Baker Mayfield’s $165 Million Deal Flips a Bucs Tradition

Baker Mayfield agreed Tuesday to a three-year, $165 million Buccaneers extension through 2029. The deal arrived five days before Tampa Bay opens at Cincinnati and is the largest contract the club has ever signed.

It pays $55 million a year, matching Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence and Matthew Stafford. Only Patrick Mahomes at $64 million and Dak Prescott at $60 million sit higher. The same franchise that once gave Tom Brady two years and $50 million just wrote that check for a quarterback it signed in 2023 for $4 million, and it did so after Mayfield halted talks at camp and after Mike Evans left for San Francisco.

The team posted the agreement Tuesday evening.

Buccaneers Reach Agreement With Baker Mayfield

Mayfield’s four-year deal, which includes a three-year extension, ties the two-time Pro Bowler to Tampa Bay through the 2029 season.#WeAreTheKrewe | @Buccaneers

Press Release: https://t.co/7Eg0XGoVVc pic.twitter.com/AZIFqR2cNQ

— Buccaneers Communications (@BuccaneersComms) September 8, 2026

The $4 Million Camp Arm Owns the Record

Mayfield, 31, was the No. 1 pick in 2018. Cleveland traded him to Carolina in July 2022, the Panthers waived him on December 5, and the Rams claimed him a day later. Tampa Bay brought him in on March 15, 2023, on a one-year prove-it deal and let him compete with Kyle Trask and John Wolford to replace Brady.

He won that job after the second preseason game and has started every regular-season snap since, 51 starts in a row. Owner Joel Glazer put the new money next to that run.

Baker’s arrival marked an important new chapter for our organization, and over the past three years he has established himself as the unquestioned leader of our franchise.

Joel Glazer, Buccaneers owner and co-chairman, team announcement

Glazer also called the pact the largest in franchise history. Brady’s two-year, $50 million deal had been the old high-water mark at the position. Mayfield’s own March 10, 2024, extension, three years and $100 million at $33.33 million a year, had been the club’s previous quarterback ceiling. He was the 16th-highest-paid starter on that number, and the 2024 tape made it look cheap: 4,500 yards, 41 touchdowns, a 71.4% clip and a 106.76 rating.

MAYFIELD’S THREE BUCS CONTRACTS

1. March 15, 2023: Signs a one-year, $4 million prove-it deal, fully guaranteed, with a $2.875 million signing bonus.
2. March 10, 2024: Signs a three-year, $100 million extension with $50 million guaranteed and a maximum of $115 million.
3. September 8, 2026: Agrees to a three-year, $165 million extension at $55 million a year, keeping him through 2029.

The club described Tuesday’s paperwork as a four-year contract that includes the three-year extension, covering the 2026 season already on the books plus three new years. Across 2023 through 2025 he ranks second in the league with 95 touchdown passes and third with 12,237 passing yards.

THREE TAMPA SEASONS

• Touchdowns: 95, second in the NFL over that span, on 28, 41 and 26 in successive years.
• Yards: 12,237, third in the league, including a career-high 4,500 in 2024.
• Availability: 51 consecutive starts, with no missed games in pewter.

That production is why the money moved. The path to get there is why the number still lands with a jolt.

How the New Contract Pays Through 2029

League contract reporters, including Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter, put the extension at $165 million. Dan Graziano added the guarantee stack: $110 million in new guarantees on top of the $40 million already guaranteed for 2026, for $150 million total. Contract reporter Greg Auman has said that figure should cover Mayfield through 2028, with 2029 left nonguaranteed.

The average of $55 million slots him into a crowded tier rather than on an island. Over The Cap’s board, before Tuesday, already had five other quarterbacks at that same annual number.

THE $55 MILLION QUARTERBACK TIER

Jared Goff and Brock Purdy sit just under that line at $53 million. Mayfield had said he did not need to reset the market. He wanted pay that matched two NFC South titles, a 2023 playoff win, and a 2024 season that ranked with anyone’s. The new average does that without jumping Mahomes or Prescott.

