90 Percent Baker Mayfield Over Brock Purdy
May 19th, 2025
Joe’s not the only one dialed in to how deeply Baker Mayfield is underpaid.
Now it’s getting high-profile national discussion.
NBC Sports popped a video on that subject today featuring Pro Football Talk insider Mike Florio and ex-Bucs QB Chris Simms. Both agreed that if a poll was done of NFL decision makers, they would pick Mayfield over 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy by a 9-1 margin.
Each called Mayfield’s current contract insane (three-years, $100 million). There are two seasons remaining on the deal, 2025 and 2026.
Purdy just signed an extension that added three years and $155 million guaranteed to his rookie deal in San Francisco.
Simms gushed about Mayfield’s “special attributes” and “elite arm,” noting Mayfield can pressure a defense and throw lasers.
While Simms acknowledged Mayfield isn’t the dual-threat quarterback star celebrated weekly after backyard plays, he does enough in that area to be dangerous.
“He makes a lot of high-level throws that I go, ‘Those type of throws are top-4 or 5 guys in the sport type throws,'” Simms said.
Florio noted that he plans to write a story about Mayfield deserving a fat new contract. He added that he may block area code 813 on his phone because that could generate annoyed cut-that-out texts from One Buc Palace.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:33 pm
Money will not keep Baker and the Bucs apart. Baker is thanking his lucky stars for this team and his opportunity. He’ll be a Buc for as long as they’ll let him be. Take that to the bank.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:38 pm
You have an NFL quarterback calling Bakers arm 4th or 5th best, mmm hilarious 😂
May 19th, 2025 at 12:40 pm
I like Baker more but have to consider other positions like skill positions and offensive lines.
Last year the Buc’s offensive line was tops — in allowing only 24% pressure rate. San Fran on the other hand allowed 37% pressure rate. A huge difference.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:41 pm
Mayfield is severely underpaid, probably by at least $12M per year, and closer to $20M when you look at what top-tier QBs are earning.
If the Bucs want to keep Baker long-term, they need to make it right. It’s just smart business to pay people what they’re worth, or slightly more, especially when they’ve already outperformed their deal.
When it’s all said and done, his average earnings with the Bucs could still end up well below the current top 10 QB market, even after a potential raise to $45-55 million/season.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:43 pm
After crawling through 500 yards of s***-smelling foulness I can’t even fathom, Baker has found his long-term nfl home with the Bucs.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:43 pm
I’m not sure why Bucblind is questioning Baker’s arm.
In every analysis of Baker — he is considered to have elite arm strength.
I am curious if Bucblind might even one analyst, coach, or gm that questions in any way, Bakers arm.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:49 pm
When Baker signed his last deal with the bucs, his market value was $25-30M per year. His deal was at the high end of his value. He’s earning his next contract.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:50 pm
Expecting someone to leave up to $20 million per year on the table is absurd. Baker’s already been a massive bargain, and he’s earned a raise, period.
The craziest part? Even if the Bucs bump his salary up, it’ll likely still be team friendly. I know I’m not expecting him to demand top-7 QB money. But paying him fairly shows respect and secures stability at the most important position.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:51 pm
Apparently a bad form of srcasm geno
I agree with Sims, Bakers arm is elite, he throws darts like few can do. Baker and Josh Allen were the only qb’s to throw the ball in the mid 60 mph range at the combine.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:52 pm
I think bucblind from post is a Baker boy no doubt
May 19th, 2025 at 12:52 pm
Pretty sure the Bucs will need to redo his contract some time next year. Letting him play out his contract would be a huge gamble.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:53 pm
@SlyPirate, That’s just not accurate. Baker took less to stay in Tampa. He easily could’ve gone to Atlanta and pushed for Kirk Cousins-type money, but he chose stability, coaching fit, and to bet on himself.
His deal wasn’t “the high end of his value” it was a discount, and now he’s clearly outperformed it. Time for the Bucs to make it right.
