The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have agreed to a three-year contract extension with quarterback Baker Mayfield, the team announced on Tuesday. The deal is worth $165 million, a league source confirmed to The Athletic.
The move is a surprise for several reasons, starting with how last season ended. The Bucs, once 6-2, collapsed down the stretch and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Mayfield battled through a half-dozen injuries and struggled.
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After the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement before the start of training camp — the quarterback’s self-imposed deadline — Mayfield vowed to break off talks until after the season. He was his fiery self in late July, admitting that he’d been “disrespected” by the team’s offers and promising the price was only going to go up “because I’m going to have a great year.”
At that point, Mayfield was dead set on playing out the final year of his contract without an extension. He did, at one point, allow that if the Bucs wanted to reach out to his agent, his agent would listen. But nothing appeared imminent.
One aspect that never changed was general manager Jason Licht’s affinity for Mayfield — the person and player.
“Personally, I like the swag. I like the attitude,” the GM told The Athletic last season.
Mayfield’s comments at the start of training camp didn’t bother him. He knows Mayfield runs hot. During their last negotiation, back in 2024, Mayfield grew so impatient at one point that he texted his GM: “Can we get this f—ing thing done?” Unbeknownst to the quarterback, Licht and Mayfield’s agent had just agreed to a three-year, $100 million deal.
Licht called him.
“Listen up, a–hole,” the GM said. “We just agreed to terms.”
Both laughed.
Mayfield, 31, joined the Buccaneers in 2023 on a one-year, $4 million deal. He competed with Kyle Trask and John Wolford to determine who would succeed Tom Brady, who retired after the 2022 season. After a competition that spanned the entire offseason and much of training camp, Mayfield was named the starter after the second preseason game in 2023.
Since earning the starting job, Mayfield has started all 17 games for the Bucs in each of the past three seasons. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2023 and 2024, leading the team to the postseason in both years. The Bucs won the wild-card game in 2023 over the Philadelphia Eagles before falling 31-23 to the Detroit Lions in the divisional round. In 2024, Tampa Bay fell 23-20 in the wild-card round to the Washington Commanders.
Before coming to Tampa Bay in 2023, Mayfield’s NFL career had started falling in the wrong direction. After the Cleveland Browns acquired Deshaun Watson in 2022, they traded Mayfield to the Carolina Panthers, despite Mayfield leading Cleveland to a postseason win in 2020.
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The 2018 No. 1 pick went 1-5 as a starter with the Panthers before being granted his release in December. The Los Angeles Rams picked up Mayfield off of waivers after Matthew Stafford sustained an injury. Mayfield started four games for the Rams, going 1-3, to end the 2022 regular season. He signed with the Bucs a few months later.
When Mayfield spoke to reporters during Tampa Bay’s offseason workouts in early June, he said the two sides were having talks but that the conversations were “not anywhere close.” Despite that, Mayfield also spoke highly of his desire to stay in Tampa Bay.
“We’ve built roots here in Tampa. We love the community. We love being here,” Mayfield said. “They’ve embraced us, and we enjoy being here and obviously going to raise kids here.”
Now, Mayfield is under contract with the Buccaneers through the 2029 season.
