QB Baker Mayfield can hit some big contract incentives on Sunday
Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield is playing to help his team secure a spot in the playoffs and win the NFC South on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. But a win and good performance against his former team could mean much more than that for him.
Mayfield signed what was reported as a one-year, $4 million deal with the Bucs in March, but that contract came highly incentivized. If Mayfield hits those incentives on Sunday, he can make quite a bit of money for himself, and he has a good chance with his current standing.
Mayfield already has one locked in —playing 85% of the team’s offensive snaps gives him an extra $1 million, and as he has played 99.7% of them, that’s in the bag. Should he beat the Carolina Panthers and win the NFC South, he’ll also get another $1 million. He’d also earn this incentive if the Bucs made the playoffs as a wild-card team, but to do that, they’d need to tie the Panthers and then get some significant help elsewhere.
Additionally, Mayfield earns $300,000 each should he finish in the top 10 in the NFL in four different passing stats — touchdown passes, yards, passer rating, and yards per attempt. As it stands, Mayfield is 6th in the NFL in touchdown passes, 8th in yards, 9th in passer rating and tied for ninth in yards per attempt. While some of them are a little tight, it’s worth noting that quite a few of the quarterbacks Mayfield is competing with in this regard will sit in Week 18 with playoff spots clinched.
All in all, should Mayfield hit all of these, he’ll earn a nice $2.2 million in incentives heading into the postseason. And while it’s unlikely once there (but far from impossible), he’ll also earn an extra $250,000 for every playoff game he wins. Should the Bucs go to the Super Bowl and win it, he’d make an extra $1 million there, too.
