Will Mayfield ever be paid like a franchise QB?
Mike Florio and Michael Holley react to Baker Mayfield's "franchise quarterback" comments and evaluate if the two-time Pro Bowler will ever be paid like a top-tier signal caller.
Video Transcript
I think, prediction, Mike, here's my prediction.
I think the deadline will be extended.
I think they will come to a deal because they need each other.
This is not They need each other right now.
I Do they need each other in 2029?
I, I don't know, but I know in 2026 and probably 2027, they need each other, and that this is the best that either of them can get right now.
So when, when Baker Mayfield, if he is comparing himself to Trevor Lawrence, to Jordan Love, to Brock Purdy, you know, one thing so two of those guys are first round picks who have been with the same franchise.
So just, like, context matters.
Yeah, Baker Mayfield was the number one overall pick, but because he went on this circuitous path to Tampa Bay, his value went down along the way, and he's trying to bring it back up.
He's had- he had the highest value as the first pick, but once Cleveland moves on and he goes to Carolina and then Carolina moves on and he's a Ram, and all the Okay, now your value has gone down, and the Buccaneers have helped you bring it up.
You haven't been in the same place on this, this n- this path upward playing-wise and financi- and, and, and when it comes to your finances.
So you're different than, you're different than Purdy.
Purdy's a seventh round pick, but he's been with the same franchise.
And then Love and, and Lawrence have been with the same franchise.
Here's the other thing, and I don't know how many guys fit this description for you.
It, for me it's probably eight.
There are quarterbacks of the franchise and then there are franchise quarterbacks.
So Baker Mayfield is the quarterback of this franchise, but I don't think he is a franchise quarterback.
And a franchise quarterback is someone you just They are a franchise quarterback in a vacuum.
So if you take Joe Burrow out of Cincinnati, he's a franchise quarterback for the next place he's going.
A- and you could say the same thing obviously about Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen and some of the names, Lamar Jackson.
Baker Mayfield is not that.
He is the quarterback of this franchise, and he's the right quarterback for this franchise, but he is just not a standalone anywhere he goes, it's a no-brainer, Baker Mayfield's the guy.
And it sounds like I'm, I'm dumping on him.
I'm not trying to at all.
I'm just trying to untangle what he says and what the team's position might be and where it may end.
And where it, where it's gonna end, Mike, I'm telling you, probably in a couple of weeks we'll be talking about the, the Buccaneers and Mayfield have come to an agreement.
And they'll have a lot of happy people.
We'll see.
It's gonna depend upon, it's gonna depend upon how uncomfortable the Buccaneers become if Mayfield continues this.
Maybe they're pissed off now.
Maybe they've decided after Mayfield did that, "Hey, you know, that wasn't necessary.
Why did he do that?
Why did he do that?"
And there's a couple of other things that are nuanced that I think are relevant to understanding just how we got here and how hard it may be to get out.
One of the things that was said yesterday by Mayfield, repeatedly, they offered him a two-year deal.
They offered him a two-year deal.
He's trying to create the impression he's been disrespected, that he's been undervalued.
Two-year deal.
Two-year deal.
"Well, there's one year left on my current deal, so all you're really offering me is a one-year extension."
Is that not the impression you get when he says two-year deal?
Is that the impression you get?
Right.
Yes.
Yes.
Okay.
They offered him a two-year extension, I'm told, per sources.
That's a different vibe.
So they're offering him a three-year deal, not a two-year deal.
And this is what we get into when we start taking our does dumb really have a B on the end of it, you know- opposing views on things.
You're gonna have different ways of shading, of characterizing.
And, you know, there's a dispute over whether or not they're offering him 50 million per year, and there's some carryover payment from last year.
And I went through this a few months ago when this all first came up, 'cause I looked at what he's due to make this year, and I see 27.5 million plus some available incentives.
And then I start hearing, "Oh, no, no, no.
He's making 40 million this year.
You're wrong."
Always great to hear somebody say, "You're wrong.
He's making 40 million this year."
And I go back and I look at the publicly available contract information, and it says, says 27 point five, like Well, oh, it turns out there's money that he earned last year that got kicked over to this year.
