After having one of the better years of his entire career in 2023, quarterback Baker Mayfield looks to have signed a new three-year, $100 million deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.
“I wanted a chance to come back,” Mayfield told ESPN's Adam Schefter. “I love coach [Todd] Bowles and the staff. I'm happy to be here and I want to win more in the postseason.”
Baker Mayfied confirmed the three-year deal. “I wanted a chance to come back,” Mayfied said. “I love coach Bowles and the staff. I’m happy to be here and I want to win more in the postseason.” https://t.co/Y4mRr8sGOI
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 10, 2024
Baker Mayfield was at a bit of a crossroads in his career before last season started. In 2022, the Cleveland Browns' former No. 1 overall draft pick in 2018 was traded to the Carolina Panthers, where he played just six games before being traded again to the Los Angeles Rams midseason.
Then, with the Buccaneers looking to replace legend Tom Brady, they signed Mayfield to just a one-year deal in 2023. No one quite expected Mayfield to deliver like he did, but he did, and in doing so, made the transition from him to Brady fairly easy.
In 17 starts, he led the Buccaneers to a 9-8 season, which was actually one win better than the previous season under Brady. And not only that, he kept the division streak for the team going by winning the NFC South for the third consecutive time, then winning their Wild Card game over last year's NFC Champions, the Philadelphia Eagles, in a 32-9 rout.
Mayfield threw for a career-best 28 touchdowns and 4,044 yards, which ranked seventh and ninth in the NFL last season among quarterbacks. He also had a career-best 64.3 completion percentage. These efforts earned him a Pro Bowl selection and third place in voting for the AP's Comeback Player of the Year award, per Pro-Football-Reference.
How could anyone argue this wasn't the best move for all parties involved? But if you need more influencing, here are a couple of reasons why this move works for both Mayfield and the Buccaneers.
Mike Evans is also returning to the Buccaneers
The Buccaneers ended the 2023 season with a few question marks that resided in their best offensive players in Baker Mayfield and MIke Evans. Both were hitting free agency with no real certainty either would be returning.
Evans then made the first move, signing a new two-year, $52 million contract with incentives with the Buccaneers. Perhaps that enticed Mayfield a little more to not seek employment elsewhere and stay with what he not only knew best but played best with.
Mayfield and Evans were a near-perfect duo last season, connecting for 1,255 yards and 13 touchdowns — tying a career-best — during the regular season and another 195 yards and a touchdown in the postseason.
An easily winnable NFC South again
The Buccaneers have taken the division crown three straight years but in two of those, they've had to win only eight games and nine games to do so. The NFC South is by far one of the weakest in all the NFL, mostly because it's fairly elite quarterback derived, making Mayfield the de facto leader of the division.
There were talks that Mayfield could have entertained the idea of still staying in the division by signing with the Falcons but that never seemed to materialize much in either direction of Atlanta or the quarterback himself.
Baker Mayfield feels wanted by the Buccaneers
Mayfield seemed to have completely revived his career going back to his few games he had with Sean McVay and the Rams at the end of the 2022 season. But he increased that idea during the 2023 season, where he flipped the narrative on himself that made teams want him.
The Buccaneers were obviously the team that showed the most interest in the former Heisman Trophy winner last season, signing him to what some would call a prove-it type season. The pairing of the two now seems to be that of a mutual partnership met with gratitude, where both parties want and need the other.
Mayfield came through on his end of the initial deal and now the Buccaneers have come through on theirs, signing the 28-year-old to a new lucrative deal that sets the team up well for success.
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