Peter Schrager: Baker Mayfield Played Hardball
March 11th, 2024
Tough contract negotiations.
Baker Mayfield wanted to come back to the Bucs. More importantly for his financial portfolio, Mayfield’s representatives knew the Bucs needed him more than he needed them.
That was the implication today from closet Bucs fan and well-plugged-in “Good Morning Football” co-host Peter Schrager. He stated he knows how the Mayfield contract talks with the Bucs went. Joe knows who Schrager talks to so Joe fully believes him.
Schrager, on his show this morning seen on NFL Network, said the talks were “not smooth” and that Mayfield had every intention of testing the free agency waters with legal tampering beginning at noon today.
On Friday, in response to a question from the “Sage of Tampa Bay sports,” JoeBucsFan.com internationally-renowned columnist Ira Kaufman, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht said “Door No. 2 is right here,” if Mayfield left.
The implication was Kyle Trask was warming up in the bullpen (surely Licht was not thinking of starting John Wolford).
Mayfield’s camp apparently didn’t take Licht’s claim seriously.
For the Bucs to keep Mayfield from talking (legally) with other teams, Licht had to pony up, Schrager said.
“These negotiations were not smooth sailing,” Schrager said. “Baker was going to test the market. [The Bucs] had to step up their offer.
“[Mayfield] wasn’t just coming back at a hometown discount. He still was on that edge [of talking to other teams during legal tampering]. He got what he wanted and he got what he deserved.”
Schrager directly cited the Daniel Jones contract with the Giants as a standard Mayfield’s camp used to get Mayfield his bread. (Meanwhile, Mayfield didn’t get close to Jones money.)
Joe mentioned that more than once before that Jones’ contract was the new bar for negotiations. Readers howled in protest. But that’s the way the business world works; it’s not the neighborhood bar fantasy league.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:05 am
Monumental mistake
March 11th, 2024 at 11:06 am
“[The Bucs] had to step up their offer.”
So…possibly $25m/year?
At any rate, I hardly consider the deal Hardball. It’s a team friendly deal.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:07 am
Seems like a good deal.
Both sides happy.
Let’s go (Bucs)!!!
March 11th, 2024 at 11:08 am
Didn’t he get a little better than the Geno deal forget the jones contract he got barely over what everyone on this site was screaming about a lil over 30 a year or am I tripping
March 11th, 2024 at 11:09 am
1sparkybuc Says
“Monumental mistake”
I would have let him test the market myself. At least during the legal tampering period. Players and teams often do so in order to judge value.
Still…he is worth keeping at this deal. My only concern was long term commitment in case he bombed (possibly).
March 11th, 2024 at 11:09 am
Oh the haters are really going to boil now. To soothe themselves they were trying to claim it was Licht telling Baker his worth but seems now it was the other way around. Still…..I see a discount from Baker – just not the outrageous very team friendly one people were demanding.
Frankly I give Baker props for or not being insulted . If this was what hardball gave him the offer before must been well below what was called for.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:10 am
The Bucs had no leverage, because they had NO IDEA how Trask would perform in a regular season game. After four years you would think that the team would give the primary backup some playing time. The deal isn’t that bad considering the market for other mid tier QB’s.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:10 am
@Buccaneer rick
You are right. A few here suggested $40m/year. I think one of the Joes even mentioned it.
I think it is a good deal…and I was one of the skeptical ones.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:13 am
Tony, you are assuming Peter Schrager is telling the truth, or that he was told the truth. This is, after all, the season of lies.
But in response, I find it very comforting that the Bucs offered him his true value first. Negotiations tend to come in low to start, so I don’t see how anyone’s blood would ‘boil’.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:13 am
Joe-
Weird flex if the Daniel Jones contract was the bar for Mayfield, considering Mayfield got paid a good bit less than Jones.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:14 am
25mm per year makes sense for both sides….If Bucs payed more they would overpay…..He was drafted on 2018…and had 2 good years, nothing exceptional.So if he pretended top tier money he needs more consistency
March 11th, 2024 at 11:16 am
Well, ALL of these QB salaries are bonkers, so it’s hard to decide what is team-friendly and what isn’t. I think, since it’s not a Josh Allen/Patrick Mahomes-type deal, with the new higher-than-expected salary cap, and the Bucs can get out of it in two years with no real consequences, it’s a very team-friendly deal. And Mayfield still got PAID.
