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QB Baker Mayfield wants a new contract, and it sounds like he and his current team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are not in the same ballpark on money
“We’d love to be here long-term. And as of right now, that’s not exactly the case, but I’m under contract for 2026,” Mayfield said.
He says his deadline for a new deal is the beginning of training camp.
“Obviously, yes, I would love to have a long-term deal done, but they know my deadline: As soon as training camp starts, we’re not doing any contract stuff. It’s all ball,” Mayfield said. “It’s not up to me when that gets done by. So hopefully before that. If not — still going to have a good year.”
He says, “it’s not up to me when that gets done by.” But in one regard, it is. He can take what the team is currently offering, whatever that might be. I can assure you it’s not chump change.
Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds speculated recently about the two sides’ position in this contract dispute – “The guess here is that the Bucs have started contract negotiations at $50 million per year and Mayfield is asking for Prescott money at $60 million.”
In 2024, Mayfield signed a three-year deal for $100 million, so he’s in the last year of a deal for about $33.3 million per season.
That sounds about right to me for Mayfield.
Obviously, he should make more than that in a new deal, but how much more?
The idea that since the top QBs are making between $55-60 million, teams have to pay their starting QB that much when his contract is up, is a dumb way of doing business.
When the Arizona Cardinals paid Kyler Murray, and the Miami Dolphins paid Tua, $53 million-a-year around the same time a couple of years ago, how’d that work out? Neither is still with those teams, and each team has too many major cap hits moving on.
I always say to my radio co-host on the air, “We all know what $55-a-year at QB looks like, and it looks like Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen.”
To me, Jordan Love and Trevor Lawrence are not $55 million-a-year quarterbacks. They got paid that amount when that became the going rate a couple of years ago.
A few months ago, the Indianapolis Colts gave Daniel Jones a two-year deal for $88 million with $60 million guaranteed.
Now granted, he’s coming off an Achilles tear, but you get the sense the rehab is going great, and he should be ready to roll at some point early in the season.
But to me, with these next tier of QBs, that Jones deal is the kind of deal I’m looking at.
You like the QB, but not 100 percent sure he’s the true long-term answer, so you give him a nice deal, but not a bananas deal. You hedge your bet a little.
C.J. Stroud wants a new deal in Houston. As far as I’m concerned, I would wait another year, but if he insists on doing something now, give him something like Jones.
I’m sorry, I’m not giving these second-tier QB’s, just below the elite level, the same money as the elite guys, no matter what the market dictates.
So this brings me to the contract of the Jets starting QB, at least for this year, Geno Smith.
He’s playing on a one-year deal for $19.5 million. The Jets are only paying $3.3 of this money, and his former team, the Las Vegas Raiders, is paying the rest.
To pay your starting QB just $3.3 million is an amazing deal if you can get it, because it allows you to spend a lot of money at other positions, and as we mentioned yesterday, the Jets depth this year looks terrific, much better than last year.
And I know Smith is coming off a rough season in Las Vegas, but that was an awful, awful team, without their starting left tackle most of the year. Smith is a QB who, when he has a requisite supporting cast around him, has proven to be a good manager. Just look at his three years as the Seattle Seahawks starter from 2022-24, when he had records 9-8, 8-7, and 10-7.
The Jets, who haven’t had a winning record since 2015, would sign up for any of those records in a heartbeat.
Is Daniel Jones, at $44 million per, better than Smith? Debatable.
How much better is Mayfield than Smith? Maybe a little better, but the gap isn’t as much as you might think.
How much better is Love than Smith? Better, but how much? I’m serious.
My point is simple – once you leave that elite QB category, which there are probably only 5-6 guys in, some of these teams are paying top dollar for mediocrity, so to me, the Jets paying $3.3 million to Smith this year is fantastic from a cap standpoint.
I’m not putting Smith in Canton, but he can be the Seattle Smith, what a steal compared to the kind of money some of these middle-of-the-road QBs are making.
June 9, 2026
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