Jason Licht: Team Glazer Phone Call Sparked Weekend Talks With Baker Mayfield Camp
September 9th, 2026
Buccaneers co-owner and Raise The Flags star Ed Glazer.
Team Glazer strikes again.
Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht acknowledged on WDAE radio this afternoon that all was quiet on the Baker Mayfield contract negotiation front late last week. But then there was a phone conversation between Licht and Team Glazer.
Licht said he was “on a school visit” to a college campus with his family for his oldest son when the call happened. (Yeah, that cute little kid from Hard Knocks in 2017 is nearing college age.)
“And while I was on the tour, I had a conversation with ownership and we collectively thought this might be an opportunity this weekend when everybody’s just taking a break from everything to reach out and see if there was any chance that we could maybe reopen talks [with Mayfield’s agent],” Licht said.
“And that’s what happened. We started on Friday and then eventually on Monday got to a place where it looked like things were going in a really good direction. And then his agent took it to Baker, and then we were able to bring it home yesterday.”
If Licht was on a college tour with his whole family, then it sure smells like it was Team Glazer who reached out to open talks. Licht told WDAE host Tom Krasniqi he didn’t “recall who called who.”
Regardless, Licht said adding a 2029 season to the Mayfield contract extension was a win for the franchise — and Licht’s front office team.
“We felt like after giving it a lot of thought, that having the third year [of Mayfield’s contract extension] would be beneficial for us, too, because I don’t want to frick’n be sitting here next year trying to redo another deal,” Licht said. “So it worked out for all parties.”
September 9th, 2026 at 4:07 pm
D-Hop invited for workout ?
September 9th, 2026 at 4:16 pm
This contract could’ve been done months ago
This is a simple contract with little language involved
Why wait untill the week of the opener?
This don’t make much sense to me
September 9th, 2026 at 4:24 pm
Mike Tomlin must have finally given his blessing.
September 9th, 2026 at 4:26 pm
Who cares really?? Who cares when it “could” have been done. Who cares who called who?
The contract is done and things are set.
September 9th, 2026 at 4:40 pm
The Bucs are getting to be known for doing some of their contract extensions in the week before the season opens.
Personally, I think there is nothing wrong with this strategy.
September 9th, 2026 at 4:41 pm
Wow… Sounds like Licht was content to let Baker play out his deal and see how the season went, and then the meddling owners got involved.
So if this deal backfires, is Licht still fired?
September 9th, 2026 at 4:44 pm
One less distraction the organization has to deal with. Now it’s full steam ahead. The only issue now is dealing with injuries, and we should know the extent of that shortly.
September 9th, 2026 at 4:50 pm
Kinda funny how things work out when the owners get involved. If Baker performs like he did the first part of last season then this is a no brainer of a deal for the Bucs. Especially cause we all know the cap is going up and a lot of QB will be getting new deals next year that will make the Baker 55 million a year look a lot better.
September 9th, 2026 at 5:12 pm
That’s what happens when the final decision maker/approver becomes involved. The goal line gets moved. The previous negotiation position of “We aren’t going above X dollars no matter what” becomes “We can go a little higher to get this deal done by this date because it needs to be done by that date so it counts in our numbers for this year.”
September 9th, 2026 at 5:23 pm
So what if Bowles is fired and the new HC wants his own quarterback? All these questions will be answered next year.
September 9th, 2026 at 5:24 pm
“Rod Munch Says:
September 9th, 2026 at 4:41 pm
Wow… Sounds like Licht was content to let Baker play out his deal and see how the season went, and then the meddling owners got involved.”
…………………………………………………………………………
I don’t think Licht had the authority to be content or otherwise with a deal of that size
September 9th, 2026 at 5:32 pm
If you owned an auto repair shop and you called the onsite manager to recommend giving an employee a raise is that meddling?
