Baker Mayfield signs a three-year, $165 million extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers worth $55 million per year (Getty Images)
Months of back-and-forth had gone nowhere, and by the time the Buccaneers broke camp, Mayfield had publicly shelved extension talks until after the 2026 season. On Tuesday, just days before Tampa Bay’s season opener against Cincinnati, Mayfield and the Buccaneers agreed on a three-year, $165 million extension worth $55 million per year.
He said so, plainly, when training camp opened in Tampa Bay without a new contract. Baker Mayfield felt unwanted. Then, with barely a whisper of warning, it was done.
Negotiations stalled publicly in June when NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported the two sides were nowhere near a deal. Mayfield confirmed it himself, saying they were “not anywhere close.
He told reporters he felt “disrespected a little bit” and that he was undervalued given what he had produced in Tampa Bay. So when training camp arrived, he did what he said he would. The frustration had been building for months. He set the start of training camp as his personal deadline. When that date passed without progress, he didn’t hold back. He showed up, shifted his focus to football, and publicly moved on from contract talks. The expectation across the league was that this would carry into the regular season, unresolved and lingering.
At $55 million per year, Mayfield now sits tied for the third-highest annual salary among quarterbacks in the NFL, alongside Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence, and Matthew Stafford. For a player who said he felt unseen, $165 million is a clear answer. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the two sides quietly resumed talks after Mayfield had publicly ended them. Nobody announced it.
That is a significant number for a player who was waived by the Carolina Panthers four years ago and spent five games with the Rams before finding his footing in Tampa. The deal also carries weight for a Buccaneers team navigating transition. Mike Evans, the franchise’s all-time leading receiver, left for San Francisco in the offseason. The offensive weapons around Mayfield look different now. But the front office clearly believes that stability at quarterback is the foundation everything else is built around. The timing matters too. Nobody leaked it early.
It just got done, right before the season.