Well, so what?
But I just wonder if that money that's already been earned has been wedged into the Buccaneers characterization of their offer- Sure to make it seem better than it is, even though that's money I mean, don't tell me that money I've already earned is part of the money you're offering me going forward.
Well, but- Right.
Right this is where we are.
Right.
So they can do that, and Mayfield can tell everyone he's been offered a two-year deal when it's in truth a two-year extension.
And I'm a Baker Mayfield fan, but I'm also a fan of calling it like I see it, and I'd like to think he'll appreciate that.
I just think this whole thing was a mistake.
I think he shouldn't have done it, because he's not- Right going to talk them into doing what he wants, and it could hurt his value.
You better be damn sure you got something in your back pocket for next year.
You better be damn sure somebody else is gonna pay you Trevor Lawrence money, Brock Purdy money, Jordan Love money.
Like you said, those contracts tend to go, go to the guys that have a history on that team.
Now I know that, you know, big name franchise quarterbacks or close to franchise quarterbacks don't typically hit the open market, but I don't think he's gonna get And this is what the Buccaneers think.
You think you're gonna get 55 on the open market?
I- unless he has the kind of year that would make the Bucs apply the franchise tag and keep him from getting to the market, he's not gonna get that kind of money on the market.
Okay, I Let me ask you a question, okay?
I got one.
He, he Same draft class.
Same draft class a- as, as Baker Mayfield.
So you got, we know, we already mentioned Josh Allen.
We already mentioned Lamar Jackson.
How about Sam Darn- is Sam Darnold a franchise quarterback?
He won the Super Bowl last year, Mike.
He won the Super Bowl, and he's still not a franchise quarterback, is he?
And so- Well- You, you gotta Even if you- He's due to make 27.5 million this year, too Right.
And if he, if he, if he says to the, Seahawks, "Hey, wait a minute, you gonna pay Jackson, Smith, and Jigba?
I know Witherspoon's up for a contract.
Hey, take care of your boy here.
Come on.
Give me a deal.
You, you know, you don't win the Super Bowl last year without me."
How much money do you think they would offer him?
I d- I, I, I promise you it won't be $50 million.
So maybe this is something that works against, it, it works against Baker Mayfield because of the way the Buccaneers got him.
You know how franchises think sometimes.
"Oh, wait a minute, we lost Tom Brady.
We took a chance on Baker Mayfield, and it worked out for us."
Franchises, when they do that, they don't always think, "Oh, wow, we were so fortunate.
What a blessing.
Oh, oh, we're so lucky."
They No.
They say, "Well, we did it before.
We can do it again.
2027 draft, there are gonna be some quarterbacks, not just in the first round, there are gonna be some quarterbacks in the second round who are, who are gonna be pretty good pros.
So we, we were up against it before.
We moved on from Tom Brady and lived, and lived to tell about it.
So we can move on from Baker Mayfield if we have to, and we'll be in pretty good shape."
That's how they think once they've figured out the, an alternative to a franchise quarterback.
So I, I think you're right.
He- if he goes to the market, he's not gonna get, I don't know, any team out there, I can't think of a team that would just throw tons of money of, mo- money at him.
And there's one team you gotta cross off the list that really needs a quarterback, probably next year will need a quarterback.
They have draft picks, and they have a reason not to, go after Baker Mayfield, and he has a reason not to go after them.
It's the Cleveland Browns.
Wouldn't that be something?
So I'm just trying to think of quarterbacks.
Yeah, right.
Some teams that really need him, like the Cardinals are probably gonna need a quarterback, next year.
The Steelers, the Browns.
I just don't see any of these franchises paying him what the Buccaneers are willing to, willing to pay him.
So I, I think at some point cooler heads will prevail.
He'll stop taking it personally, both sides will stop taking it personally and, and figure out, "Hey, we're the best that we've got right now.
This is a marriage, a great marriage of convenience in the summer of 2026.
We'll walk down the aisle for a year or two, and then we'll figure it out after that."
But the fact that we're already at this point would suggest it's not gonna work out, right?
Like, if you're bowling- It will.
