The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and their pending free agents have been all the talk thus far in the 2024 NFL offseason. With a laundry list of pending free agents to make a decision on, the team has to be smart, thrifty, but fair. Mike Evans, Antoine Winfield Jr, Lavonte David and Devin White all need to be re-signed or left to hit the free agent market. But it’s that one pending free agent that we haven’t mentioned that we’d like to talk about here, Baker Mayfield.
Mayfield saw a resurgence to his career in 2023 with the Buccaneers. The 28-year-old quarterback posted 4,044 yards, 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2023. Mayfield also led the team to a division title and a wild-card round win over the dreaded Eagles.
Cha-Ching
Now that it’s time to pay the man, how much will that be? According to Spotrac.com those numbers are four years, $120 million dollars with $53 million guaranteed.
Via Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti,
“Baker’s comeback has been one of the more enjoyable storylines of the past few seasons, culminating with a playoff win this past season with the Bucs. Tampa Bay is trying to keep Baker off of the open market at the final hour. We’ve projected a contract that essentially plays like a cap-adjusted version of Geno Smith’s deal in Seattle, while using a double bonus structure to keep cap hits insanely low over the next two seasons.”
Spotrac projects a 4 year, $120M extension for #Buccaneers QB Baker Mayfield, including $53M guaranteed at signing, & a $6.25M cap hit in 2024.
FULL BREAKDOWN: https://t.co/5J9T6KjFvG pic.twitter.com/6QE1ogWvRX
— Spotrac (@spotrac) February 28, 2024
I know, I know, take a minute if you need it. OK, yes I hear you, “$120 million for Mayfield?” While there is definitely sticker shock attached to this, it’s actually not a bad deal in today’s market. And, the deal projected would only have a $6.25 million cap hit in 2024. That bodes well for the team’s effort to bring the rest of their pending free agents back.
Now these numbers aren’t locked in or official. They’re just an estimate based on Spotrac’s analytics, basically a market price if you will. Look for the Buccaneers to try and get Mayfield closer to $28 million or even less.
