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Baker Mayfield Reports to Bucs Camp, Willing to Bet on Himself
0 Share Newsweek is a Trust Project member See more of our trusted coverage when you search. Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Vita Vea just requested a trade after he and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension.
Now, another player fighting for a new deal, Baker Mayfield, is taking a much different approach.
On Tuesday, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler and Jenna Laine reported that Mayfield is reporting to Buccaneers training camp, set to kick off Wednesday, despite the fact that contract negotiations "have not made significant progress."
Mayfield is entering the final year of the three-year, $100 million contract he signed in 2024. He immediately justified that investment by posting the best season of his career in 2024, finishing with a career-high 4,500 passing yards and 41 passing touchdowns, while completing 71.4% of his passes and leading the Bucs to the playoffs for a second straight year.
He battled injuries and saw his numbers dip slightly last year as Tampa finished 8-9 and failed to make the postseason for the first time since 2019. But he still looked like one of the better quarterbacks in the league and spent the first half of the season in MVP conversations. He also hasn't missed a game in his three years as the Bucs' starting quarterback.
But he's also 31 years old, and his market value currently sits around $53.6 million — which would make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL . He's currently making about $33.3 million per year, and he's clearly worth more than that. Now it's about finding a middle ground, and the two sides are reportedly still far apart on that.
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Mayfield previously said that he would push negotiations aside once training camp arrived, and now that deadline has come. It looks like a deal won't be coming anytime soon. Fowler and Laine noted that it could still come before the 2026 season, but no firm timeline has been set.
Sources told ESPN that Mayfield appears willing to bet on himself and play out the 2026 season under his current contract — setting up what could be a massive payday next offseason if he performs at the level he's commanding.
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