Rondé Barber Projects Baker Mayfield Contract Extension Is Not Done Before Training Camp
June 21st, 2026
Are the Bucs headed for a messy situation with the face of their franchise?
Baker Mayfield wants a contract extension. He’ll earn $40 million this season but he has no contract for 2027.
Team Glazer offered Mayfield an extension that left him disappointed. Mayfield responded saying he had a deadline of the start of training camp. At that point, per Mayfield, he no longer would negotiate a contract extension — no talks during football season.
Bucs insider Rondé Barber works for the team and is close friends with the organization’s power hitters. He doesn’t think an extension gets done quickly.
“I would find it hard to believe that they do,” Barber replied last week when asked if he thinks Mayfield will have a new deal by his personal deadline or Week 1 of the regular season.
Barber’s comments came on The Rondé Barber Show, a WFLA-TV streaming production.
If Barber were in charge at One Buc Palace, he’d make sure Mayfield is the Bucs’ quarterback of the future.
“Find a way to pay him. Make him happy, whatever that number is,” Barber said. “It’s not 60, 65 [million per year,] somewhere in the $50 million range. It’s a decent amount of [salary] bump. But I just hope it doesn’t distract this team going into this season, because I think this is a big year for a lot of people in this organization.”
The distraction angle is real. Mayfield is human. He’s got over $100 million+ on the line in future earnings. At some point in the season, that could affect him and/or his play, if he has no 2027 contract.
Did Team Glazer make the fan-unfriendly move of bringing back Todd Bowles only to play contracft games with his handpicked quarterback? That’s a hard concept for Joe to accept.