Jason Licht Answers Baker Mayfield Contract Question Again
April 29th, 2026
Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht continues to get the same question about extending Baker Mayfield’s contract.
It came again yesterday on The Drive on 95.7 FM WDAE.
“Going into a contract year, have you talked to Baker or his agent about a contract extension?” host Tom Krasniqi asked.
Licht never seems to give a straight “yes” or “no” or a “not yet” when he replies.
“Baker is at the forefront of our mind at all times,” Licht said. “All of our plans revolve around Baker, and that’s something that we’ll get to at some point. I have had a lot of discussions with Baker about the team. We texted during the draft about some of the picks. I know he’s excited about the players that we took. We have a great relationship. Listen, nobody here wants Baker playing for every other team. So I’ll just leave it at that.”
Teams that love their 31-year-old quarterback rarely let him take the field with an expiring contract, as Mayfield’s will after this season. So the Bucs have plenty of time to hash out a deal in a relaxed way.
If Mayfield demands to know who will be coaching him in 2027 — head coach and offensive coordinator — that could throw a wrench into talks.
April 29th, 2026 at 9:55 am
Baker plays well with few INTs and fumbles with offense being top 10 then I don’t see how they won’t extend him 3-4 years. If he is ok to bad then it’s 2 year deal with his replacement being drafted. By game 10-12 we will see the writing on the wall.
April 29th, 2026 at 9:56 am
Baker has to win more than 10 regular season games and a playoff game to get that contract….
anything less than that, he’s walking the plank
GO BUCS!!!!
April 29th, 2026 at 10:15 am
As much as I love the heart and grit Baker has, he’s never going to get us to the SB.
Especially with this HC\DC in charge. An offensive minded coach could probably bring out the best in him. It’s too bad he was never exposed to such a coach. Wait, turns out he was but the Glazers passed.
They love the culture Bowles provides. Baker fits right in with that mind set.
Fall backwards into worthless division titles, only scratch out one playoff win versus a floundering Eagles team, get boat raced by any other team with a pulse, and never sniff a Conference title game.
If Baker gets Mahomes money or better the franchise will be cooked.
April 29th, 2026 at 10:15 am
We are going to build a Top Defensive team in Tampa.
I’m sure if this, we will be adding violent, physical players..
I really believe our defense will be so strong that we can win with a game manager.
That’s what we need at QB, an intelligent game manager
With that said, we are not as desperate to extend Baker Mayfield
They probably want to see how he blend with a good defense
April 29th, 2026 at 10:24 am
Vouch for Baker FWIW
April 29th, 2026 at 10:29 am
With all of the success we’ve had at Lakeland High
We never had a top notch QB, we always had a strong run game, dominant defense
Wayne Peace was the closest thing to a top notch QB for us
And he graduated from Lakeland High in 1980, 46 years ago.
We haven’t had a division 1 QB since
That’s what the Bucs are going to establish in Tampa
Build up the trenches, violent, tough, physical players on both lines
That’s how you win football games, not with a finesse QB
An intelligent game manager, that don’t make many goofy mistakes
April 29th, 2026 at 10:39 am
He’s earned it. And he’ll get it. Tampa Bay will be fair and Baker will be fair. They were the perfect match 3 years ago and they still are. I’m not elated with our first 2 picks- hope I’m wrong. One thing I am not wrong about is that Mayfield has found a team he can win a championship with, but he has never done things the easy way. Ain’t nothing worthwhile easy and our QB knows it and appreciates it- including his opportunity here. I expect he may want to make sure Bowles is here, and Licht, before he signs anything. The money? That won’t be a limiting factor for Mayfield, it never has been. He’s a throwback in the sense that truthfully, he is only concerned about winning. He’s a winner through and through.
April 29th, 2026 at 10:42 am
Baker will be a huge mistake and Licht knows it. He has to be a dominant playoff QB or why hamstring the future?
April 29th, 2026 at 10:46 am
Thank god for bake. We’d have no identity without him. Mike left. Lavonte hung ‘em up. Bake is the face of the team until the next gen takes over.