Spotrac still carries a $39.975 million cap hit in 2026, about 13.3% of the league cap, because the new years do not kick in until 2027. He is due a $10 million base salary and a $17 million roster bonus this season on the old structure. Career earnings through 2025 sit at $131,760,454. Free agency, if he plays out the new term, opens in 2030.

Tampa Bay Dodged a February Cap Landmine

The late date was not only about pride. Mayfield’s 2024 contract used void years, and Graziano noted that those years voiding in February 2027 would have dumped a $30.15 million dead-cap charge onto the 2027 books. Tagging him as a franchise player on top of that dead money, he wrote, would have pushed the cap number above $80 million. Signing him now wipes that problem out.

That is the quiet half of Tuesday. Glazer talked about belief and leadership. The ledger also shows a club stepping around a charge that would have wrecked the next offseason. General manager Jason Licht and assistant general manager Mike Greenberg reached out to agent Tom Mills over the weekend of September 5 and 6, after months of silence. Mike Garafolo said the sides had not been that far apart when talks broke before camp, and that Mayfield’s group had even countered with short-term offers. Length was the fight. Tampa Bay wanted two new years through 2028. Mayfield wanted a longer hold.

He had set camp as the deadline and said talks would wait until after the season if it passed. He called the club’s earlier offers disrespectful and said the price would rise “because I’m going to have a great year.” Six weeks later, the longer term and the $55 million average showed up anyway.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The term: Three new years through 2029, described by the club as a four-year contract that includes that extension.
• The rate: $165 million, $55 million per year, $150 million in combined guarantees.
• The cap save: The February 2027 void no longer triggers a $30.15 million dead-cap hit.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• 2029 money: Auman’s reporting that the last year is nonguaranteed has not been posted in full year-by-year form.
• Vesting dates: When the new guarantees become fully guaranteed has not been released.
• Cash by year: Spotrac’s public board still shows blanks for 2027 through 2029 cash.

Licht had sounded relaxed in August. “You’re always comfortable with a great player and you make things work,” he said when asked whether ownership would live with Mayfield’s number. On Tuesday, ownership did.

Sunday’s Opener Comes Without Mike Evans

The other half of the wager is the roster Mayfield will actually throw to. Evans, the franchise’s 1,000-yard constant, signed a three-year, $42.5 million 49ers contract in March, with $14.3 million fully guaranteed. Tampa Bay still carries $13.074 million in dead money for him this year. Linebacker Lavonte David retired. The 2026 skill group now runs through Chris Godwin, Bucky Irving, Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan and rookie Ted Hurst.

Godwin’s cap charge is $33.683 million. Left tackle Tristan Wirfs is at $36,328,582. Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. is at $27.466 million. Add Mayfield’s $39.975 million and the top of the ledger is already crowded. Spotrac’s 2026 board lists the club with $11.85 million in cap space against a $301.2 million league cap and a $317.5 million adjusted cap after rollover.

Mayfield told reporters in June that the two sides were “not anywhere close,” then added that he still wanted to stay. “We’ve built roots here in Tampa. We love the community. We love being here,” he said. “They’ve embraced us, and we enjoy being here and obviously going to raise kids here.” The roots held. The receiver who grew up with this offense did not.

Paying him like a top-five quarterback after Evans walked is the part of Tuesday that will follow him to Cincinnati. The 2023 and 2024 highlights came with that big target on the boundary. The 2026 tape will not.

Six Injuries and an 8-9 Finish

Last season is the other document in the file. Tampa Bay started 6-2 and sat Mayfield in the early MVP chatter, 16 touchdowns against two interceptions through Week 10. The club then went 2-7, finished 8-9, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Four of the eight wins came on fourth-quarter comebacks, and he had four game-winning drives, but the second half of the year stripped the shine off the first.

He never sat, and the injury report still read like a full-body inventory.

THE 2025 INJURY REPORT

• Lower body: Foot, toe and knee, all logged while he kept starting.
• Upper body: Right biceps, both shoulders and an oblique, at different points of the year.
• The cost: Accuracy slipped, turnovers rose, and the rating fell from 106.76 to 90.58.