I have a good feeling that Mayfield is the long-term answer, and we’ll be restructuring and extending him after two years. But if not, hey, we can get out pretty painlessly.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:18 am
Of course, he should have played hardball. He was brought in on a one year deal to prove it. He proved it.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:18 am
For a starting quarterback, I think the deal was good for both parties. Now let’s extend Wirfs, reach a deal with Winfield, and go out and sign (or trade for) a pass rusher.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:18 am
good on bake for getting his $$. Can’t blame the guy but wish we had tested other options for leverage….
March 11th, 2024 at 11:22 am
So does this make Kyle Trask the second biggest waste of a draft pick in Buccaneer history?
March 11th, 2024 at 11:22 am
Good guaranteed money, bit of a hometown discount to give some wiggle room to get a couple more FA. Win win
March 11th, 2024 at 11:23 am
As we found out with Tom Brady, three years go by very quickly. It seems that Mayfield is betting on himself, again, although with a little more breathing room.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:24 am
Notice, it’s only a three year deal the Bucs can get out of after two. I’m sure Baker would’ve prefered five years, but if he plays good that still could be. Interesting to see if a QB falls to 26 will they pull the trigger.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:25 am
This is why you start Trask in meaningless games and at least see if you have a pro QB on the roster. If Trask had one decent game the Bucs had more leverage.
Anyway, doesn’t matter. Win a Super Bowl or blow it up and start over in a couple years.
#TankforManning2026?!
March 11th, 2024 at 11:25 am
Don’t be mad at what Baker got. Its todays going rate. 20 mil a yr would have been an insult. The days of cheap are gone guys. That even applies to the cost of living for us. Ruck up..its just the way it is. Now get me a pass rush Bucs. Go get Chop Chop Robinson with our 1st pick. Give’em hell next year.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:31 am
Buccaneer Bonzai Says:
March 11th, 2024 at 11:13 am
Tony, you are assuming Peter Schrager is telling the truth, or that he was told the truth. This is, after all, the season of lies.
I am assuming the Joes don’t lie and I am pretty sure they don’t The say they know the source which means its someone right there close but Journalist can never give you that because anonymity is required
We both know you are just calling the veracity of this into question because it blows up your self soothing ( and nonsensical) narrative the salary confirms Baker as average. Since Baker was the one pushing the prices it shows he was taking a discount and your whole narrative blew up into fragments of dust.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:35 am
The Bucs went from cap strapped with Brady, to cap strapped with Mayfield. Brady paid off. Mayfield can’t carry a mediocre team, and the Bucs can’t afford any real impact free agents. Too many holes left to fill, and a tougher schedule. I don’t expect much this season or next. It may not be a lost decade, but it’s not a great start imo.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:35 am
It’s the Bucs and Bakers, best interest for each to say the other side played hardball. Obviously they agreed to sign to a flexible and cap friendly contract? Both sides leave the table feeling like they got a good deal.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:36 am
Any side that holds the money always has leverage. if someone is selling you a fence and wants 20 grand and is firm on it, one mention of Thank You I’m gonna shop around, and the seller will move.
Play hardball all you want but if the best you have is an 85 MPH fastball you are not getting Verlander money period.
Agent knew Jones money was out of the question with the first 3 chuckles it gave GM’s during the no tampering tampering time.
As soon as Patriots got rid of Mac Jones and it looked like they were drafting a QB, Pittsburgh was going discount and Denver didn’t want a Runt possibilities were running out. All that was left in FA would mean going toe to toe with Cousins.
Better stick to competing against guys like PJ walker and Trask.
Call it 3 years 115 million to look impressive but it’s really just a 2 year 50 million deal with some perks for performance.
It’s a lot better than the 4 he got last season and he didn’t have to risk not having a job in 2024 should Licht had decided to go with Bargain Fence Co.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:40 am
T McGee, no team in the NFL does what you suggest. There are no meaningless games unless you are mathematically eliminated from playoff opportunity.