May 19th, 2025 at 12:53 pm
Indeed Davy
May 19th, 2025 at 1:05 pm
In fact, Bakers throws at the combine had so much velocity on them they say it stunned his critics that push the narrative of his arm strength is weak and inadequate for the NFL. 😂 Yet Brady has commented several times on Bakers arm strength and his ability to make any throw on the field. The boys are slowly learning the harsh reality.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:06 pm
Not sure this is up to today but…
1. Dak Prescott – $60 million AAV
Josh Allen – $55 million AAV
Joe Burrow – $55 million AAV
Trevor Lawrence – $55 million AAV
5. Jordan Love – $55 million AAV
Tua Tagovailoa – $53.1 million AAV
7. Brock Purdy – $53 million AAV
Jared Goff – $53 million AAV
Justin Herbert – $52.5 million AAV
10. Lamar Jackson – $52 million AAV
Jalen Hurts – $51 million AAV
Kyler Murray – $46.1 million AAV
Deshaun Watson – $46 million AAV
Kirk Cousins – $45 million AAV
15. Patrick Mahomes – $45 million AAV
Matthew Stafford – $40 million AAV
Geno Smith – $37.5 million AAV
Derek Carr – $37.5 million AAV
19. Baker Mayfield – $33.33 million AAV
May 19th, 2025 at 1:07 pm
Lol….Brady should have taken more money? He should take a team friendly deal to keep the talent around him (the talent that makes him look good) take a page from Brady and don’t (MAX!) your contract and short change teammates.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:08 pm
Lol … ‘Mayfield is severely underpaid, probably by at least $12M per year, and closer to $20M when you look at what top-tier QBs are earning.’
Baker isn’t ‘severely underpaid’. He’s paid EXACTLY what he agreed to play for. He & his agent negotiated the contract based on his 2023 performance with us AND his prior performances with Cleveland, LA & Carolina.
Will he almost surely make more on his next contract? Oh ya, assuming of course that he can play roughly at his 2024 level (which was FAR BETTER than any of his previous years). But let’s not all kid ourselves: Baker’s 2024 performance was due to a number of factors well outside his ability to control (OC, OLine, WRs, RBs, TEs etc). He’s surrounded by quality TALENT, and he’s been superb at maximizing that surrounding TALENT.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:14 pm
@Mike C – You’re completely missing the point. Even if Baker got a $20M raise, that would only put him in the $53M/year range — still less than what top 7 QBs like Burrow, Purdy, Allen, and Love are getting now.
And let’s not forget: Baker took $4M to play here in 2023, then signed another under-market deal to stay. So even if he gets a big extension now, his total average pay over his entire Bucs tenure will be well below market value.
That’s literally Brady-style money , taking less than you’re worth over time to help the team.
Brady took team-friendly deals relative to his value at the time. Baker’s doing the same. Saying “don’t max your contract” doesn’t mean a guy should stay underpaid forever.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:14 pm
Baker is being underpaid in my mind.
But, we need to look at the larger picture.
With a few exceptions, players come here or stay here, knowing they’re doing so on team-friendly deals.
That’s how the Bucs organization operates.
Guys get paid a little less (with a few exceptions), but it means money is available to keep or bring in other talent.
Baker, Tom Brady, Mike, Chris, LaVonte, Gronk, Hassan. I’m sure there are more. But they all took less than they could have gotten elsewhere.
To be fair, Baker and Hassan both started (are starting) with prove-it deals.
I agree restructuring Baker’s contract before it ends would be a good idea. And he’s going to be worth a lot more on his next deal. We should pay it.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:20 pm
I think only three of those quarterbacks being paid over 50 million a year deserve to be… maybe Hurtz as well but the other three or so obvious it’s ridiculous.
And Mahomes is a pretty good deal.
Cracks me up seeing what Watson, Prescott and Cousins are getting paid. Absolutely ridiculous. Some really dumb front office out there.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:21 pm
I’d argue that Baker has actually been more team-friendly than Tom Brady ever was.
