“Sorry Ira, I can’t use you as my agent!”
Depending on how Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield plays (and how the season unfolds for the Bucs), Mayfield could pocket quite a bit of Team Glazer loot, or maybe find a team desperate to pay him top dollar in 2027.
That’s the way folically-challenged Billy Barnwell of BSPN sees it for Mayfield. In a column about players who have much to gain/lose this season, Mayfield is among the players on the [top of Billy’s list](https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49784757/2026-nfl-season-players-coaches-gms-pressure-most-gain-lose).
> The “Baker Mayfield Rule” holds that the veteran quarterback’s performance is inversely correlated with how much confidence the public has in his ability. More doubt, more success. As soon as Mayfield started earning consideration as an MVP candidate around the midway point of the 2025 season, his performance cratered, taking Tampa Bay’s season along for the ride. …
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> Mayfield hasn’t missed a start in three years, he won a playoff game over the Eagles in 2023, and he ranks 14th in QBR over his run with the Bucs, between quarterbacks such as Jared Goff (12th) and Trevor Lawrence (16th). Goff makes $53 million per year, while Lawrence is at $55 million. You can understand why Mayfield wants to be in a ballpark with his fellow former first overall picks, and given cap inflation since those deals were signed, pushing for $60 million doesn’t seem like an unreasonable suggestion.
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> The Bucs don’t seem interested in reaching that price tier on a multiyear deal. The franchise tag at quarterback projects to come in at $50 million in 2027, which means they could franchise their starter next year and even go to $60 million in 2028 without making a long-term commitment.
Billy also threw out the possibility that the Steelers, desperate for a quarterback with drama queen Aaron Rodgers expected to call it quits after this season, may not be in a position to angle their way into a draft spot to land one of the many top-shelf quarterbacks expected in next spring’s draft.
The Joe typing here is personally worn out hearing and reading how Mayfield is going to destroy the league this year because he is peeved the Bucs wouldn’t give a long-term deal.
To Joe, this is nonsense. Why? In the past three seasons, has it looked like Mayfield has been loafing in any way? The guy fights his arse off to win games and put the Bucs in position to win games. He lays it on the line each week.
Joe did think it was interesting that Billy believes the Bucs may not want to give Mayfield a long-term deal. That Mayfield’s borderline reckless style of play for a quarterback on the wrong side of 30 is more conducive to year-to-year contracts than signing him to a three- or four-year deal and see him get blown up and physically never be the same.
But, as Joe has stated over and over, everything he hears both on and off the record leads Joe to believe Mayfield will be the Bucs’ quarterback for 2027 and perhaps beyond.