Adam Schefter Talks $50 Million For Baker Mayfield
July 21st, 2026
“Schefty, stop talking about me.”
A week ago, BSPN uber-insider Adam Schefter talked about the Bucs’ interest in a Vita Vea contract extension (Joe is suspicious).
Today, Schefter was talking Baker Mayfield.
Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show today, Schefter tweaked his chatter about a Mayfield extension with a number value, and he expressed a lot of confidence a deal will get done.
Keep in mind Schefter is from the same hometown as Bucs assistant general manager Mike Greenberg and Schefter always seems to have a pipeline of Bucs intel.
“Both side want to make it happen,” Schefter said. “It shouldn’t be a difficult deal to do. Think about $50 million a year; that’s my projection for where a potential Baker Mayfield deal could come in. Maybe not as much as he wants; maybe more than the Bucs would be wanting to pay. But there’s a compromise in there for both sides.”
Last week on McAfee’s show, Schefter did not put a pricetag on a potential Mayfield contract.
As for getting a deal done on or before Mayfield’s stated July 29 deadline. McAfee called that “a bit ambitious.”
July 21st, 2026 at 8:32 pm
$55 is max with $110 Million Guaranteed.
3 years $165
They may start at $50 but Baker might wait.
Just get it done. In 3 years it won’t be Top 15.
I’m sure they will nickel and dime him at $52.5 Mill/year
July 21st, 2026 at 8:32 pm
While I have my reservations, I hope they get it done
July 21st, 2026 at 8:40 pm
Baker made $45Mil last year, so a bump to $50Mil/year should be a no-brainer. Get it done, Licht
July 21st, 2026 at 8:45 pm
Wait until next year. See if Baker can get through a season without destroying his body for half the season for a first down. Why tie your hands like you did extending Todd early for no reason and locking yourself in unnecessarily. If Baker balls out stays healthy and earns a monster payday good for him. If not there may be a new coaching staff that wants him or not. But there is freedom and flexibility to pivot.
July 21st, 2026 at 8:58 pm
Next year ain’t happening it’s gonna happen soon so just accept it. Go bucs.
July 21st, 2026 at 9:15 pm
It might not be the number as for as $50/million a year that is holding up a deal because Baker may want 3 or 4 years guaranteed and the Bucs are more comfortable with 2, perhaps 3 years.
I love Baker’s passion but someone is going to have to do an intervention and pull him for Jake Browning if he gets as banged up as he was down the stretch last year. While I agree with the sentiment that Todd Bowles D and his lack of holding loafer accountable cost the Bucs a few wins in 2025, Baker playing at 30% was certainly a contributing factor. Shame on Licht for only having Bridgewter as back up last year, major fail by Jason.
July 21st, 2026 at 9:28 pm
I think Baker will be a little “smarter” this year. He wants a superbowl more than anyone and if that involves him having to take less hits to get there he will do it.
July 21st, 2026 at 9:32 pm
Let’s do the math. $50 mil per year averaging 9 wins a year in the regular season.
That equals 5.55 million per win. And that’s if he lives up to his very low expectations.
In contrast Josh Allen had 12 wins last year at $55 million for a figure of 4.58 million per win.
Allen is vastly better and much cheaper than Mayfield would be at 5 million less per year.
Going 2-7 and getting $50+ million a year. That’s fantasy land material.
July 21st, 2026 at 9:44 pm
Well Vegie , with that logic Deshaun Watson 230,000,000 and 9 wins equals almost 26 million per win,,, sounds like Bucs getting a bargain
July 21st, 2026 at 9:55 pm
You don’t win a Super Bowl with a QB making 50 mil or almost 17% of the cap. It’s only been done by Mahomes, but then the Chiefs had to cut loose players they’d liked to keep. And then you saw what happened last year.
Second closest was Steve Young in the 90’s when he won the SB by getting 13% of the cap. Simple math. Pay your QB and you can’t get it done.
No Lamar, no Josh Allen, no anybody who takes all the money.
So pay Baker and keep signing lower to mid tier free agents.
And watch the .500 records pile up.
So, so … dumb!
July 21st, 2026 at 10:35 pm
Exactly JA! It’s like this organization would rather lose their way than win any other way.
And how does paying the QB $50+ million a year after an absolute disaster 2-7 finish that easily could have been 0-9 motivate anyone on the team to do anything but just enough to get paid?????
