Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield set the start of training camp as the deadline to hammer out an extension with the team. After receiving offers he described as “not appealing whatsoever,” Mayfield broke off talks and is set to play out the final year of his current deal, which means there is a possibility he will become a free agent in March.
Tampa Bay GM Jason Licht addressed the situation at the end of August and said he is optimistic he will be able to keep Mayfield off the open market.
“I’m very optimistic about it,” Licht said during the WFLA broadcast of his team’s preseason finale (via ESPN’s Jenna Laine). “He wants to play. He wants to prove to us that he is the franchise quarterback that we said that he was. So, we’ll just have to see how it plays out. I’ll never close the door on anything in the short term, but right now, he’s focused on football.”
Of course, the mechanics of keeping Mayfield in the fold for at least 2027 will not be particularly complicated since Licht does have the franchise tag at his disposal, and both player and team appear open to that route. However, that would come with a challenging $50.3MM cap charge for the Bucs, so assuming Mayfield’s play warrants a continuation of the relationship, a new multiyear contract would surely be the Bucs’ preferred option.
While the 31-year-old signal-caller will at least listen to an offer if Licht wants to make one, Laine says Mayfield’s agent knows not to approach him about a contract matter before the end of the season unless the Bucs extend an offer meeting his salary requirements. The most recent reporting on the negotiations indicates Tampa Bay made a proposal featuring an average annual value of at least $50MM, but that offer was for a two-year term, and Mayfield is seeking a longer commitment.
When addressing the media on Tuesday, Licht suggested he will not be making a revised offer in the near future (via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times). Licht said there are no immediate plans to reopen contract talks, and to drive home his shift in focus to the Bucs’ Week 1 matchup with the Bengals, he channeled his inner Bill Belichick by saying, “we’re on to Cincinnati.”
Licht also discussed the player behind Mayfield on Tampa Bay’s quarterback depth chart, Jalon Daniels. Despite Daniels’ status as a UDFA rookie, he won the job as Mayfield’s backup, and Licht said the Kansas product proved early on that he was the right man for the post.
“In this case, early in the morning. I think it was before our first preseason game, we loved what we were seeing out here and what we were getting from (offensive coordinator) Zac (Robinson) and (quarterbacks coach) Chandler (Whitmer) and (passing game coordinator) T.J. (Yates) ,” Licht said (via Stroud). “And then I think after the first preseason game against the Jets, I think the conversation started going towards, he’s got to prove that he can’t be the No. 2 more so than he’s got to prove that he can be.”
Daniels is the first rookie to open a season as the Buc’s primary QB2 since Mike Glennon in 2013, but Glennon was a third-round draftee. Stroud observes that clubs with Super Bowl aspirations generally have a more experienced hand as the backup passer, though Licht is clearly not as concerned.
“You can go back and forth with the experience argument,” Licht said. “But I’d rather have a very talented, prepared, inexperienced quarterback than going with experience just for the sake of saying the guy is experienced. … There’s going to be ups and downs. But we feel good about where he’s at, his trajectory, and we’re excited.”