September 9th, 2026 at 5:32 pm
These Owners, GM and HC are Pathetic!!! & for a Bonus You can throw in, the little Leprechaun at QB!!!
September 9th, 2026 at 5:39 pm
Wow HeavyE as the father of two half irish red headed sons I am offended by your post. Go ahead and dig yourself a bigger hole by coming up with offensive nicknames for these QB,s
Shortest to tallest
Kyler Murray — 5’10”
Bryce Young — 5’10”
Baker Mayfield — 6’1″
Tua Tagovailoa — 6’1″
Brock Purdy — 6’1″
Jalen Hurts — 6’1″
HeavyD is dead. Show some respect.
September 9th, 2026 at 5:39 pm
Yep coulda, woulda, shoulda, but who cares it is done. Yes of course it was a no brainer, but sometimes maybe ownership can’t see the forrest for the trees.
September 9th, 2026 at 5:40 pm
Now it is really on to Cinn.
September 9th, 2026 at 5:49 pm
Licht works for the Glazers and he had his contract parameters on the first round of talks. Baker mouthed off publicly so he had to cool his heels until the owners got directly involved – as you would expect. Gave him a reason to be an angry worker and show his approach to the ‘adversity’ of not being immediately paid more than $33m/yr.
Everyone wins with a $48m over four year deal – keeps the team from being too bogged down with QB cap percentage and gives them options in the out years. The owners aren’t stupid – they know how the cash flow works and cap increases yearly – and how to motivate the team.
September 9th, 2026 at 6:23 pm
Munch: So if this deal backfires, is Licht still fired?
_____________________________________
This is evidence to me that he’s already gone.
September 9th, 2026 at 6:25 pm
On these big deals, it’s the Glazers who hold the purse strings. It was up to them to budge. Licht is basically handcuffed until the Glazers free the funds.
September 9th, 2026 at 6:28 pm
There is ZERO evidence that Licht’s job is in any jeopardy. In fact, most of the evidence points to Licht being entrenched. If the Glazers were inclined to blow things up, they wouldn’t have made the Mayfield deal happen.
September 9th, 2026 at 6:58 pm
Pro football talk has the contract details it’s basically a 4 year deal average 48 million a year. And there is an out after 2028 where nothing but 10 million is guaranteed.
September 9th, 2026 at 7:43 pm
Finally seeing the full terms of the deal, and it’s not nearly as bad as I feared as the Bucs clearly took some steps to protect themselves.
The biggest thing, if I’m reading everything correctly… let’s say Baker has another year where he’s “not healthy” and let’s say the Bucs called Cleveland and said, lets make a deal, so long as the Bucs did a deal before the 5th day of the 2027 season, their cap hit is only $30m.
And I’m not saying that is going to happen – in fact I think it’s incredibly unlikely – however it’s interesting the deal is done in such a way that gives them a clear out next season should Baker go off the rails again this year, or get more seriously hurt and the Bucs wanted to move on (such as Baker suffered a major injury early, Daniels comes in and plays really well – the Bucs could in that scenario trade Baker without crippling the team).
I had AI run all the numbers, and this is the good stuff paid AI that spent like 12 mins running the numbers – not the dumb instant results AI that gets half of everything wrong…. So these should be correct, assuming the PFT article has the correct info:
2027
Cut before Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.975M | Dead cap: $80.150M | Savings: -$18.175M
Cut after Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.975M | Dead cap: $100.150M | Savings: -$38.175M
Trade before Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.975M | Dead cap: $30.150M | Savings: +$31.825M
Trade after Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.975M | Dead cap: $78.800M | Savings: -$16.825M
2028
Cut before Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.975M | Dead cap: $38.175M | Savings: +$23.800M
Cut after Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.975M | Dead cap: $68.175M | Savings: -$6.200M
Trade before Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.975M | Dead cap: $18.175M | Savings: +$43.800M
Trade after Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.975M | Dead cap: $18.175M | Savings: +$43.800M
2029
Cut before Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.200M | Dead cap: $6.200M | Savings: +$55.000M
Cut after Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.200M | Dead cap: $8.700M | Savings: +$52.500M
Trade before Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.200M | Dead cap: $6.200M | Savings: +$55.000M
Trade after Day 5:
Cap hit: $61.200M | Dead cap: $8.700M | Savings: +$52.500M
September 9th, 2026 at 7:47 pm
With the Bucs needing cap space next year, if Baker has a good year, I’d suspect they will redo the terms of this deal – maybe guarantee that 2029 season – and bring his cap hit down quite a bit. Doing big yearly salaries, as opposed to all the void year and signing bonus tricks they could have done, this certainly seems like a more team friendly deal – in that if Baker was to bomb, he’s not going to destroy the cap for the next half decade. So good on Licht – if you were going to extend Baker, at least they gave themselves an out.
