Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield agreed to a 3-year, $165 million contract extension on September 8, 2026. [1]

Contract Details

• Total Value: $165 million

• Length: 3 years (signed through the 2029 season)

• Average Annual Value: $55 million per year

• Ranking: Places him in a tie for the third-highest-paid quarterback in the NF

Very good QB, great leader and deserves this contract. I think the Bucs take down Cincy this weekend, my upset special.

Thats a ballsy call Sticky....Lots of adoring press fawning over Burrows and the Bengals this year.

StickierBuns wrote:

Very good QB, great leader and deserves this contract. I think the Bucs take down Cincy this weekend, my upset special.

I picked the Bucs too. Burrow starts slow every year. Maybe this year he doesn't but fading the Bengals early has paid well in the past.

On Baker- Good for him. Not sure why TB was messing around with this so much right up to the season but as an outside observer I'd say the money seems fairish and they got their guy for another couple years. Egbuka and Irving are still on rookie deals this year so the timing for Baker to get paid makes a lot more sense to do now than next offseason.

McCarthy should use Mayfield as inspiration for the kind of career he can eventually have. When JJ was drafted I thought the worst-case scenario is that he'd follow a Darnold or Mayfield type path. Unfortunately, this is now his best-case scenario.

MaroonBells wrote:

McCarthy should use Mayfield as inspiration for the kind of career he can eventually have. When JJ was drafted I thought the worst-case scenario is that he'd follow a Darnold or Mayfield type path. Unfortunately, this is now his best-case scenario.

I don’t think he’s at that point yet.

He just needs to keep on getting practice reps and figure out how to dial in his mechanics under pressure.  Get better every day.  There’s a very real chance that he gets called upon this year and he needs to be as ready as possible, both for the team and for himself.

Right now?

I'm hoping they at least dress JJ to play on game day...I think with the emergency QB rules in place, that'll be the case.

Honestly, not sure how telling a mandatory wk/wk depth chart really is?

Sorry to see the extension. I was hoping the Bucs would bungle the negotiations, piss off Baker and he would become a free agent and be a potential Vikings option next year if this season with Kyler did not go as planned.

MaroonBells wrote:

McCarthy should use Mayfield as inspiration for the kind of career he can eventually have. When JJ was drafted I thought the worst-case scenario is that he'd follow a Darnold or Mayfield type path. Unfortunately, this is now his best-case scenario.

I knew he was young, crazy young, coming out from Michigan. I had high hopes. Argued with many, but that video you showed of Chambliss throwing his WR open is what we needed to see from JJM. It wasn't there. Maybe it will be in time.

medaille wrote:

I don’t think he’s at that point yet.
He just needs to keep on getting practice reps and figure out how to dial in his mechanics under pressure.  Get better every day.  There’s a very real chance that he gets called upon this year and he needs to be as ready as possible, both for the team and for himself.

No, you're probably right. He's probably not at that point yet. But I can't help but consider all of those things the coaches see but we don't...things that led to him not just losing the QB1 competition, but QB2 as well.

I don't think the Vikings have released their official depth chart yet, but in order for JJ to get that chance you're talking about, he has to be QB2.

MaroonBells wrote:

No, you're probably right. He's probably not at that point yet. But I can't help but consider all of those things the coaches see but we don't...things that led to him not just losing the QB1 competition, but QB2 as well.
I don't think the Vikings have released their official depth chart yet, but in order for JJ to get that chance you're talking about, he has to be QB2.

He can be #3 but just wouldn't be able to go into the game if Murray got hurt. If it was more extensive of an injury, they could evaluate and always have JJM start the next week. Or am I seeing this wrong?

Fifty-five million dollars per year for Baker Mayfield? Seriously?!

Well, yes and no. Mayfield got his new deal from the Buccaneers on Tuesday, and it was a doozy. But it was also one of those win-win NFL contract outcomes where the player and agent get to brag about one number while the team gets to say, "Yeah, but ..."

Mayfield was already making $27 million in 2026. He now makes $37 million in 2026, $50 million in 2027, $50 million in 2028 and $55 million in 2029. That's four years and $192 million, which works out to $48 million per year over four years. But the "new money" in the deal -- money he didn't already have coming to him -- totals $165 million, and the Bucs added three years to his existing deal. Over three years, the average of $165 million is $55 million per year.

That's why both sides can claim victory and call it a win-win.

But you know who else comes out of this looking like winners? Every other quarterback who is or could be coming up for a contract extension within the next year.

Mayfield is a really good player. His career looked destined for an early end just a few years after he was the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, but he has found a home in Tampa, and it agrees with him. He has averaged 32 touchdown passes and 4,079 yards per season, and he won two NFC South division titles in three years with the Bucs. He has been good for them -- and they've been good for him.

But $55 million per year puts him in a tie with five other guys for third-highest average salary in the league. Dak Prescottmakes $60 million per year. Patrick Mahomes' new-money average in his most recent deal was $64 million. Mahomes is the only quarterback who has even threatened -- let alone passed -- Prescott's salary in the two years since his deal was completed. Mahomes is also the only one with two MVP trophies, three Super Bowl titles and a 17-4 career playoff record. Mahomes is his own category.

The five who are tied with Mayfield at $55 million? Matthew Stafford (has won a Super Bowl and an MVP award), Joe Burrow (has been to a Super Bowl), Josh Allen (has won MVP), Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence (uhh ... have excellent timing).

In eight NFL seasons, Mayfield has made two Pro Bowls, and his highest finish in MVP voting is 11th. His place is among the last two names in that previous paragraph, not the first three. But his presence there is what should finally make it a crossable threshold for the next group. Unlike Love and Lawrence, Mayfield wasn't benefiting from a red-hot extension market at the time he signed. This was a quiet year for top-of-the-market quarterback deals.

Mayfield had some leverage -- his contract was set to void three days after the Super Bowl and trigger an immovable $30 million dead-money cap charge for 2027 -- but the Bucs could have let him walk and trusted in their ability to find a good, affordable solution. You know, the way they did when Tom Brady retired and they signed Mayfield in the first place. The Buccaneers appear to have done this deal because Mayfield has been a really good quarterback for them, and this is what really good quarterbacks' contracts cost now.

This is fantastic news for anyone who considers himself a really good NFL quarterback and is (or will be) looking for a contract extension between now and next summer. And there are a lot of people in this category. The 2027 quarterback extension market could be the busiest we've seen in a while. And that is why 2027 should be the year when one or (likely) more quarterbacks try to join Prescott and Mahomes in the $60 million club. Many of them should, at least, get past the $55 million that we will now, for the purpose of this exercise, call the "Baker Line."

Here's a look at the quarterbacks in those conversations:

Kyler Murray:

Talk about a make-or-break year. Murray was owed about $37 million guaranteed from the Cardinals for this season. They released him, and that allowed the Vikings to sign him for a veteran-minimum $1.3 million and leave the Cardinals to pay the remaining $35.7 million. The Vikings have named Murray their starter ahead of 2024 first-round pick J.J. McCarthy. Murray's contract includes a clause that prohibits them from using the franchise or transition tags on him next spring. So, if he has a huge year, they have no way of keeping him off the unfettered free agent market.

Is he over the Baker Line? No way, but that no-franchise clause is a whopper in terms of leverage. If Murray plays great and hits free agency next year at 29 years old, he'll sail past Mayfield -- and Prescott.

ESPN