Franchise tag for QB is 36 million and change. It was a team friendly deal despite what haters say. Go Bucs
March 11th, 2024 at 11:44 am
If Mayfield produces the way he did this year he will make Daniel Jones money basically. Jones is at $40mm and Baker should get $38.5. Of course New York has high taxes and Florida has none so I’m sure that was taken into account. So there really wasn’t much of a hometown discount except that some of it must be earned as incentives
March 11th, 2024 at 11:47 am
Buccaneer Bonzai Says:
But in response, I find it very comforting that the Bucs offered him his true value first.
Seriously do you even read the nonsense you write? True value is market value. SO if they offered him true value then why the day before free agency did they up the offer since they would think no one is going to offer him more?
and why would it be comforting to know that the Bucs paid a player above his true value? Makes not a lick of sense and you are just embarrassing yourself.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:48 am
Overall it’s a relatively decent contract for both sides. Mayfield gets a nice yearly pay plus incentives, and the Bucs get to move on after essentially 1 year if he bombs (a tad costly, but doable). And with the incentives, if he does well … fantastic. So will the Bucs.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:49 am
Jason Licht apparently thought that 5 mil contract bought more gratitude than it did, lol.
I still think the contract will prove to be more than what we heard. Licht should never have wasted that franchise tag on a safety. There are literally unemployed probowl safeties everywhere today. We had leverage on Winfield. We would have kept him, and not overpaid like ended up happening.
Instead, we gave Mayfield all the leverage. We were desperate to keep him. We had no plan B
He would have had several offers today. Thats why Licht had to sign him yesterday. No way you risk losing him.
And if Baker gets the Flu- the Bucs will start John Woolford.
No way they ever put Trask in a real game. Not even when Mayfield was hurt last year.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:54 am
This is pretty much what I’ve been saying for weeks and weeks. Baker gets 100m over 3 years, split 30,30 and 40 with 50 guaranteed in the first two years. Let’s see if he and Mike can get us back to the playoffs. My expectations are not high enough that we’re in the mix for another superbowl, but getting to the 2nd or 3rd round of the playoffs will do. Bowles still needs to go. Go Bucs.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:55 am
Anyone who thinks this was not a fair deal is just a Baker hater. This was a very fair deal and he would have gotten more on the open market after Cousins signed. No way he would not.
March 11th, 2024 at 11:57 am
If you take his income from last year and think of this as a 4-year deal, it looks even better!
March 11th, 2024 at 12:13 pm
D Cone Says:
March 11th, 2024 at 11:36 am
Any side that holds the money always has leverage. if someone is selling you a fence and wants 20 grand and is firm on it, one mention of Thank You I’m gonna shop around, and the seller will move.
Dcone stick to blog comment because its now beyond obvious you don’t know a lick of business. Everyday buyers say they are going elsewhere and end up having to come back to the seller having run out of viable options. Your sense of business seems to be limited to yard sales.
Thats exactlty what happened to the Bucs and Licht. He bluffed with Trask Baker’s team laughed and said fine we are going free agency and then Licht did a mea culpa raised the offer because he knew he had no good options.
(Do we need any more confirmation of how bad trask is seen as a QB?)
Pretty easy to figure out given the statements from Licht and the sudden change. Joe’s article and sources confirm it.
The End.
March 11th, 2024 at 12:14 pm
“This is why you start Trask in meaningless games and at least see if you have a pro QB on the roster. If Trask had one decent game the Bucs had more leverage.”
How many meaningless games in the past two seasons were there?
March 11th, 2024 at 12:14 pm
They ended up where they should’ve. I don’t love the deal from the team standpoint, but I don’t exactly loathe it either. It’s fair value for a guy who isn’t exactly perfect.
March 11th, 2024 at 12:15 pm
Haters still hating, and Trask still ain’t playing!!!
Lolololololololololololololol
March 11th, 2024 at 12:17 pm
Bucs will want to renegotiate after year 2. The best in Baker is yet to come. Baker will still be a very young man when the Bucs insist after year 2 on a bigger and longer contract. There is at least one NFC Championship in store if Licht can fix the O line. Doesn’t have to be a big money dump. Browns picked up discarded guard Wyatt Teller, beefed him up, and turned him into an All Pro.
