Mixed Feelings On Baker Mayfield
July 3rd, 2026
A powerful voice in #NFLMedia sees a lot of bias when it comes to Baker Mayfield.
While most ex-players seem to love Mayfield’s game, media in general remains rather polarized when it comes to the Bucs’ franchise QB, says former Jets personnel chief and linebackers coach Pat Kirwan.
Joe notices the same thing and was intrigued to hear Kirwan talk about it on his popular SiriusXM NFL Radio show. Kirwan is at every major NFL event (Combine, Super Bowl, Senior Bowl, Owners Meetings) and he’s a CBS-TV producer. He’s got his pulse all over the NFL and NFL media.
Kirwan talked about the Mayfield contract situation multiple times this week and noted how Mayfield is polarizing, in the same boat as Sam Darnold.
“Baker and Sam Darnold, the story’s already written. The [writers and analysts] are just waiting to publish it. And if he has a bad game, out it comes,” Kirwan said.
Kirwan added that the contract-extension debate about 31-year-old Mayfield further illustrates how Mayfield has supporters and detractors. “If you don’t like Baker, you’ll use age against him. If you do like Baker, you’ll use age for him,” he said.
Interesting to Joe is how hard Kirwan has been lobbying for Mayfield. Kirwan is friend of Todd Bowles and Bowles calls in to Kirwan’s radio show during most weeks of the regular season. Hmmm.
Kirwan has made a case for Mayfield earning Jordan Love money ($54 million+ annually) and he notes that Mayfield surely wants to eclipse older QB contracts like the ones Love and Jared Goff got in past years. “If you give [Mayfield] $52 million, he hasn’t really passed anybody,” Kirwan said.
One pro-Mayfield argument that annoys Joe is one Kirwan likes. It’s about how Mayfield did so well succeeding Tom Brady and few guys could have handled that.
First, the Bucs offense was horrid in Brady’s last year. And second, that argument was for Mayfield’s last negotiation — when he signed a three-year, $100 million deal before the 2024 season. It’s ancient history now and shoudn’t be a factor in a contract extension.
July 3rd, 2026 at 7:29 pm
Uh-oh. NY Post reporting Baker Mayfield is at the Swift/Kelce wedding. Could that mean Baker jumping to the Chiefs?
July 3rd, 2026 at 7:50 pm
Again, absent from this article is how both Green Bay and Detroit took a step backwards after foolishly paying their average quarterbacks big bucks.
The byproduct of going down this path is obvious. Overpay your quarterback and say bye-bye to a chance for team greatness. The math damn near slaps you in the face. When you pay one guy and your ability to sign other stars vanishes, you lose!
Remember when Miami signed Tua to that high dollar extension? The results were devastating and should be a cautionary tale for all teams, especially the Bucs.
One can only hope Jason Licht knows how to both add and read.
30—33 mil or let him walk.
Build a team with a reasonably priced QB and spend the QB savings on a great supporting cast.
Both SB starters combined didn’t come close to what Baker is asking. Result? GOOD TEAMS!
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:04 pm
You can’t give a QB $50+ million a year that couldn’t win one more game in a 2-7 stretch run with a weak schedule.
That would simply make zero sense. Anyone with a brain realizes this.
And we need to see how he plays without Mike Evans as his security blanket.
He can’t throw the ball accurately past 20 yards. And he’s not a pocket passer.
Lastly, going 1-9 in prime time in three years means you aren’t a franchise quarterback.
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:21 pm
What’s amazing about how well Baker did following Brady is that nobody thought Baker Mayfield had a snowball’s chance in hell to do so with any level of success. Most people thought he would do a face plant and the Bucs would be lucky to win 4-6 games in 2023. That was the consensus in the media. That kind of proves Kirwan’s point that the negative story is already written and just waiting to be published when it comes to Baker and when any opportunity presents itself, it becomes a feeding frenzy.
July 3rd, 2026 at 8:30 pm
We deserve better…….
July 3rd, 2026 at 9:13 pm
Pay Baker and let’s all move on to something else. Like who is Bowles backup.
July 3rd, 2026 at 9:36 pm
Baker will make 54M x4. Agree with Joe Bob … time to move on.
July 3rd, 2026 at 10:23 pm
Prime time games don’t mean anything more than regular games on Sundays.
Just stop. How many times are you going to repeat the same nonsense. The team got shredded by injuries and it was a lost year. This year will most likely look much more like 2024 if the offensive line stays healthy.
July 3rd, 2026 at 11:24 pm
There’s lots of argument about what the Bucs can pay a qb. KC of course pays Mahomes a lot. Stanford has a 1-year 55 million contract. Purdy and Darnold make low figures on account of their last contracts but will get big raises soon. Maye and Nix are under their rookie deals. So the Bucs could save cap space by drafting a new quarterback, but that poses big risks and it often takes years to see if the player is top-flight.
The reality is that the team has to pay Baker to keep him. He’s cheap — relatively — this year at around 35 million. Next year we could franchise him but only for near 60 million. To have a franchise qb teams are eventually going to pay up. Or they can save money during a Lost Decade.
July 3rd, 2026 at 11:39 pm
Baker is a Swiftie. Don’t pay him a dollar more until he wins this division
July 3rd, 2026 at 11:57 pm
Yes, Joe.