Riddle me that Glazers!!!!!
July 21st, 2026 at 10:40 pm
There’s more to cap space than what you’re equating. Mike Greenberg is excellent with contracts,I wouldn’t jump to conclusions so fast.
July 21st, 2026 at 10:45 pm
I guess it doesn’t matter that for thousands of area (and national) fans, this team has very little enthusiasm and only the most overly optimistic homers are talking about getting past the Wild Card round.
$50,000,0000 in 17 weeks. 18 if the Bucs can lose a Wild Card game again.
Anyone that saw Baker Mayfield do anything worthy of that number is really bad at math or high as a kite.
July 21st, 2026 at 11:18 pm
$50 mil will be just about mid for 2027 qb salaries, is baker not exactly that? Seems fair, especially considering that top qb salary will only go up, adiluring the 50 mil value.
Fine details seem to matter more in this negotiation. Guarantees, length, etc.
July 21st, 2026 at 11:27 pm
I love what Baker brings as the leader of this team. Yes $50 million a year is ridiculous to even say-but it’s today’s world in sports. How could Bake turn down $50 Million a year is something anybody would have a hard time keeping a straight face when discussing why they turned it down. Let’s get this over with. Go BUCS!!
July 21st, 2026 at 11:30 pm
Why do people that hate the Bucs and hope they lose commenting on this website? The amount of vitriol is comical-some people are just Miserable Haters.
July 21st, 2026 at 11:41 pm
If I had to bet the last $50.00 left in my bank acccount…
Baker is far LESS concerned by it being $45M or $55M PER YEAR and is far more concerned about the contract LENGTH and GUARANTEED MONEY.
I’d bet he’d take $46M annually for 5 years with 75% guaranteed (roughly $172M guaranteed) OVER a 3-year $55M deal with 60% guarranteed ($100M guaranteed).
The man has two kids and is likely trying to settle in with his family and make Tampa where he spends the rest of his playing career.
July 22nd, 2026 at 12:48 am
Veggie, well, you picked the right moniker at least. You definitely have a bunch of protein-free opinions. And guess what? Hate to break it to you, but the owners aren’t going to riddle you anything. That’s funny.
Personally I can’t wait till the deal gets done and I absolutely do not care what he gets. This is by far the best Bucs site, but I’m so tired of multiple articles per day on the same stupid topic.
July 22nd, 2026 at 4:34 am
I’m with Colin Cowherd… You start “liking him” a whoooole LOT LESS, the more you get above that $40-MIL PER Mark. There could not be a MORE TRUE statement than THAT. 💯
July 22nd, 2026 at 5:27 am
Boring.
July 22nd, 2026 at 6:42 am
Don’t forget, she gets half when it’s all said and done
July 22nd, 2026 at 7:43 am
54 million per
Starting this year
Tis’ the market and….
The best and ONLY choice the franchise has.
It’s not personal… it’s the market!
July 22nd, 2026 at 8:10 am
Vegimob!
July 22nd, 2026 at 8:44 am
Give Baker a fully guaranteed $60M 5 year deal…
He is our guy for sure!
July 22nd, 2026 at 8:45 am
As soon as he can win at least one more play-off game…
Tee-Hee…
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Did you believe I was serious?
July 22nd, 2026 at 8:51 am
4get the no tax bit and pay him at least 55 to t7 for 4 years cause if wait, it could be 62 ro 64, and 3years is 2lite of a deal
July 22nd, 2026 at 8:53 am
Agreed, just go to 60for 5years and quit complicating things
July 22nd, 2026 at 9:18 am
Baker the ” playmaker” yes sir!
July 22nd, 2026 at 9:56 am
As I’ve said all along:
$50-54m/yr
4 years
2 years guaranteed
Incentives to bring the actual cost down.
He will get the 2 years guaranteed no matter what.
May as well lock in his price with a 4th year. It will be considered cheap in 2 years…and if he takes us all the way, locking in at that price will be incredible.
And the Bucs can cut him after 2 years if they decide to.
July 22nd, 2026 at 10:02 am
JA Says
“You don’t win a Super Bowl with a QB making 50 mil or almost 17% of the cap.”
Let’s be honest here…if the Bucs were to draft a QB next year, he would not win them a Superbowl either. Not for at least 3-5 years, if ever at all.
With Baker we know what we’ve got, and he is better than half the starting QBs in the league…though you cannot tell by last year (injuries all over).