March 11th, 2024 at 12:27 pm
JK Says:
March 11th, 2024 at 12:15 pm
Haters still hating
And showing their silliness will never end. They can’t even count.
Atlanta. Vikings, Raiders and Denver still need QBs and they think it comes down to a head to head with cousins.. yikes! Math class please.
March 11th, 2024 at 12:29 pm
It’s the 16th best contract so I’d say both sides came out right where they should have . If anything the Bucs got a bit of a bargain being that Baker was the 12th ranked QB .Bucs still have cap space left over and could even possibly go after a free agent D-lineman .
March 11th, 2024 at 12:35 pm
Student of the game is correct .
March 11th, 2024 at 12:52 pm
Joe mentioned that more than once before that Jones’ contract was the new bar for negotiations. Readers howled in protest. But that’s the way the business world works; it’s not the neighborhood bar fantasy league.
Man are you correct, just not the neighborhood bar fantasy league but a lot of your own blog readers are clueless. I know you can’t say that but it is true.
March 11th, 2024 at 1:11 pm
I do not understand the extreme Baker hate.
Resigning Mayfield was a big mistake compared to what? Starting Trask? I mean, sure, IF you already think the Bucs are in full rebuild mode. Spending the same kind of money on Cousins and getting a QB that plays well in the regular season who falls apart in the playoffs? Tannehill? Pfft. Minshew? “High variance” is the kindest phrase you can apply there. Brissett. Please. Winston? Oh hell no.
Cousins was the only reasonable alternative in free agency but he was a lateral only.
Mayfield is getting paid too much in this contract? How? The contract is basically three years of the 2024 QB franchise tag plus some performance incentives. Given the formula to calculate the price for franchise tag at each position, I’d say his contract was the very definition of “market value”. You couldn’t get closer market value if you hired a home appraiser.
We should focus on drafting a QB even including an expensive draft position trade-up? Look, folks: if anyone ACTUALLY knew anything at all about drafting QBs then Brady wouldn’t have gone in the 6th round and Purdy wouldn’t have earned the nickname Mr. Irrelevant. Drafting a CJ Stroud (as the #2 pick in 2023) is literally winning the lottery no matter what the scouts and GMs would like us to think about their skills. So what would we get in this draft? We don’t have enough draft capital to get the top three QB picks and, even if we did, it would STILL be a lottery win if it worked out. Anthony Richards and Bryce Young are still big question marks, are the not?
Yeah, Mayfield had a great year but the rest of his career has been meh? Folks, he was drafted by the Browns, the poster child of permanently disfunctional organizations; an organization so bad for so long that John Elway threatened to play pro baseball if he was drafted by the Browns… an organization so bad that they signed a fully guaranteed contract with Deshaun Watson, who has so little good character, touching the Walter Payton Award statue would burn him like a vampire touching a crucifix.
I’m not going to claim that Baker Mayfield is a GOAT candidate but what I saw last season was a guy with a whole lot more skill, smarts, dedication, toughness, love of the game, and good character that I ever imagined from a distance. I also saw that Mayfield was not the problem last year when they lost. Many hands contributed to that bad stretch mid-season.
No. I am all for what has happened: secure the FA parts that worked last year – Mayfield, Evans, etc. – and build from there. Mayfield can throw. He can run better than most ever imagined. He’s pretty fast on his progressions. AND he commands the respect and good feelings of his teammates. If the Bucs can buff up the middle of the O-line (I’m looking specifically at left guard), buff up tight end with a true block-AND-catch guy to complement Otton, buff up the run with maybe a tackle-breaking wrecking ball to complement White, and buff up the wide receiver depth, we should be in great shape for the 2024 season on offense. That’s not an impossible ask BUT that’s only true if 2023 version of Mayfield is the 2024 version, too. And I do think that’s possible because coaching and management matter.
The Joes have a great handle on the D-side so no need to make this long post longer.
So, yeah, Baker haters: what’s your plan? What’s your specific analysis?
March 11th, 2024 at 1:16 pm
I don’t even understand this story – Baker got a 2-year $60m deal in reality – with $50m guaranteed.
Clearly the market was not as strong as they thought if they’re claiming he played ‘hardball’, because that’s mediocre money compared to what starting QBs get.
