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Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield Faces Injury Concern Ahead of 2026 Season.

If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers want to extend Baker Mayfield before the start of the 2026 season, the team will likely have to beat the franchise tag on a three-year extension. NFL Insider Albert Breer noted in his recent mailbag what a potential Mayfield extension would look like and how it would have to get done.

“At $55 million per year, which is the range for Jared Goff, Brock Purdy, and Tua Tagovailoa,” noted Breer. “So I’d say the deal, conservatively, is a three-year, $165 million extension, which would be a four-year, $205 million contract. And if I’m Mayfield’s camp, I’m looking for around $155 million of that built into the first three years of the agreement.”

This makes sense from a couple of angles. First, Mayfield gets a raise from what he was getting. He also knows that the Buccaneers do not have a replacement for him on the roster. If they do not get a deal done before the year, the team will almost certainly have to franchise tag him as they decide what to do next.

While they could trade him or extend him after a franchise tag, either way, the team will get hit with a $50M price tag. If they tagged Mayfield twice, the deal would be about $110M over two years.

Considering Mayfield is already making $40M per year, Breer is not wrong that Mayfield should be looking for $155M over the first three years of his new deal.

From the Bucs perspective, they have to be looking at Jared Goff, Brock Purdy, and Tua Tagovailoa and thinking that Mayfield is not far from them. So, they could pay someone of the same caliber to get similar production, or they can stick with what they know and extend Mayfield.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Must Trust Baker Mayfield Can Get Them Over the Hump

Still, this is an important year, and it makes sense why the Bucs are slow-playing and making sure that they are confident in Mayfield before they make the move. Mayfield made the playoffs in his first two years with Tampa Bay, but went from a win in the playoffs to one-and-done the next year. In his third year, they missed the playoffs in an epic collapse.

So, Mayfield is good enough to be in that tier of quarterbacks, but he has also shown regression over the past three seasons and has failed to get them over the hump and into Super Bowl contention.

The Bucs’ decision around Mayfield might be less about the money and more about whether they want to hit the reset button.

Bucs Have a Tough Decision to Make With Baker Mayfield

If they think Mayfield can get them over the hump, the money does not matter. If they do not think he can do it, they are just wasting money and time riding things out with him.

It would be risky, but the team could go through a quick reset. If Mayfield does not shine this year, they can look into drafting a quarterback. That could come with a lower floor, but a much higher ceiling and a cheap enough price tag that the Bucs could invest in the roster around him.

It is already a solid roster, so a young, cost-controlled quarterback could hit the ground running if the Bucs add the right passer. The Bucs have a tougher decision to make than some realize.