July 4th, 2026 at 1:57 am
Asking for a fortune and then saying, “Let’s meet in the middle” assumes that the Bucs leadership are morons.
July 4th, 2026 at 3:55 am
Baker has shown nothing that says he has outplayed his value stipulated in his last contract. Yes there is an adjustment for the market as salary caps rise but proportionally it was shown that’s the team around significantly impacted his individual success.
July 4th, 2026 at 5:59 am
He’s under contract for 44 million this season? He can be franchised next season in the 50 range. Why throw a big contract at him now? Bakers not going anywhere for at least two years. So we should all give a flip whether Baker gets a contract now, or not.
July 4th, 2026 at 6:16 am
What should be a factor in his new contract is that he has the 2nd most passing TDs in the entire NFL and 3rd most yards, the two most important QB metrics, and he did it with THREE first time OCs and a rash of injuries and subpar WR support and oline play.
He has earned top of the position money, but so many children in this fanbase want him to take 40 or low 50s.
Anything Mahomes got Mayfield has MORE than earned in the last 3 years, having outplayed Mahomes. if the argument of this “Joe” is that what happened on the last contract is history, Mahomes is QB 2-3 in the entire NFL.
Now, watch ALL22 and you’ll see Mayfield has outplayed his numbers look even more impressive, dealing with the inept play around him and playcallers who put the offense in bad positions over and over again, trying to make this a running team.
July 4th, 2026 at 6:46 am
Baker looked like a very average qb last year. Period.
July 4th, 2026 at 7:19 am
Franchise him (OR let him walk) we immediately have to fork over $30 million in deferred whateveryoucallit
July 4th, 2026 at 9:06 am
I think we take our chances and let him play out his contract. We may already have his replacement in camp. He is not a 55 million dollar quarterback
July 4th, 2026 at 11:11 am
You can tell that Baker is a genuinely good guy. Just watch how his players play for him. It’s a no brainer.
However – he brings the negative stuff on himself by “get your weight up boy” and taunting and all the stuff that goes with having a gigantic chip on your shoulder.
It’s motivating for sure but at the end of the day just have quieter confidence.
July 4th, 2026 at 11:17 am
Kirwan is spot-on. Mayfield is a polarizing player. It’s his personality. You either like it, or you don’t.
Because Baker generates this love-hate thing, both his boosters and detractors are waiting in the wings with “I told you so”.
July 4th, 2026 at 12:18 pm
JA… Detroit took a step back due to the loss of Ben Johnson primarily and Aaron Glenn I’m sure didn’t help either.
Amazing the power of good coordinators! We found out the same thing losing Coen.
Coaching matters folks!
GB… well they just don’t team build well imo. Not knocking the Parsons move but they rarely swing at FAs and haven’t drafted well enough. I don’t think $53-$54 million is a big detriment to team building. Obviously less money would be ideal but good teams, good front offices make it work.
July 4th, 2026 at 12:32 pm
not quite sure what to make of this – seems many folks are hot and panting to rush a Baker extension pronto to “save” 10 or 15 mill a year when Licht blows 10s of millions on underperforming edge rushers annually while the cap rises every year – with the tag does it make sense to extend an injury-attracting QB for multiple years ? I like Baker too but please make it make sense
July 4th, 2026 at 2:44 pm
LM50 watch them give him $50+. You have to remember they “know” how good Baker is and can admit it, where you know how good he is but will not admit it. He will get $50+ because they that know, know and you know nothing about talent. It’s only a matter of time.
July 4th, 2026 at 6:35 pm
COz ,where you been?? He’s won it 2 of the last 3,he was in the hunt for the 3rd and he’ll be in the hunt this season!
July 4th, 2026 at 8:34 pm
Baker is the highest rated QB in NFL post season history and his stats after 8 seasons are identical to Drew Brees. If you don’t pay “Drew Brees” you’re a nit wit.
July 4th, 2026 at 8:44 pm
The guaranteed money is the issue. Guaranteed money is basically a large, inflexible debt obligation and the Glazers don’t do this, unless they know the “investment” will generate the desired return. Tom Brady’s contract had a 100% guarantee and was never an issue because he brought more than just a sold out RJS. The guy was a walk money printing machine for the franchise, because he is the GOAT. Baker doesn’t bring that kind of money to the franchise. So, when everyone says, “The Glazers are cheap!”, they aren’t cheap, they just want a return on every investment they make.
July 5th, 2026 at 3:04 pm
Relatively speaking, very few people who rant about Baker, including myself, know him personally or even have met him. All information comes, by definition, from the media, intermediaries who are thought to have first-hand knowledge. The medium used is basically drama, and drama demands conflict to generate interest. Hence, the polarization attached to almost anyone or anything that gets any attention. The conflicts are oversimplified to make all issues and people binary: pro-anti, love-hate. We are told that covering “both” sides of a story exhausts the possibilities when there are usually multiple positions, but they are pre-divided into two sides for simplification and intensity. This is so pervasive –and profitable– that people automatically think this way because everyone they see or hear or read is in the two-lane race. I really think people have a great variety of opinions about Baker, but the differences, which are often more than nuances, are ignored in order to keep the discussion limited to two sides. Ironically, it is the issues and personalities that are the most complex that are given this treatment.