Even the Baker Boi(s) were completely changing their narrative yesterday, to claim that Baker took a huge hometown discount because he’s a great guy – after saying he’d get over $40m a year because he’s a franchise QB. Saying this contract was a huge win for ‘hardball’ Baker is the fakest of fake news.
With that said, I think the deal was fair. If Baker stinks, then the Bucs will eat that 2nd year as they clean house and fire everyone. If Baker is OK, then he’s still under contract for one more year at a fair rate for a non-franchise QB. If Baker levels up and is actually good, then the Bucs got a great value.
March 11th, 2024 at 1:16 pm
BTW, a good deal is a state mind. If Baker is happy and the Bucs management are happy THEN IT IS A GOOD DEAL. If I was Baker I would of waited 1 day, just to see.
I do think living in Tampa is a big plus for Baker, not the best sports town but ranks very high on the tier 2 list. Seems like the players and coachesjell and that means a lot for any sports franchise, this could be the beginning of something very good for Buc fans.
March 11th, 2024 at 1:43 pm
@D Cone, you are leaving out the Falcons, Raiders, and Seahawks, not to mention the Pats would definitely still been in on Baker Mayfield. He had leverage. He CHOSE to stay with the Bucs for a dollar amount he was ok with. He would have gotten more else. It was still the right move for Mayfield, because all of those teams could have signed him last year and didn’t. I guarantee you Baker didn’t forget about being overlooked by those teams last year. He’s in the right place.
March 11th, 2024 at 1:47 pm
@Rod Munch, smh. Here we go again with your negative spin. Go screw yourself with your horrible takes. I’m sorry Baker stole your lunch, or your girlfriend, or whatever the real problem is that you have with the guy, but get a life for yourself at this point.
March 11th, 2024 at 1:58 pm
Chris Says:
March 11th, 2024 at 1:47 pm
@Rod Munch, smh. Here we go again with your negative spin. Go screw yourself with your horrible takes. I’m sorry Baker stole your lunch,
…….
His boyfriend probably says Baker’s name when they are doing the nasty.
March 11th, 2024 at 2:17 pm
Baker deal as is with incentives is roughly 38 X 3 =114. That’s pretty close to $40m/yr. As a free agent Baker would have gotten $40/yr for 3 with a larger guarantee. But, hey, he is happy with Tampa, the team, and the coaches. Hope the naysayers relax and cut Todd Bowles some slack this year. He did pretty well last year with a new QB, new OC and some defensive holes that he did his best to cover up. Bucs somehow got pretty close to beating a solid Detroit team. That didn’t happen accidentally. Bowles was steady all year. He treats grown men like men. Much different than the snarling Sean Peyton approach.
March 11th, 2024 at 2:22 pm
Rod Munch Says:
March 11th, 2024 at 1:16 pm
Even the Baker Boi(s) were completely changing their narrative yesterday, to claim that Baker took a huge hometown discount because he’s a great guy – after saying he’d get over $40m a year because he’s a franchise QB
–
There are quite a few Haters on this blog but none L-I-E like a rug like you do. Baker bois have changed no story. Many like myself said 30-35 . Yes a few said 40 mill but they have said with incentives that this is within their ball park. At any rate 35 -38 with incentives is no Huge hometown discount. Its a discount but not huge
Finally the story is what it is and the sources are legit. As usual you just can’t live with facts. The offer was lower by those fact and came up to keep Baker from going to free agency.
You don’t mean you don’t understand. You mean you won’t accept the facts. What else is new?
March 11th, 2024 at 2:26 pm
It’s a fair contract all around. I KNOW Baker feels he’s better than Danny Jones… he’s said so on multiple occasions. And I’m sure it bugs him that DJ got that money. But he’s a realist who would really rather WIN than worry about money, and he can always make more on endorsements – he’s actually pretty good at them.
Buc’s can get out easily after 2 years, less easily after 1, but if he blossoms and plays better next year (which I expect he will) they will have to re-negotiate again.
March 11th, 2024 at 2:33 pm
Its basically a 2 year $60M deal.
Roughly the same as Geno Smith’s deal adjusted for 2 years of inflation.
