback situation is the one that actually moves the needle. Teams don't usually let their starting QB play out a contract year for fun. Either a deal gets done before the walk year turns into real leverage for Mayfield to test the market, or Tampa Bay is quietly comfortable letting this play out and re-evaluating depending on how the season goes.
The Bucs report to camp on July 28, and right now there's no indication a new deal lands before then. Worth watching whether this drags into the season the way a lot of these standoffs do, turning every good performance from Mayfield into a bigger story about what he's playing for.