Baker Mayfield agrees to 3-year, $100 million deal to return to Bucs
TAMPA — Baker Mayfield finally has a home in the NFL and a new lease on his career.
The vagabond quarterback, who has played for four teams since 2021, has agreed to a three-year, $100 million contract to remain with the Bucs. The deal includes $50 million guaranteed, with a maximum value of $115 million with performance incentives.
The Bucs and Mayfield’s agent, Tom Mills, made significant progress in negotiations on Saturday and Sunday, preventing him from becoming available when the free-agent negotiation period begins Monday.
Mayfield will receive $30 million fully guaranteed in 2024 and $30 million in 2025. As much as $40 million is guaranteed at signing. Another $10 million is guaranteed against injury. His salary in 2026 would be $40 million. He can earn $5 million in incentives each year.
The agreement with Mayfield comes only two days after the Bucs locked up their best receiver, signing Mike Evans to a two-year, $52 million contract, with $35 million guaranteed.
The agreement with Evans helped ramp up negotiations with Mayfield over the weekend. “He’s really happy,” Mills said of Mayfield. “It’s been quite a ride for him.”
In his only season with the Bucs, Mayfield resurrected his career by passing for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns, both career highs.
Not surprisingly, his favorite target was Evans, who tied the Dolphins’ Tyreek Hill for the NFL lead with 13 touchdown receptions.
The Bucs approached the offseason taking steps to ensure Mayfield would remain their quarterback.
Step one was hiring Liam Coen as offensive coordinator to replace Dave Canales, who became the Panthers’ head coach.
But the biggest step was agreeing to a new contract with Evans, the five-time Pro Bowler.
“Baker meant a lot to this team, this fanbase and this town,” Bucs general manager Jason Licht said a few weeks ago at the NFL scouting combine. “I think we meant a lot to him. I think it was a perfect marriage. I think I said before, he sought us out. He gambled on us. He saw it as a good situation. He saw it better than a lot of national people who saw us winning two games. He thought it would be good for him, and it certainly was.”
The first overall pick of the Browns in 2018, Mayfield was traded to the Panthers just prior to training camp in 2022. He started six games and eventually was claimed off waivers by the Rams, where he played the final five games, starting four. He joined the Bucs in March of 2023, his fourth team in 18 months.
Mayfield got the Bucs off to a 3-1 start before the team lost six of its next seven games. But he managed to steer Tampa Bay to a 9-8 record and third straight NFC South title. After routing the Eagles in the wild-card round, the Bucs were tied with the Lions in the fourth quarter of the division-round game before falling.
Had Mayfield made it to free agency, he likely would have received plenty of interest. The New England Patriots, Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons reportedly were among the teams considering him.
All are looking for a quarterback, and Mayfield topped a potential free-agent list that is expected to include the Vikings’ Kirk Cousins and the Broncos’ Russell Wilson.
Mills met with general manager Licht at the combine in Indianapolis. But the priority became re-signing Evans, who told his agent last weekend he wanted to be a “Buc for life.”
But Evans’ agent, Deryk Gilmore, said only that Evans wanted to play with “an elite” quarterback and in an offense that will showcase him while being paid as a top receiver.
Apparently, Mayfield checks all those boxes and more. The Bucs love his leadership style and raved about his ability to right the ship after the team’s midseason stumble.
Licht is steadily crossing off items on his free-agent to-do list. The Bucs used the franchise player tag on safety Antoine Winfield, Jr. worth $17.12 million. It could become a place-holder as they continue to seek a long-term deal. They signed Evans and Mayfield and now will turn their attention to locking up linebacker Lavonte David and place-kicker Chase McLaughlin.
The Bucs still could make more roster moves and reportedly could consider trading one of their two starting cornerbacks, either Carlton Davis or Jamel Dean. But Licht didn’t sound like he was focused on adding free agents from other teams.
“We’re always going to look to see what’s out there, but I’m not usually a fan right now of going big-game hunting,’” he said. “The priority is our players, and I think with the magnitude of some of these deals people will realize we actually have some really good players. We’ve been fortunate to have them play on lesser deals. But we will always look. Will have some flexibility, but I think that flexibility will be geared toward our own players.”
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