Brady was the GOAT, so it made sense that even on “discount” deals, he was still earning close to the top compared to his peers. Baker, on the other hand, took $4M to play in 2023, then signed a deal that ranked in the late teens in QB pay, in the middle of a booming QB market too.
Even with a major raise, Baker’s total average pay over his time with the Bucs will still fall well below top-10 QB money. That’s the definition of team-friendly.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:27 pm
@Defense Rules, Sure, Baker agreed to the deal. But “he’s paid exactly what he agreed to” isn’t the same as “he’s not underpaid.” You can sign a deal and still outperform it, which is exactly what’s happened here.
Yes, his past performances factored into the contract, but he also took less to stay in Tampa, turning down more money elsewhere. And now, after clearly outplaying that deal, it’s fair to say he’s underpaid relative to the current QB market.
No one’s saying Baker did it all by himself. Of course scheme and talent matter. That’s true for every successful quarterback. But if we’re going to credit the system and supporting cast, then let’s keep that same energy for guys like Brock Purdy, who’s now making $50M+ a year.
Baker’s earned more, period. Even with a major raise, he’d still be well below the Burrow/Herbert/Allen tier. That’s why people are saying he’s underpaid, not because he didn’t agree to his contract, but because he’s now outperformed it.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:28 pm
From what I have read and seen, Baker tries to emulate older quarterbacks that he respected growing up. Bret Favre was one, he admired the “gunslinger” mentality in Favre and look what ya got, a gunslinger who, in his mind, can make any throw on the field no matter how tight the window and sometimes it bites him just like it bit Brett at times.
Another he respected was Brady. Brady would rather win a superbowl than eek out another $10 million from the team. He would rather see that 10 go to getting and keeping quality teammates. Brady knew it took more than a great quarterback to win superbowls.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:32 pm
People really seem to struggle with the concept of market value.
It’s not much different than real estate (or other supply demand businesses’) your house might’ve cost $300K five years ago, but if the market shifts and it’s now worth $600K, no one in their right mind would say, “Well, you paid $300K, so that’s what it’s worth.” That’s just not how value works.
A contract is signed at a moment in time, not frozen in reality. Baker agreed to his deal then. Since that moment, the QB market exploded, and he’s outperformed the deal on top of it. That makes him underpaid, period.
And if any of the people arguing otherwise owned a home or a business, they wouldn’t settle for less than the going rate just because that’s what they accepted in the past.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:33 pm
Brady, Baker, Evans, and others take the lower end to help the team get good players. Brady did it for years on the Patriots too.
In my humble opinion, I like Purdy but he isn’t worth that kind of money. Cousins too. Way too much. Baker should be making more.
lol – Thank you for the QB salaries. And a lot of them have a large amount of guaranteed money.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:36 pm
They should redo his deal. It just gets more expensive from here
May 19th, 2025 at 1:39 pm
To any commenters saying “Brady deal blah blah blah,” let me spell it out for you:
Baker is already on a Brady-style deal, actually, an even cheaper one when you adjust for today’s market.
Brady took less relative to his peers , he was still near the top in earnings most years. Baker? He took $4M in 2023, then signed a deal that ranked 19th among QBs while the top tier is making $50–60M/year.
Even if he gets a massive raise, he’ll still be well below top-tier QB pay.
So stop acting like he needs to “take less” he’s already done it. Twice. And will likely do it a third time.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:40 pm
Lol … No question in my mind that Baker will get paid substantially more on his next contract, as long as he keeps producing. I’m convinced that Baker saw the Bucs’ situation as the perfect situation for when he signed his current contract, and he was 100% right IMO.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:40 pm
You have to remember, Baker took that $4 million because he was at a low point in his career. I am sure he was questioning his abilities about that time. He was questioning a lot of things in his life at that time. But the adversity forced him to reevaluate his life and he grew up from it and became a better man and better teammate. Isn’t that the goal for all of us? Bakers moment was just documented before the whole world. Baker will continue to get better and better in a lot of ways. He can’t help it, he has a good wife and good teammates.
