‘The clock is ticking’ on Mayfield and Buccaneers
Mike Florio and Chris Simms analyze the contract situation involving Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, explaining why the quarterback is ready to "bet on himself."
Video Transcript
And you mentioned Baker Mayfield.
That has been lingering for a while now.
Mayfield has imposed a deadline of training camp.
If we don't- Yeah have something done by then, that's it.
Which would imply he's not gonna hold in.
His attitude is, "You have until training camp opens to do this.
If you don't, it's all football after that.
I'm focused on the job after that.
I'm focused on having the best year possible so I can go into free agency and get a better deal than what the Buccaneers may be offering."
Three years, $100 million was the last deal he did after his first contract with the Buccaneers ended.
He did a one-year deal, contract ended, they didn't use a franchise tag.
Nobody, although the Vikings should have, and others, nobody tried to sign him.
The Buccaneers got him for three years, $100 million, and now in the final year, due to make under the contract There's some past money that got kicked into this year- Yeah that makes it seem like a better deal than it is.
Like, they'll say, "Oh, no, he's getting 40 million this year."
No, he's getting 27.5.
He's getting 12 and a half, 13, something like that, that he should've that he did earn last year, but it's been deferred into this year.
Right.
27.5 is the number for this year.
The key number, though, is the salary cap number of just about 40 million, because then it makes the franchise tag nearly 48 million for 2027 if they're gonna use it.
48 million is a significant cap charge for a quarterback.
It's, it's a one-year cap charge that is significant in the current climate for any player.
But they're working toward getting this done, and we'll see if he means what he says, if it's truly done.
If it's If he, "Nope, I'm sorry," and, and we know, you know, he's stubborn in a good way.
Yeah, right.
He's stubborn, he's determined.
He's chippy.
He's gonna do things his way.
Yeah.
And, "No, I said it was done.
They show up, you know, a day or two later, but, but, but no.
No.
You had your chance.
It's done."
But we haven't heard anything about it other than there was an expectation last week the Buccaneers were gonna try to get something done, and tomorrow the veterans report.
So the clock ticking for the Bucs and Baker Mayfield, Chris.
Yeah.
Well, I, I mean, the, there, don't play with fire here is what I would say.
You said it right.
I mean, Baker Mayfield, first off, has been awesome for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
He's one of the leaders of the team.
You know, he kind of gives them a, a, a, an, an or has an aura about him and gives their team a little bit of an attitude because of the way he plays.
We know how damn good he is.
He's still got an incredible arm.
I mean, before he got beat up last year, he was in the MVP conversation.
I had Rick Stroud, right?
You know Rick Stroud, beat writer down, down there in Tampa Bay.
I had him on my podcast yesterday.
We discussed this at length for about 15 or 20 minutes about the Baker Mayfield situation.
He did bring up the deadline that you've mentioned.
He does think, though, if the contract's going long and going long enough, that Baker's not gonna be like, "Hey, no, it didn't happen right now."
He, he had, did have the sense that, you know, they're making positive progress, right?
So again, the sweet spot, what are you gonna pay to him?
Tampa sometimes has been reluctant to, you know, give guaranteed years and stuff like that.
I think that's gotta get figured out.
But you got a guy.
That's, that's the, at the end of the day.
And a guy that I would go, if you mess with him, he already has seven chips on his shoulder.
Why give him eight chips?
And you mess with him and he has a good year, and we get to the end of the year and he doesn't have a contract, Baker Mayfield's one of those dudes that'll be like, "Oh, whoa, oh, oh."
And this is the example s- Stroud used yesterday.
"Oh, Stafford's retiring?
Oh, I'll go to the Rams for two years.
I know they got Ty Sims."
Or, "Hey, the Cardinals, they need somebody.
We'll pay you $60 million a year, and you can come here and be the guy, and who..." Whatever else presents itself.
But I would not wanna play with fire with Baker Mayfield in that way, that's for sure.
That's one thing I picked up from the quarterback series that landed a couple of weeks ago.
He will bet on himself.
He left Texas Tech- Yes when they made Davis Webb the starter.
He left and enrolled at Oklahoma without a spot on the football team.
He showed up at Oklahoma as a student.
He ran into Bob Stoops and said, "Hey, I'd like to play football."
Bob Stoops said, quoted in the Netflix series, "You know, if I had said no, he'd be playing ba..., frat ball."
"Yard ball at frat house" I think is the way Bob Stoops said it.
And it's, it's just amazing.
And I, it, it, it feeds into There's been a lot in news about his different injuries, and he talks in the Netflix series about having an MCL and a PCL sprain week two of last year, playing with it all year.
His starting career in high school began his junior year.
He lost the competition.
Four plays in, the starter got injured, Baker got his chance, and he never looked back.
So he's just got that mindset.
He's gonna bet on himself.
He's never coming off the field.
You're gonna have a guy out there from time to time who maybe isn't 100%, and you may be wondering, "Would we be better off with the backup here?"
But you're gonna have to deal with it because he's never coming off the field.
But he's been Look, he hasn't been to a Super Bowl, obviously.
Hasn't been to an NFC championship, but he's a guy who has gotten to the playoffs.
He's had some moments.
And it's not like he's top five, but he's fringe top 10.
Yeah.
He was- I'd say he's fringe top 10.
Yes, exactly right.
You know, now again, it's- Yeah, it's tough it's, it's easy to say that.
Right.
It's harder when you start listing the quarterbacks, but he's fringe top 10, and I think he brings you something beyond quarterbacking ability.
He brings leadership.
Not that it worked last year, but m- maybe there were deeper issues than what Baker Mayfield was able to do by way of being a leader.
But he brings that leadership, that attitude, that toughness, that moxie, and he's not afraid to walk away.
If they don't give him what he wants, he'll, he'll go somewhere else, and maybe take less from someone else just to prove a point.
'Cause the Bucs think, Chris, the Bucs think no one's gonna offer him as much as they will, so they can just kind of sit back and just kind of play it out.
Sure.
I could see him, once he's able to go anywhere he wants to go, saying, "Screw you."
Yeah.
"I'll take less somewhere else."
Yeah.
I- "You had your chance.
I'll take less with a team that w- that I feel like wants me."
Right, right.
I know.
I, I think, you know, that, that's again, like you always talk about this, we talk about this a lot.
Th- this is where, you know, the teams can, can use things against a player, right?
Baker Mayfield loves to t- loves being in Tampa.
He said he's gonna make that a, a home for life.
You know, he's made comments like that.
So they kind of know he likes being there and being a part of it.
Now, regardless, like you said, I mean l- like we, you know, I joke on the podcast all the time, there's 20 top 10 receivers, and a quarterback.
There's 15 top 10 quarterbacks.
There is.
Baker Mayfield was top 10 for me in that list.
When you gotta actually write a list and do it, and I do it, it, it was like, oh gosh, it was tight, but yeah, he was top 10 for me.
So with Baker Mayfield, you know, you said it right.
He brings a lot of intangibles and tangibles to the football team, and he deserves to be paid.
I'm not saying he's gotta be the highest paid guy in football, but he certainly near- deserves to be paid in the mid 50 millions, that's for sure.
As far as starting quarterbacks go and what they're commanding right now, absolutely.
And so s- that's where I would think, you know, the sweet spot is for Baker Mayfield, and then of course the guarantees that go along with it and, and everything there.
They, you know, they're gonna have to figure that out.
But he deserves to be in that category, I know that for sure.
