Baker Mayfield’s $55 Million Deal Closes the Discount Lane

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield agreed Sept. 8 on a three-year, $165 million extension at $55 million a year, five days before they open at Cincinnati.

Only Patrick Mahomes and Dak Prescott still clear that average. The raise also wipes out the last cheap price for a proven veteran starter, which is why Sam Darnold and the 2027 draft now move together.

A Three-Year, $165 Million Bet on Baker Mayfield

Tampa Bay announced a new four-year contract with a three-year extension that keeps Mayfield, 31, through the 2029 season and makes him the highest-paid player in franchise history. Ian Rapoport and Adam Schefter put the new money at $165 million, $55 million a season, tying him with Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence and Matthew Stafford.

Dan Graziano, who covers NFL contracts, said Mayfield received $110 million in new guarantees on top of the $40 million already due in 2026, a $150 million guarantee pile. The new years do not hit the cap until 2027, so this season still runs on the old paper.

Owner and co-chairman Joel Glazer called him the unquestioned leader of the franchise.

Baker’s arrival marked an important new chapter for our organization, and over the past three years he has established himself as the unquestioned leader of our franchise.

Joel Glazer, Buccaneers owner and co-chairman

The league office posted the terms the same afternoon.

Buccaneers, QB Baker Mayfield agree to a three-year, $165M extension. (via @RapSheet, @AdamSchefter) pic.twitter.com/Ch7im4kvPQ

— NFL (@NFL) September 8, 2026

The annual number is what stopped people, not the $165 million headline. Four years after Mayfield was out of work in December 2022, he is paid with Burrow and Allen. Head coach Todd Bowles said the locker room feeds off the energy, confidence and toughness he brings every day. General manager Jason Licht called him the heartbeat of the team.

THE NEW MAYFIELD PAPER

• Term: Three new years through 2029, on top of the 2026 season already on the books.
• Average pay: $55 million a season, with only Mahomes and Prescott listed higher.
• Guarantees: $110 million in new guarantees plus $40 million already set for 2026.
• Cap timing: The extension starts counting in 2027, which is why Licht could finish it on the eve of Week 1.

Mayfield’s agent, Tom Mills, had broken talks off when camp opened. Licht and assistant general manager Mike Greenberg went back to Mills over the weekend, and the sides finished the deal on a Tuesday.

February’s Void Date Was the Real Deadline

Mayfield had leverage that had nothing to do with touchdowns. Graziano wrote that if the current contract voided next February, Tampa Bay would have taken a $30.15 million dead-money hit in 2027. Tag him on top of that, and the cap number would have been more than $80 million.

Signing him now spreads that mess. Over The Cap had the Buccaneers at about $11.3 million in cap space after the Mayfield and Vita Vea deals, thin air for a roster that just paid two pillars and still has to play a season.

Vea got there first. After a trade request and a camp hold-in, he signed a one-year, $30 million Vita Vea extension in August that Over The Cap logs with $46 million fully guaranteed and $24 million in 2026 cash. Licht said Vea is the type of player the club wants to build around. A month later the quarterback got the larger check.

WHAT TAMPA BAY AVOIDED

• The void: A February 2027 trigger that would have dumped $30.15 million of dead money onto the next cap.
• The tag stack: A franchise tag on top of that dead money, which Graziano put above $80 million for one quarterback.
• The year: Playing 2026 as a lame-duck starter after Mayfield had already called the first offer disrespectful.

The club had offered two years in the $50 million range, a number that would have ranked him 13th among quarterbacks. He wanted a third year and a seat in the $55 million group. He got both. The football argument is that Tampa Bay was too good, for too long, to draft a cheaper successor, and too close to a cap cliff to wait.

The $4 Million Prove-It Deal Then Became the Standard

Mayfield joined in 2023 on a one-year, $4 million prove-it deal after Cleveland moved on, Carolina cut him, and he won a December game for the Rams. He beat out Kyle Trask, started every game, and threw for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns as the Buccaneers won the NFC South and a playoff game.

That earned a three-year, $100 million extension in 2024. He threw for 4,500 yards and 41 touchdowns, went 10-7, and won the division again. A July 2025 rework guaranteed him $30 million for 2026, the last year of that deal, without adding years.

HOW THE PRICE MOVED

1. 2023: Signs the one-year, $4 million prove-it deal and wins the job over Trask.
2. 2024: Signs the three-year, $100 million extension after a Pro Bowl and a playoff win.
3. July 2025: Restructures so 2026, the final year, carries a $30 million guarantee and no new term.
4. Camp 2026: Stops talks, says the offer felt disrespectful, and tells the building it is all ball from here.
5. Sept. 8, 2026: Agrees to the three-year, $165 million extension through 2029.

Through 2023-25 he ranks second in the NFL in touchdown passes (95) and third in passing yards (12,237), per the team, and he started all 17 games each season. He made the Pro Bowl in 2023 and 2024. Teammates voted him a captain on Sept. 7, with Tristan Wirfs, Chris Godwin Jr., Vea, Alex Anzalone and Antoine Winfield Jr.

2025 was the year that made the price awkward. He opened 6-2 with 16 touchdowns and two interceptions through Week 10, then the Buccaneers finished 2-7 and missed the playoffs. He never sat, but the injury report cycled through his foot, toe, right biceps, knee, oblique and both shoulders. He still threw for 3,693 yards, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions, completing 63.2 percent, and the club credited him with four fourth-quarter comebacks and four game-winning drives. Mike Evans left for the 49ers. The offense Mayfield is now paid like a top-four quarterback to run is thinner than the one that made him rich.

