Pat McAfee: Baker Mayfield Contract Negotiations Blown Out Of Proportion
June 14th, 2026
Convinced Bucs, Baker Mayfield will come to terms.
Former All-Pro punter and current sports talk megastar Pat McAfee seems to be chuckling to himself about all the chatter about the Baker Mayfield contract extension talks.
McAfee scoffed at claims negotiations are not going well, saying, “This is not abnormal. I think people tried to make this seem like this was a bigger deal than it actually was.”
To be clear, as SI.com NFL columnist Albert Breer pointed out last week, the Bucs floated a contract offer to Mayfield and his camp had yet to respond so it wasn’t a negotiation. Of course, that could have changed already.
McAfee noted Jason Licht said on McAfee’s BSPN show how much he loves Mayfield and wants him long-term, and how Mayfield has said he loves Tampa.
McAfee is confident the two sides will work out a contract extension.
“This news comes out and get [people] a little bit worried,” McAfee said. “I don’t think we’re anywhere near done negotiating.”
Most players don’t want to negotiate during the season to avoid the drama that goes with that in-season, McAfee said. So Mayfield saying he would cut off talks once training camp starts sounds normal to McAfee.
“I don’t think it’s necessarily the most negative thing on earth that this is happening,” McAfee said.
Joe absolutely agrees with everything McAfee says here. It may not be this summer; it may be next winter, it could be next spring, but Joe is confident that when Week 1 of the 2027 rolls around, Mayfield will be your Bucs starting quarterback.