September 9th, 2026 at 7:49 pm
It’s pretty obvious why they waited. They wanted to make sure Baker was performing at the same level as he was before all the injuries occurred last year. That’s a big part of it in my opinion!!
Go Bucs !!
Beat the Bengals !!
September 9th, 2026 at 8:12 pm
Bartow—
Are you in a multidimensional time zone where games have been played?
Otherwise, you’re gonna need to help us out by stating they wanted to make sure Baker was performing at the same level before his “injuries” last year.
If you truly are a seer of some sort, please provide the scores. We could use the guaranteed money.
September 9th, 2026 at 8:44 pm
JA of course not!! Did you read my comment? Did I say anything about games ? Performing as well in camp and in practice is what I meant. Did Coach Todd Bowles get together with Zac Robinson and agree that Baker Mayfield is where he needs to be before that new contract was negotiated ? I’m sure both of them weighed in heavily on the decision.
It really doesn’t matter what I think or what you think. Baker has the contract he wanted and I can’t wait to see him play this Sunday !!
Go Bucs !!
Beat the Bengals !!
September 9th, 2026 at 9:35 pm
What will piss Baker off so he will have that extra motivation? I will volunteer for the task. Baker everytime you come on the field, look at the visitors side, halfway up the 50 I will be there screaming obscenities at you. You can be pissed at me
September 9th, 2026 at 11:51 pm
This was the obvious deal all along. It sounds like a lot of the drama and consternation could have been avoided if the Licht upstairs wasn’t so dim.
September 10th, 2026 at 9:13 am
The Baker hate is so ignorant. For S’s and G’s lets just propose we don’t extend Baker….who is our QB in 2027? Drew Lock?
September 10th, 2026 at 9:15 am
Section 135….save your misguided anger at the 15,000 opposing fans you choose to sit amongst. You are banned from the West side….enjoy your heat stroke
September 10th, 2026 at 10:01 am
I hope I’m wrong, but I think they are overpaying for Baker’s services. As much as I love Baker, I have serious doubts on whether he can take us back to the Superbowl. It’s a team effort and giving Mayfield 55m/yr over 3 years means you need to cut back or let veteran players go. I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me, but I thought a read an article yesterday that Baker’s contract would occupy cap space in the upper teens percentagewise. I still haven’t seen the details for this contract. Does it have a performance clause for bonuses or additional compensation meeting certain metrics? Is there an escape clause? What happens if Baker experiences a career ending injury in 2027? Are the Glazers still on the hook for the remaining 110m of the 3 year contract?
Dak Prescott is making 60m/yr and he will never take the Cowboys to the Superbowl. There isn’t enough money left over for star players to surround him with. Mahomes earned his 1/2 billion dollar contract, which I think comes out to about 62m/year. Of course he has 3 championship rings.
I am not sure if the Glazers made a wise decision here, but they are businessmen. Maybe they figure that Baker will fill more seats at the stadium then any other prospect. Lichtenstein and his crew need to start looking deep into college prospects for 2029. Go Bucs. Go Canes. Cheers.