Not exactly hardball.
Fair deal for both sides IMO – just like Licht predicted.
Limits the Bucs liability if Baker regresses and gives Baker a chance to earn up to $5M per in incentives and $40M in year 3 if he plays well.
Win – Win
Bucs get the best QB on the market who has already proven himself capable in our system and a great leader – Baker finally gets a “home” with a good stable team that offers appreciation and respect…. Oh and having Evans, Godwin and Rashaad White to throw to doesn’t hurt either……
March 11th, 2024 at 2:43 pm
Pickgrin Says:
March 11th, 2024 at 2:33 pm
Not exactly hardball.
Hardball does not refer to final rice. It refers to what you were offered that you refused.
March 11th, 2024 at 3:07 pm
Tony Marks – Go look at the contract breakdown – it’s a 2yr/$60m deal in reality I thought he’d get between $27m-30m, and that’s what he got. Next year, if he stinks, they’ll cut him and eat the $20m because everyone will be getting fired anyways. If he’s OK like he was this last season, then he’ll probably stick around – and if he’s good, the Bucs got a good value.
The deal is fair to both sides, I have no issues with it other than people who said all offseason he’s a franchise QB and will get franchise money, now trying to claim this is what they said all along and what a fantastic amazing guy Baker is for taking an undermarket deal…
March 11th, 2024 at 3:09 pm
Hardball lmao what a joke he didn’t even make it to free agency
March 11th, 2024 at 3:38 pm
Goodbye Curtis Godwin.
March 11th, 2024 at 3:44 pm
100 mill is no bargain box this is a boat load of money u people try to down grade his value is stupid there are several teams that will b stuck with QB that don’t want baker had way more than 1 option I wud bet that atl wud of paid him more than Tampa that’s why they waited to sign cousin til after baker signed with bucs I bet they figured a better deal with baker at 29&40 mill was way better than cousins for 45 mill with 100 mill guarantee money 36 & injured I bet this year cousins plays much diff.after that serious injury what a high gamble they r taking much more than bucs
March 11th, 2024 at 3:46 pm
I wouldn’t have gaven im more than 15 before incentives. Damn shame the cap space allocated to pedestrian QB.
Baker completed 40% of his passes vs ATL and Carolina. 9 pts on Carolina. Got wrecked by the Saints.
I’ll root for Baker just like I did last year. Just like I rooted for Winston til he was gone. Just like I rooted for Simms, McCown, Gradkowski, etc.
But my early prediction is that Baker, Bowles, and probably Licht too, will be gone by the end of Baker’s deal.
We are stuck in an era of 5-11 to 10-7 potential. 9-8 last year doesn’t warrant 30+ mil a yr. Rather have Russ and let the Broncos pay his salary lol.
March 11th, 2024 at 3:52 pm
Typical rod munchkin post dreary & dumpster quality as usual 100 mill is serious money u can pick something apart they teach u that in elementary school u need to graduate to high school u r no beginner but still talk like u b a beginner and in the lower tier of classmates
March 11th, 2024 at 4:47 pm
Wrong decision Jason big mistake, huge mistake!!!
March 11th, 2024 at 4:53 pm
The cap went up a shoot-ton, we got our QB signed at a fair market rate and our GOAT WR signed at a fair price and now we have cap chee$e to go get a good guard fill a couple holes on the defense and then we’ll be ready to rock and roll!!! Go Bucks!!! ⚔️🏴☠️⛵️🏴☠️⚔️
March 11th, 2024 at 4:55 pm
Sorry stupid autocorrect… Go Bucs!!!
March 11th, 2024 at 5:03 pm
Rod Munch Says:
March 11th, 2024 at 3:07 pm
Tony Marks – Go look at the contract breakdown – it’s a 2yr/$60m deal in reality I thought he’d get between $27m-30m,
Nonsense . Its a three year deal which comes out around 100 Million dollars. What you are attempting to do now is break it down in terms of guarantees and when the bucs can get out which was not generally what was disccussed under the 32-35 range or even the 40 million.
So as usual you guess was off. its not a maximum average 30 per year. Its above that and then when you add incentives of 5 million a year then it gets a bit higher. As one of the chief Baker Bois you like to key in on my claim was 30-35 .