I was skeptical of Baker at first, but he earned my respect. Yes, he seems to choke sometimes…but that doesn’t mean he can’t overcome that.
We won a Superbowl with Brad Johnson. Baker is much, much better than him.
July 22nd, 2026 at 10:51 am
Mayfield’s production warrants top of QB money. #2 in passing TDs and #3 in yards.
He did that through three questionable OCs, cap debt, and massive injuries to key players, and especially the offensive line last season which led to the massive injuries.
If he’s willing to take less than top of market value for a QB it’s a win for OneBucPlace .
This team would be a 4-5 win team with all but maybe 2-3 other QBs.
July 22nd, 2026 at 11:08 am
Nothing beats a good scrub.
July 22nd, 2026 at 12:55 pm
Draft a franchise qb for goodness sake, baker ain’t it.
July 22nd, 2026 at 12:56 pm
There has been a lot of talk about how much to spend on a QB and how it impacts the overall quality of the roster. So, as a numbers geek, I ran a few numbers against ESPNs 2026 NFL roster rankings. Specifically the top 3 vs the Bucs, ranked #18. Then I looked at years 2023-2026 QB cap hit per overthecap.com.
The top ranked team is the Rams. Of the top 3 rosters, they spent the most on a QB at $161.9M or 15.26% of the cap for those 4 years. So despite spending the most of the top 5 ranked rosters, they managed to put together the best roster.
The lowest spending team on a QB was actually the Eagles who came in ranked as the second best roster. They only spent $73.6M on a QB ($1.5M less than the Bucs over the four years). I would note that for the next three seasons 2027 – 2029 they have $187.2M committed in cap or $62.4M per year.
Seattle was third in best roster and between Geno & Darnold spent $87.8M on a QB. That was $21.75M more than the Bucs but $74M less than the Rams.
So what can we learn from all this? Spending a lot on a QB did NOT prevent the Rams from putting together the NFLs best roster. Spending the least of the top three allowed the Eagles to put together the second best roster. Spending a little more than the Bucs, Seattle was able to put together the best defense in the NFL.
And what did the Bucs do? The spent about the same on a QB the Eagles and got a roster ranked in the bottom half of the league, 16 slots lower. They spent almost $13M less than the Seahawks on a QB and got one of the worst defenses in the league. They spent less than half of what the Rams spent on a QB and got what???
Perhaps the problem isn’t the QB and their salary. Perhaps the bigger problem is the GMs ability to identify and draft the right talent and/or trade for the right talent combined with the coaching staff’s ability to coach up the players they have. Based on the numbers, what was spent on a QB doesn’t seem to have any impact on the overall roster of the Bucs.
July 22nd, 2026 at 2:33 pm
If the issue is the duration of the contract, scrap the last year on the present contract and make it the first year of the new contract. Probably have to play some cap games, but the Bucs are good at that.
July 22nd, 2026 at 4:03 pm
Critmark Says
“And what did the Bucs do? The spent about the same on a QB the Eagles and got a roster ranked in the bottom half of the league, 16 slots lower. They spent almost $13M less than the Seahawks on a QB and got one of the worst defenses in the league. They spent less than half of what the Rams spent on a QB and got what???”
The problem with how the Bucs are rated is that it does not take under consideration the fact that the team was plagued by injury last year, had no real defense, and that all the injured players are healthier now.
It just looks at one years’ worth of results…the most recent one.
That is fine for last year…but it’s a new, hopefully healthier year…and we’re much better than #16. Really, at the very least, we should be ranked like we were in 2024.
We may not have Evans, but he was often injured anyway…and we got EE. We improved the defense in the draft…and our second year players could very well improve this year.
July 22nd, 2026 at 4:07 pm
Mobucs Says:
“If the issue is the duration of the contract, scrap the last year on the present contract and make it the first year of the new contract. Probably have to play some cap games, but the Bucs are good at that.”
I’m not sure if that isn’t how it works. Truly not sure.
But, the duration won’t matter to the Bucs if they only guarantee 2 years. So they could make it a 5 year contract and it wouldn’t matter.
Personally, I think the longer the better, so long as only 2 years are guaranteed. That way if Baker does lead us to a superbowl, we can keep him around still. And if he is incapable, then a new HC can draft a guy next year, and Baker becomes trade bait or a bridge QB.