April 29th, 2026 at 10:58 am
Have to agree with Lynch. I would think that a good offensive minded HC would be able to get the best out of BM and that he’d good enough with a good enough supporting cast to get to a SB…..but it will never happen with TB.
The team success that he and Bowles have had isn’t bad, it’s just that it’s barely above average.
Also – JL’s answers to these questions are non answer answers. There should only be two extension scenarios that work for the franchise: 1) a good but not top of market extension like he signed last time before the season, 2) a top of market deal after he has a great season and gets us to the conference championship game.
If he wants Mahomes or Allen money without the results no thanks. If he wants tier 2 money that works.
April 29th, 2026 at 11:16 am
813bucboi Says:
April 29th, 2026 at 9:56 am
Baker has to win more than 10 regular season games and a playoff game to get that contract….
anything less than that, he’s walking the plank
GO BUCS!!!!
What a stupid comment. If the Bucs implode AGAIN defensively and guys check out AGAIN and Baker is desperately trying to come back from being down AGAIN in the fourth quarter and they wind up with 8-9 wins AGAIN then they are going to dump Baker and go with …. Garoppolo? Right!
April 29th, 2026 at 11:25 am
“If the Bucs implode AGAIN defensively and guys check out AGAIN and Baker is desperately trying to come back from being down AGAIN in the fourth quarter and they wind up with 8-9 wins AGAIN then they are going to dump Baker and go with”
Our last 3 wins of the season, the offense was a non-factor all they had to do is not eff up.
You guys love misremembering fact, just to recount it in some make-believe scenario like the offense was consistently clicking for 4 quarters of any game at any point this past season, to blame “comebacks” on an underperforming defense.
I’ve said it, and I’ll say again when you have to come back in a game your defense allows 19 total points, it means your offense is underperforming.
In fact, that same offensive inactivity is what lost the Dolphins, helped lose the Eagles game, and don’t get me started on the post-bye spike in turnovers.
Maybe chill out on calling people stupid, especially if you’re going to talk like you’re dumb.
April 29th, 2026 at 11:32 am
In order for us to win in the NFL
We have to build up the trenches, offensively and defensively
We need tough, physical, violent football players with high football IQ
I’m not saying we don’t need Baker Mayfield , that’s not my point
My point is, we need to build a tough, physical, complete football team
And we won’t depend on a Superman QB, we won’t have to spend as much
These NFL salaries are getting ridiculous, we need to build away from that
April 29th, 2026 at 11:40 am
Baker is in another prove it year for the second time in 4 years. Cousins gets more love than Baker but hey at least Baker gives the Bucs an “identity”, as someone above posted. Who cares about winning right?
The Bucs love Baker so much they’d rather give him compliments instead of a new contract. Baker will play with his hair on fire this season and he will press, stress and fluster himself. He can’t handle a simple tweet about his former coach which let’s you know he isn’t mentally tough. Have no fear, Baker will do us a solid and help the Bucs pick in the top 5 next year.
April 29th, 2026 at 11:41 am
Apparently, some people have not learned from the Mike Evans experience that you don’t go around pretending that you can make star players hang on a thread until the last minute before offering a decent contract. What will you be saying next year when Mike and Baker are playing catch by the side of the Bay? The notion that Mayfield has anything to prove to you is mind-boggling. If he has a bad season, the Bucs will have a worse one; he will then have suitors galore, while the Bucs will be watching the waiver wire for the Browns to cut another QB. Not to end on a bad note: I think a deal will get done over the summer because nobody benefits from a lame duck quarterback and the uncertainty would gut the team’s morale.
April 29th, 2026 at 11:43 am
WBL. You’re a pretty good football guy. And you love to point out that the Dolphins only scored 3 points in the second half. But WBL. That rookie from Texas, Ewers, hung 17 in the first half in the rain. And , as in the Philly game, when a team dices you up like that in the first half, the offense gets to play catch up and it doesn’t bode well for working out well. Our team was snakebit from the opening bell last year. Defense, offense, special teams, and coaching. It can happen, especially when the injuries start piling up. I’ll be glad when we can put last season behind us.