May 19th, 2025 at 1:46 pm
All the atrocities in the world, this is one i am not willing to cry over. Baker signed the contract, appreciated what he got and balked out (ahem, AWJ). I recall smiles and back slaps around the table, a pregnant wife grinning ear to ear, so why try to generate controversy and animosity. This happens in EVERY field of work…new guy, new contract, and they end up earning more than their mentor.
This kind of constant chatter and scab picking is how you grow a locker room cancer (Aaron Rogers)
May 19th, 2025 at 2:05 pm
@ChiBuc – That’s a sweet and personal take, but let’s be real, this is a business.
Baker smiling at the signing table doesn’t mean he waived the right to fair compensation if he outperforms his deal, which he absolutely has. I’m sure he and his wife are still smiling while watching QBs with less production pull in $50M+ per year.
This isn’t “scab picking.” It’s called leadership, recognizing when someone delivers above expectations and rewarding them accordingly. That’s how you build trust and loyalty in any high-performance environment locker room or boardroom.
May 19th, 2025 at 2:11 pm
The Bucs have showing a willingness to resign a player with 1 year left on the contract. That means to me that with 1 season left next year, the Bucs are about 95 percent certain to resign Baker for another 4 or 5 years.
Especially, one they seem to feel fits their culture.
That seems to be a clear difference with Cincinnati. They have Hendrickson with one year left on his deal and do not seem to be acting like they want to really sign him to an extension.
Both methods can work and have their strengths to them. But I think the Bucs model is a better one.
May 19th, 2025 at 2:29 pm
I hope everyone on the defense got a chance to hear Simeon Rice’s speech today about setting a tone when he played here. Awesome dude.
May 19th, 2025 at 2:34 pm
You can argue all day long that QB’s in the league are overpaid but to say Mayfield is underpaid is BS.
He made the deal. Maybe the Bucs offer was better than anything else that was being offered but he made the deal. He signed the contract.
If he made a bad deal and left 20 million on the table then that is not the first time 20 million went into the wind because of his decisions.
Seems like he is just as good at making deals as he is taking care of the football.
If it were not for a hobbled Big Ben throwing 5 Pics and an Eagles team that who knows what happened to them in 2023 he is an OFer in Playoff wins.
By the looks of Lol’s list there are 18 QB’s that are smarter than Mayfield. At least when it comes to getting what they think they are worth.
We can always blame it on all the OC’s that he had to play for but I am sure the two Back to Back that made him a Division Winner would be omitted.
May 19th, 2025 at 2:35 pm
Remember when the contract was signed and most of the “experts” said it was a ridiculous contract and that he was being overpaid? Remember the experts likely have less knowledge than you about your team, they just happened to be paid for their usually ill informed take.
May 19th, 2025 at 2:37 pm
if they had same salary/years, say Baker’s current deal, who do you pick
May 19th, 2025 at 3:03 pm
If Baker puts up numbers like last season AND the Bucs win a playoff game then the game of chicken begins.
Baker will THEN have clearly outperformed his contract and IF Jason holds him to it so much for a hometown discount when his contract is finally up.
Right now there is balance. The Bucs and Baker have made their gambles and unless the Bucs win, including a playoff game status quo will hold. But IF Baker has a another season like the first two here his leverage will escalate and the Bucs will have to become creative to keep him. I don’t believe he’ll hold out although he probably could, but any goodwill disappears if Jason forces him to honor his deal.
I like Baker as a player and a person but it’s hard to feel sorry for a guy ONLY making 40 million! Just sayin’.
But to give some perspective…It’s not just the NFL it’s the entire nation that is watching wealth shoot ever higher for the top 1%. Actually its worse than that.