It has to if you're bowling, you know the pin that's standing after the ball goes by isn't gonna fall.
But if there's a pin that's doing this, eh, there's a chance it may fall.
And right now the pin's doing this.
We don't know what that pin's gonna do, you know?
We're just gonna wait and watch that pin all fricking year long and see if that pin falls.
But you touched on something important.
When a team drafts a quarterback, especially top five, if he becomes everything he was expected to be, you got no choice.
You gotta pay the tax on the back end.
You got the winning lottery ticket.
The difference in football is when you get the lini- winning lottery ticket, you're the one that pays the jackpot eventually.
And I think teams just do that because that's what you do.
We drafted this guy.
We developed this guy.
He's a franchise quarterback.
We've gotta pay him.
But when you're hopscotching around to veterans and you got a guy that you didn't draft, you didn't develop, he just happened to be the guy who was in the right place at the right time after Tom Brady retired, and he's been pretty good, yeah, I don't think you feel the same impetus as an organization to break the bank- Yeah for that guy.
And I also think that if that guy's available on the open market, there's not gonna be the same impetus to pay him the ridiculous contract that we have seen Tua, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence, Brock Purdy, these guys that are the comparables to Baker Mayfield.
I don't think you get that as easily if you weren't drafted and developed by the team that's giving you the contract.
So I just think it's unfortunate that this is happening.
I think both sides are dancing around in the shades of gray as it relates to the truth, and I hope that was the only time he's gonna talk about it, although it's good for business if he does.
Let's focus on having the best season possible.
And again, the only way he's ever gonna be in a position to go get 55 or more on the open market is if he has the kind of year that makes the Buccaneers apply the franchise tag to him for 2027 at $48 million.
So- He's either gonna be on the open market and he's not gonna have a whole lot of leverage, not a whole lot of interest, or he's not getting to the open market.
Because if he would have that interest, they're gonna tag him.
Yeah, and, and the other thing I wanna say quickly, Mike, is like it's a You know, one of the things, you talk about Baker Mayfield, part of the, the, the Mayfield profile is he gonna say what he means and he means what he says.
I mean, he's just that kind of guy.
He's got a lot of opinions and he shares them.
And he, and he's charismatic and he's fiery and, and a lot of things that we love about him, but the other part of it, and this, this works, this has worked against him twice.
He is the kind of guy who doesn't, like most starting quarterbacks, there's an insecurity really in all starting quarterbacks.
I mentioned Brady earlier.
Brady had it too.
He knows how he got the job way back when.
Still got it Brady.
So that always kinda stu- stuck with him.
Now wait a minute, I, hey listen, I don't want to, I don't wanna give up this, this spot because somebody's gonna take it from me.
So all these quarterbacks have a little insecurity when it comes to just taking a play off or a series off or a game off.
Baker Mayfield in Cleveland, he played hurt when he probably shouldn't have, and that led to the demise of the, the Browns-Mayfield relationship.
It really, and the, and the Mayfield-OBJ relationship and all of these things.
He was playing, and he thinks he's a gamer.
He is.
But play hurt doesn't always, it's not always best for the team.
And last year, same thing.
You mentioned it.
Team was falling apart, team was falling apart, just their attitude, something was off, and he had a down season because he was kind of playing through some things.
And it's just a bad time to have a season like that and expect a new contract.
And so it's good for him, it's good for the culture, but it's not necessarily good when it's time to negotiate.
They don't say, "Hey, thank you for, you know, setting an example."
They say, "Well, well, what about these numbers?
You know, this is how it compares to the rest of the league."
Or, "How about how we finished?
In, in these games we need to win, we didn't win them.
All right, what do you have to say about that?"
So I, I think that goes against him a little bit as well.
He won't come off the field.
He got the job as a high school junior.
He had lost it in the competition.
Four plays into the first game of the season, the starting quarterback gets injured, he gets his opportunity, and he never lets go.
And I think he never wants to let go of the opportunity he has now, 'cause he's concerned that other guy's gonna come in, whoever it may be, whenever it may be, wherever it may be, and do to Mayfield what Mayfield did all the way back as a junior in high school: take that job and never let it go.