Two Quarterbacks Still Earn More Than Mayfield

Before Tuesday he sat 16th among quarterbacks at $33.3 million a year, the cheap established starter. The new average jumps him over a row of names who have Super Bowl appearances, MVP votes, or both. Mahomes reset the top in June on an eight-year, $504.7 million structure that averages $63.1 million. Prescott is at $60 million on a four-year, $240 million deal.

TOP QUARTERBACK AVERAGES

Jared Goff and Brock Purdy sit just under that line at $53 million. Quarterback salaries for the 2026 season still show Mayfield’s 2026 cap near $40 million, because this year’s charge belongs to the old deal. The comparison agents will use in March is the $55 million average, not that cap number.

Geno Smith, Mac Jones and Davis Mills do not refill the $30 million starter band. Smith is on a $3.3 million Jets cap number. Jones is a $3.13 million backup charge in San Francisco. Mills is at $8.125 million in Houston. Daniel Jones is already taking $50 million in 2026 cash in Indianapolis. The gap between a cheap proven starter and a $55 million starter is now one name.

Sam Darnold Is the Last Cheap Proven Starter

Darnold will play 2026 on a three-year, $100.5 million Seahawks deal that averages $33.5 million, $21.5 million a year less than Mayfield, with $55 million guaranteed. He is 29. He won Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8, 29-13 over New England, then has to watch a peer from the 2018 draft get paid like a top-three quarterback while he sits 15th.

Seattle does not extend players with more than one season left. General manager John Schneider, asked this winter about a new deal, said, “Sam signed a three-year deal.” That policy already cost the club a fight with Geno Smith in 2024. It now leaves a Super Bowl quarterback playing 2026 at a $37.9 million cap hit and $27.5 million in cash, with a $43.1 million dead-cap figure if they tried to move on this year. The earliest clean-ish exit is 2027, when the dead money drops to $19.2 million.

DARNOLD’S 2026 MATH

• The gap: $33.5 million a year against Mayfield’s $55 million, the same $21.5 million hole Mayfield just climbed out of.
• The tape: 4,048 yards, 25 touchdowns, 14 interceptions, a 67.7 percent clip and a 99.11 rating in 2025, after 4,319 yards and 35 scores on a $10 million Vikings deal in 2024.
• The calendar: Free agency in 2028 unless Seattle blinks, with Jimmy Sexton at CAA on the other side of the table.

Spotrac’s model already priced Darnold’s next contract near $52.5 million a year before Mayfield signed. If Darnold plays even a decent title-defense season, $55 million is the floor, not the ask, and the number will be set after the cap rises again. Seattle opens against New England on Sept. 9. Every drive from here is leverage.

What $55 Million Does to the 2027 Draft

If a good veteran now costs $55 million, the rookie scale is the last discount that still looks like 2023 Mayfield money. That is why Arch Manning and Dante Moore got more expensive on a Tuesday in September, eight months before they have to declare.

Manning, the Texas starter, threw for 3,163 yards and 26 touchdowns with seven interceptions in 2025, completed 61.4 percent, and ran for 399 yards and 10 scores. Dane Brugler’s early 2027 board had him third overall, behind Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith and Notre Dame corner Leonard Moore. Dante Moore stayed at Oregon after a year that would have put him in the 2026 top 10: 3,565 yards, 30 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 71.8 percent, 8.7 yards per attempt, a 13-2 team, a College Football Playoff semifinal. Both men have eligibility left after this college season. They do not have to come out.

THE CHEAP PATHS THAT REMAIN

• Arch Manning: Size, arm, and a first-overall debate that now has a $55 million veteran comparable sitting on every draft board.
• Dante Moore: The safer processor on some boards, already a one-year starter who turned down the 2026 draft.
• Julian Sayin: Ohio State’s name in the next tier, with CJ Carr, Drew Mestemaker and LaNorris Sellers behind him.
• The Jets’ 2027 firsts: Three first-round picks in that class, which makes them the obvious trade-up seat if a quarterback-needy club decides the veteran market is closed.

Mayfield, Darnold and Smith were the recent proof that a former high pick could be bought for less than $35 million after the league had given up. Tampa Bay just paid the proof $55 million. The next team that wants a starter has two doors: overpay a veteran, or trade into a draft that already expected Manning and Moore to go in the top five. The Buccaneers open Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. ET in Cincinnati. They have their quarterback. They also set the price for everyone else’s.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Baker Mayfield’s 2026 Salary Change This Season?

The three new years start in 2027, so 2026 remains the last season of the prior $100 million deal. Over The Cap still carries a 2026 cap number near $40 million and $40 million in cash, which is why Licht could finish the extension without blowing up this year’s ledger.

When Can the Buccaneers Walk Away From the New Deal?

Greg Auman said the new guarantees should cover Mayfield through 2028 and that the 2029 season is nonguaranteed, which is the first year Tampa Bay can exit without eating the full $165 million. Vesting dates beyond that have not been posted.

How Close Is Mayfield to the Buccaneers’ Passing Records?

The club says he needs 2,584 yards to reach second on the franchise passing list and 7,501 yards to pass Jameis Winston for first. His 95 touchdown passes rank third, 26 behind Winston’s 121.

What Did Tampa Bay First Offer Mayfield in 2026?

The first camp offer was a two-year extension at about $50 million a year, which would have ranked him 13th among quarterbacks. He wanted a third year and a $55 million average; both showed up in the Sept. 8 agreement after talks restarted over the weekend.