The top .1%…a tenth of a percent…own 14%…99-99.9% own another 17% leaving the top 1% stuck with just 31% of all the wealth.
The Bottom FIFTY % own 3%! It’s not a political statement but just a simple fact. The rich are getting richer while the bottom half…not so much.
You can provide your own reasons because as I said this is NOT intended to be political simply FACTUAL. The NFL is just mirroring the rest of the nation.
May 19th, 2025 at 3:05 pm
A division win secures an extension. Am MVP discussion year secures a top 5 contract pay day. He could reshape the market.
May 19th, 2025 at 3:12 pm
BTW If my “IF” holds and the Bucs win 11-12 games and a first round playoff game, guess who else will get a serious bump in his cheese?
Oh noes the “fire Todd now” crowd may be hugely disappointed. Todd earns a paltry 3 million. The top five earn over 15 million!
And the other end of the spectrum also earn more than Todd.
Dan Campbell earns 10 million Mike MacDonald 9 million. Kevin Stefanski earns 3.5 million, Zac Taylor 4.5 and Matt Lafleur 5 million.
May 19th, 2025 at 3:12 pm
Eh, I had to stop taking Simms seriously when he said:
“We look at Tampa Bay, they’re no dink and dunk. It’s lasers down the field all day long”.
Did he not watch a single down of the Bucs last season? Yes, we took about 45 – 50 deep shots, over the course of the entire season. But our offense literally was dink and dunk.
He’s right about Baker’s intangibles and making plays when things break down, but what a dumb / inaccurate way to describe our offense.
May 19th, 2025 at 3:16 pm
On that list that LOL put out who on that list, if he went down, would kill his teams season? Prescott? Maybe. Allen, Burrows and Jackson, definitely. Goff, Herbert and Hurts, probably. But the rest not so much. Purdy had good talent around him, including his line and now not so much so we’ll see how that goes. My point is, and I didn’t mention Mahomes, that a lot of these guys are over paid. Mayfield will get his contract adjusted before the final year, Tampa Bay has a history of paying their players and the guys know that, that’s also why the Bucs get a bit of a break because of the guys realizing everyone needs paid but also they need each other for Rings and that is the culture of unselfishness that is being cultivated here, and I applaude the players for being that way.
May 19th, 2025 at 3:18 pm
Some of y’all are way out in opposite directions.
“Let Em Bake” thinks Baker’s about to reset the entire QB market, while others are still acting like he should play for coupons because he smiled at his last deal.
Reality is somewhere in the middle I think:
He’s outperformed his current contract, is clearly underpaid relative to what others are earning right now, and if he keeps playing at a high level, he deserves a significant raise.
That doesn’t mean top 5 money. It means fair market value for a proven, playoff-caliber QB in 2025, which is still team-friendly compared to what guys like Burrow, Herbert, and Purdy are getting.
May 19th, 2025 at 3:45 pm
I think to extend now would be smart ,,, he gets a raise and we still get a discount
May 19th, 2025 at 3:50 pm
crazy how the salaries have jumped so quickly
Baker’s contract will get redone mid-season if he’s performing
better to lock up a 5 year deal before the annual salaries for starting qb’s are in the $80M range
May 19th, 2025 at 3:52 pm
The bucs will be smart if they wait to pay Baker Mayfield because you don’t want to be in the cowboys situation. You pay for a quarterback that can put up numbers and less be honest with the rules today it ain’t that hard to do . But Dak can’t get them over the hump he plays good in the regular season but chokes in the playoffs. And now they’re stuck with him and he’s wasted a lot of good players prime years and good teams in Dallas just like Romo did . KC almost done that with Alex Smith. I don’t want that for the bucs those are not bad quarterbacks at all but they just can’t get a team over the hump.
May 19th, 2025 at 3:53 pm
“But our offense literally was dink and dunk.”
Not really! If you look at the NFL stats for last season the Bucs completed more 20 yard+ passes than all but FOUR other NFL teams!