So your attemtpt to paint some wide brush on your beloved “baker bois” ( that occupy your head space for free) is you again misrepresenting.
Furthermore The silliness of bringing the “Baker bois” into this is –
posters here have NOTHING to do with negotiations
SO even if you had not misrepresented it does NOTHING to invalidate the post by the joes or their the source they are aware of. It s TOTALLY irrelevant. We must really loom large in your mind for you to think we are such standards in Buc negotiations that we contradict the veracity of the post by th Joe and make if fake news.
March 11th, 2024 at 6:13 pm
Pryda: Exactly, that was my first thought. Hardball would have been entering free agency. This is a damn good contract for both sides.
March 11th, 2024 at 7:12 pm
Average in this year and that is 25 m for 4 years. Everyone wants him to fail so that means Baker gets to prove em wrong again. This is still a prove it deal. Expect Baker to do better than this year with the Rams offense.
March 11th, 2024 at 9:29 pm
Gipper Says:
“Baker deal as is with incentives is roughly 38 X 3 =114. That’s pretty close to $40m/yr. As a free agent Baker would have gotten $40/yr for 3 with a larger guarantee. But, hey, he is happy with Tampa, the team, and the coaches. Hope the naysayers relax and cut Todd Bowles some slack this year. He did pretty well last year with a new QB, new OC and some defensive holes that he did his best to cover up. ”
To the folks on this board who thinks Baker was worth $25M or less and not a penny more, you have no idea how freaking lucky you are that Baker is a team guy. It annoys me he had to play hard ball to basically get the worst deal out al the free agent QBs because he put winning, team success and family over money. He could have easily signed for the Derek Carr deal in Minnesota who tried to bleed through the nose to keep Cousins and still lost out to Atlanta for $100M guaranteed with $180M total for 4 years. Baker will make 3 years $100M with only have of that guaranteed. Cousins will make that in 2 years with all of it guaranteed. Baker should have taken my advise and fired his agent and grow-up as a business person. He fleeced himself again in terms of dollars. I truly think the deal will make him a much more successful NFL QB which obviously mean more to him than the dollars.
Imagine a world at 5 PM today Baker signed with Minnesota, the Falcons land Cousins and we are left with Trask. What do you think about our chances at having home playoff games or even making the playoffs for the next 3 years?
Say your prayers every night and thank Baker and Licht.
March 12th, 2024 at 2:59 pm
Baker WOULDVE been a falcon now if they hadn’t paid him. It’s not hardball though…that #s 180 million. Baker held out for a decent payday, then signed…not the BUCs can go get their other players.
Go BUCS!
March 12th, 2024 at 5:38 pm
Would’ve preferred Baker to sign with the Falcons for 100 million or more. Maybe he would’ve done us a favor and completed only 40% of his passes against us like he did against ATL the last time we played lol.
Don’t overpay for position just because others are. Just because Joe overpays for a bag of snicklefritz, it doesnt mean you should too.
You can draft a half decent QB to compete w/ Kyle or another bargain vet. I’d have preferred Tyrod Taylor competing or backing up Kyle Trask than settling for this 5-11 to another 9-8 season.
Overpaid way too much for an avg NFL caliber QB. We overpaid to keep a QB and we’re very likely going to regress if we don’t draft really, really well or see some massive improvements from players and coaches on both sides of the ball.
March 12th, 2024 at 5:55 pm
Big Red and Robbie, Bucs fans will expect a post from you guys saying you were wrong when Tampa Bay is 12-5 and headed to the playoff, again.
If Evans is truly gone, draft Stoops from OU in later rounds. Solid pass catcher over the middle. Finds the open spot and excellent safety valve out of the slot.
March 12th, 2024 at 6:00 pm
Why would any Buc fan dislike our quarterback so much they prefer Atlanta to steal him and beat the Bucs 2X a year? Big Red? You need to watch some more film man. You’re not gettin it.
March 13th, 2024 at 5:53 am
He got his money, now let’s see if the Bucs get his intensity. They had better fix the O line. Carlton no big loss, however, fill in those D corners and a replacement for White wjth a string linebacker. Then at the least the defense has a chance to save the offense.