Baker Mayfield played on a one-year, $4 million “prove it” deal in 2023. He certainly proved it, and he could get a payday in 2024.
Mayfield is set to get a big extension from the money he made last year, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would certainly like that extension to be with them. Mayfield threw for 28 touchdowns and over 4,000 yards in 2023 and threw six more touchdowns in the playoffs, and as a result, he looks to be commanding a big contract with the team as a result. Many have gone back and forth on what that contract could look like, but Spotrac has released its own projection for Mayfield’s upcoming deal.
Spotrac projects Mayfield’s next contract as a four-year, $120 million deal with $53 million of that money guaranteed. Here’s what they had to say about their proposed deal:
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.
A Geno Smith-like deal would make sense for Mayfield, who had a good year in 2023 but still needs to prove he can consistently perform. Spotrac structures this deal with two void years added on to alleviate the cap hit in the first two seasons, which could make signing more free agents like Mike Evans and Antoine Winfield Jr. quite a bit easier.
This deal has Mayfield making $30 million a year, which is slightly more than Smith makes with the Seattle Seahawks (which makes sense, given that he’s younger) but much less than the $40 million a year that Daniel Jones makes with the New York Giants. $30 million would be a good compromise for both Mayfield and Tampa Bay, but what the two sides ultimately go with will be likely be revealed when free agency begins.