Only 12 teams completed more 40yard + completions than the Bucs.
Unless you consider 20+yards dinking then that’s simply not true.
May 19th, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Baker probably be the first to admit it ain’t all him. Hopefully any interaction he’s had with Brady taught him, take alittle less, win a whole lot more.
May 19th, 2025 at 4:29 pm
Bucblind Says:
May 19th, 2025 at 12:38 pm
You have an NFL quarterback calling Bakers arm 4th or 5th best, mmm hilarious 😂
====================================
You are hilarious. Baker arm strength is second only to Josh Allen in the NFL. That info comes from Josh Allen who was in the same combine/draft class with Baker. Mayfield statistically was in top#3 QB’s last year and has had more TD passes in last 2 years than any NFL QB. Quit flattering yourself that you know what you are talking about. John Dorsey who really knows NFL talent selected Baker 1st in the 2018 draft for good reason.
May 19th, 2025 at 4:42 pm
The thing I’ve always had against paying one player almost 20% of the cap is there’s nothing left for anybody else. For example when KAaron Rodger’s got his almost $60 mil a year contract they had to let his best receiver go.
May 19th, 2025 at 5:08 pm
Onei, did you ever consider that it might have been the team or the coach or in Clevelands case, the organization that couldn’t get over the hump? It is rarely just one persons fault in anything.
May 19th, 2025 at 5:32 pm
Those 90% will be proven right this year if:
1-the team can cut down on their mistakes on key drives
2-they stay relatively healthy, and
3-Grizzard can, at a minimum, do as good of a job as the previous guy,
Baker will get us in the superbowl. Not sure if we will win, but we will be in the superbowl in February 2026.
This is our year!!!
May 19th, 2025 at 5:47 pm
“Both agreed that if a poll was done of NFL decision makers, they would pick Mayfield over 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy by a 9-1 margin.”
If that were really the case, I call that recency bias, Purdy’s team was plagued with more injuries, and they didn’t make the playoffs. Poll the same group in 2023, when the 49ers went 12-5, they thumped us 27 – 14 and they lost in OT in the Super Bowl, what do you think they would’ve said then?
I’m not saying I’d want Purdy over Baker, but the whole conversation is so skewed, and I guess with Purdy’s new contract, it makes for good chatter?
May 19th, 2025 at 6:34 pm
Unbelievable … ‘Did he not watch a single down of the Bucs last season? Yes, we took about 45 – 50 deep shots, over the course of the entire season. But our offense literally was dink and dunk.’
OK you got me curious. Did an analysis of each game using the Play-by-Play in Pro-Football-Reference looking at just what they classify as deep throws. Here’s what I found:
o Baker threw a total of 89 deep passes last season.
o Of those, 43 were complete, 41 were incomplete, and 5 were intercepted.
o And oh ya, 8 of those deep passes were for TDs.
o Although not counted in those numbers, he also threw an additional 6 deep passes that resulted in Defensive Pass Interference (DPI) penalties (as good as a completed pass in my book).
So Baker threw an average of 5.2 deep passes per game, which resulted in roughly 1 deep TD every 2 games. That was 95 deep attempts in total, roughly twice as many as the 45-50 mentioned.
I don’t know that anyone has ever defined how many short or deep passes it takes to qualify as ‘dink-and-dunk’ Unbelievable, but just looking at those numbers, I was surprised that we went deep that much (I didn’t think Baker went deep THAT often). What impresses me is how accurate he was (contrary to certain party lines). He completed 43 of 89 deep … 48.3% … last season, with 8 TDs among those completions. For deep passes, that’s outstanding accuracy IMO.
Strange thing is that in some games (Giants, Chargers & Panthers) in the 2nd half of the season, Baker did MUCH better than 48%. He was 16-for-21 deep in those 3 games … 76.2% … with 3 TDs & 0 INTs. THAT surely qualifies as being on fire.