Todd Bowles ‘Absolutely’ Wants Baker Mayfield To Be Buccaneers’ Long-Term QB

Set for his fourth season as the Buccaneers’ starting quarterback, Baker Mayfield is aiming for an extension. The veteran passer is signed for just one more season — on a team-friendly contract — and is attempting to apply pressure on the Bucs by indicating he will not continue contract discussions once training camp starts.

Mayfield is not expected to stage a holdout, but the ninth-year vet has made it clear he does not intend to conduct extension talks once he reports next month. Bucs GM Jason Licht has said he wants Mayfield to remain the team’s centerpiece player beyond 2026, and Todd Bowles doubled down by indicating (via ESPN.com’s Jenna Laine) he has “absolutely no question” about wanting the current QB around for the long haul.

[RELATED: How Should Bucs Proceed With Mayfield?]

Licht’s view is probably more relevant to the team’s grand scheme than Bowles’, with the latter on the hot seat despite agreeing to an extension last year. The Bucs’ injury-accelerated tailspin last season led Bowles to fire offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard and bring in Zac Robinson, with Mayfield providing input that helped him reunite with his short-lived position coach (with the Rams). Robinson and Mayfield will play the lead roles in determining if Bowles is still calling the shots in 2027.

Mayfield has played out both his previous NFL contracts. The Browns traded him to the Panthers, and the teams agreed to split his fifth-year option; Mayfield accepted a pay cut to facilitate the move. Carolina waived Mayfield, leading to the short-term Los Angeles stay, and he caught on with Tampa Bay — on a one-year, $4MM deal — in 2023. After a bounce-back season with the Bucs, the former No. 1 overall pick did not re-sign until the eve of the 2024 legal tampering period.

The Bucs gave Mayfield a three-year, $100MM pact; that contract now resides at the bottom of the franchise-QB level. Although Tampa Bay showed its commitment to Mayfield by giving him a sizable guarantee increase for 2026 before the 2025 season, the QB market now has two $60MM-per-year players and 11 north of $50MM AAV. Patrick Mahomes‘ new Chiefs deal nearly doubles Mayfield’s per annum.

Sam Darnold undoubtedly used Mayfield’s AAV in his 2025 Seahawks negotiations, and Daniel Jones eclipsed it by a wide margin — ending up with a two-year, $88MM Colts deal following a transition tag — in March. Mayfield, 31, ranks 16th in quarterback AAV entering the season. Negotiating while still in his prime, Mayfield understandably wants to cash in on a midcareer resurgence.

The Bucs have shown a continued willingness to wait until free agency — or the winter period leading up to the market opening — to re-sign players rather than complete true extensions. Licht did not let Mayfield hit the market two years ago, but he was hours away from doing so. The veteran GM also re-signed Shaquil Barrett, Jamel Dean, Carlton Davis, Lavonte David (on multiple occasions) and Rob Gronkowski — among others — as free agents. Ryan Jensen (2022) preceded Mayfield in re-signing with the Bucs hours before a free agency period, while Mike Evans re-signed shortly before the QB in 2024. The Bucs made an attempt to re-sign Evans as a free agent this year but saw him opt for a change, via a three-year 49ers deal.

Tampa Bay did make exceptions to this riskier blueprint for Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tristan Wirfs. The team franchise-tagged Winfield before a 2024 extension and extended Wirfs in his ’24 contract year. Mayfield is pushing for this timeline, which the Bucs have reserved for high-priority players. The team also extended Tom Brady following Super Bowl LV, and his 2022 unretirement came when he was still contracted.

The Bucs would have the franchise tag available for Mayfield if no deal comes to pass by training camp, though the team has certainly taken its chances with many key free agents without unholstering the tag in the past. Tampa Bay does not have much of a history extending QBs, either. While the team gave Brady a one-year bump and re-signed Mayfield, its other long-term starters — Doug Williams, Vinny Testaverde, Trent Dilfer, Brad Johnson, Jameis Winston — did not agree on long-term second contracts, with no Bucs QB1 reaching Year 7 with the team (Dilfer’s rookie deal included a 1997 option that eventually pushed his stay to six seasons, but he left as a free agent in 2000).

Mayfield’s deadline reminds of Evans’ 2023 effort, though the decorated wideout set Week 1 of that season as his negotiating endpoint for that year (before re-signing in 2024). Tremendous interest would likely come Mayfield’s way as a free agent next year. If the QB sticks to his guns and does not negotiate during training camp, the Bucs have a pivotal stretch upcoming. If they do not reach a deal with Mayfield over the next six weeks, this will resemble a de facto franchise tag timeline in which negotiations pause until the following year.