Baker Mayfield’s football life was touch and go heading into the season. The former No. 1 overall pick had left Cleveland, got benched in Carolina and had some pep in his step from a brief Rams tenure.
When he signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Buccaneers in March to succeed Tom Brady, it was make or break. Right now, Mayfield is making it.
With the Bucs at 7-7 and in first place in the NFC South, Mayfield is in line for a contract extension in Tampa. Sources tell CBS Sports the Buccaneers have definite interest in inking Mayfield to a long-term contract this offseason.
“I mean, that would be great,” Mayfield told me during a sitdown interview that will air Sunday on “The NFL Today.” “But winning takes care of a lot of that. So we’ll handle that after the year. But that’s up to my agent and obviously the people here to decide. And so all I can do is control what I can and put myself in the best position to have options.”
Mayfield signed a standard rookie deal after Cleveland took him first overall in 2018 for $32.6 million. The Browns exercised his fifth-year option, but he had to take a $3.5 million pay cut in order to facilitate a trade to Carolina in 2022 once the Browns traded for Deshaun Watson.
There weren’t a lot of teams looking for Mayfield’s services as a starter, so he signed with the Bucs on what he called “pretty much a minimum” contract.
“And understanding that this is somewhere where I can revive my career and enjoy it,” Mayfield said. “That’s what made the decision to come here so easy. The pieces around the staff, the organization, knowing that they were going to put me in the best position to thrive.”
But the contract had a lot of incentives baked in. And Mayfield could double his $4 million salary in the coming weeks with incentives that go up to $4.5 million.
If the Bucs make the playoffs and Mayfield plays 85 percent of the snaps, he’ll make an extra $2 million. Mayfield has played 99.7 percent of the snaps so far this season, so he’s sure to hit that mark with three games left.
He can make an extra $250,000 for each playoff game where he plays at least 75 percent of the snaps, reaching a maximum of $1 million.
And there are performance incentives. Mayfield will get $300,000 if he finished in the top 10 in the NFL, or top five in the NFC, in passer rating, touchdown passes, total yards passing, completion percentage and yards per pass. That would be a maximum of $1.5 million.
He’s currently fifth in the NFC in passer rating, fifth in touchdown passes, ninth in total yards passing, ninth in completion percentage and eighth in yards per pass.
“The main one I was focused on was playing time,” Mayfield said about his incentives package. “It’s just about being around for your teammates, playing football — the game I love — and just truly trying to compete at the highest level, and the rest will take care of itself. You know, obviously the focus then is winning games. And then once you get to the playoffs, everybody gets bonuses in the playoffs. So that’s the main goal. Get to the end and see how far we can take this thing.”
The Buccaneers host the Jaguars Sunday, followed by games against the Saints and Panthers. Winning two of those three will essentially guarantee the Bucs a playoff spot in the NFC, and Tampa Bay has control over its playoff fate at the top of the division.
