Decisions.
The Bucs have options if somehow the team and Baker Mayfield can’t come to terms on a new contract.
Mayfield put his foot down last week saying once training camp opens up, no contract talks until after the season. His contract expries after the 2026 season.
One option is the franchise tag that sits in the Bucs’ back pocket. Mayfield may not like it, but he’ll get paid alright, if he agrees to sign the tag.
If the Bucs don’t want to franchise Mayfield, the creator, curator and overall guru of Pro Football Talk, the great Mike Florio, took an educated guess that the Bucs and Mayfield will come to some sort of deal before the 2026 season kicks off.
“Can they get it done for both sides? It’s a risk,” Florio said on his weekday morning show “PFT Live,” seen on NBC Sports Network. “Mayfield needs to have a solid year to have suitors elsewhere if he would become a free agent, and the Buccaneers need to have a solid Plan-B if Mayfield would leave.
“I believe the Buccaneers think that at the end of the day they are going to offer Mayfield more than anyone else will, and [Mayfield will] take the bird in the hand in lieu of assuming the risk of injury during the 2026 season.”
That last sentence is key for Joe. Mayfield is a walking injury waiting to happen in some respects. That’s because he’s a linebacker with a gifted arm playing QB.
No quarterback is more physical than Mayfield with the exception of Josh Allen, who is much bigger than Mayfield and can absorb the punishment better.
In two of the three years Mayfield has been in Tampa, he literally limped to the regular-season finish line. The Bucs shut out Carolina 9-0 in Week 18 in 2023 and Mayfield could not throw in that game because he was so beat up. To be fair, he was very good and strong in the playoffs.
Last year, Mayfield fell off the cliff after the bye with several injuries. He might have been the best quarterback in the league in the first eight games, then the Bucs lost seven nine and blew their playoff chances. Mayfield’s injuries were one of many reasons for the collapse.
If Mayfield gets hurt again — and it’s a coin flip he will or won’t — and struggles down the stertch, then next offseason he will be a 32-year old quarterback who regularly gets banged up and struggles in a season.
Trust Joe, there aren’t a lot of teams waiting to throw $175 million dollars for three years at an injury-prone quarterback on the wrong side of 30.
The other option for the Bucs? Well, the 2027 draft is expected to be rich with quarterbacks.
At the end of the day, with the Bucs wanting Mayfield and with Mayfield wanting to stay, Joe can’t envision any other quarterback starting for Tampa Bay to open the 2027 season.