The 2025 line was 343 of 543, 63.2%, 3,693 yards, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, plus 382 rushing yards. That is still a functioning starter. It is also a clear step down from 2024, and it came in a year he was already due $40 million. The new average asks him to climb back toward the 41-touchdown season without the receiver who defined this offense for 12 years.

Playoff truth sits in the same folder. The 2023 club beat Philadelphia in the wild-card round and lost 31-23 at Detroit. The 2024 club lost 23-20 to Washington in the wild-card round. There is one playoff win on the Tampa ledger. Burrow and Lawrence, now his $55 million peers, have been hunted for the same gap. The difference is that they were paid on the way up. Mayfield got paid after the 8-9 year.

Vita Vea Asked the Front Office to Finish the Job

The Mayfield freeze was not the only public fight. Defensive tackle Vita Vea held in at camp and asked for a trade, then signed a one-year, $30 million add-on last month that added $6 million of new 2026 money. After that deal closed, Vea was asked about the quarterback and did not hedge.

Baker is the heart and soul of this team. You see the energy he brings on game day. So, you know, we feed off of that too, not only the offense. So, you know, I hope things get figured out with him. I know we’d all love to have him. Everybody loves Baker. That’s somebody that you wish to have on your side on game day.

Vita Vea, Buccaneers defensive tackle, August 20 quote sheet

Licht had called Mayfield the heart and soul of this team long before Vea used the same language, and teammates voted Mayfield a captain on Monday with Wirfs, Godwin, Vea, linebacker Alex Anzalone and Winfield. The locker room wanted the deal. The front office had spent the summer acting as if it could wait.

That pattern is now a method. Vea made his unhappiness public and got paid. Mayfield used the word disrespectful, set a deadline, then watched Licht come back anyway. For a club that used to live on short quarterback terms, two hold-ins in one month is a new reflex. It also leaves less room under the cap for the skill players Mayfield still needs.

The $55 Million Floor Lands Ahead of Stroud and Maye

Mayfield’s camp had one eye on the next wave. C.J. Stroud, Lamar Jackson, Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Bo Nix are all in line for new money, and agents have already told clubs that today’s $50 million will be $60 million once the cap rises again. Jayden Daniels and Bryce Young sit in that same window. A $55 million average for a 31-year-old who just missed the playoffs gives those rooms a fresh comparable, even if Mayfield never tried to set the top of the market.

That is the trade Tampa Bay accepted. It bought three years of control before those deals land, and it avoided the February dead-cap mess. It also paid top-tier money to a quarterback whose best work came with Evans and whose last season ended 8-9. The cheap-rental habit is over. The test of the new habit starts Sunday, September 13, at 1 p.m. ET in Cincinnati, with Mayfield wearing a captain’s letter and throwing to a room that no longer includes the receiver who made this offense famous.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who Is Baker Mayfield’s Agent?

Thomas Mills of Capital Sports Advisors represents him. Licht and assistant general manager Mike Greenberg called Mills over the September 5-6 weekend to restart talks after the camp freeze, and Mills is the same agent who closed the $100 million extension in March 2024.

What Did Mayfield’s Rookie Contract With Cleveland Pay?

The Browns signed him on July 24, 2018, to a four-year, $32,682,980 rookie deal that was fully guaranteed, with a $21,849,440 signing bonus, after taking him first overall out of Oklahoma. Cleveland later exercised an $18.858 million option for 2022, then traded him to Carolina for a 2024 fifth-round pick.

When Can Baker Mayfield Become a Free Agent Again?

After the 2029 season. Spotrac lists him as an unrestricted free agent in 2030, when he will be 35, unless the last year is voided or reworked before then. The 2026 season still counts against his old structure, so the new term is the three seasons that follow.

How Did Baker Mayfield Land With the Buccaneers in 2023?

Carolina waived him on December 5, 2022, after a 1-5 run as a starter. The Rams claimed him on December 6 and he started four games, going 1-3, then signed with Tampa Bay on March 15, 2023, to compete with Kyle Trask and John Wolford for the job Brady left in retirement.