Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers have been working to agree on a new contract to keep the veteran passer in Tampa over the last several months. Wanting to have reached a new deal before getting back on the field, Mayfield set a deadline for the start of training camp. This deadline is now two days away, and as of about two and a half weeks ago, the two sides were still not close to an agreement.
Based on previous reports, it seems that failure to come to an agreement by the deadline would not be the end of the world. Because both sides have repeatedly expressed their interest in reaching a deal, it was deemed unlikely that Mayfield would purposefully not participate with a holdout of any kind. Once the season is over, and he can put his attention on negotiations again, there seems to be confidence that negotiations would pick up again in the offseason.
This confidence comes from reports from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that Mayfield is not afraid of playing on the franchise tag. Mayfield is under contract for the upcoming year then will become a free agent once the new league year begins. At that point, he and the team will get another opportunity to reach an agreement, but if that fails, as well, the Buccaneers still have the option of franchise tagging Mayfield, giving the two sides yet another opportunity the following offseason.
Some quarterbacks would be offended by the lack of concession that might lead to a franchise tag, causing them to make trade requests or hold out, refusing to play without a full contract. Mayfield, though, appears willing to play out a season on a contract that is fully guaranteed year at a fairly generous rate. Seeing the litany of quarterbacks now making over $50MM per year (currently, 12), Mayfield has been working to break that threshold, as well. Per Fowler, the forecasted value of the franchise tag for a quarterback next year would bring him up from about $33.33MM per year to around $47-48MM.
If Mayfield were to continue playing at the level he has been, negotiations after the tagged year would only go up from there. This doesn’t necessarily change anything about where the two sides are at or make it more difficult to reach a new deal. If anything, it grants both sides quite a bit more runway to land a deal both will be satisfied with.
As long as Tampa Bay is willing to shoulder the hefty cap hit of the franchise tag and Mayfield is willing to continue letting his play on the field speak for him in negotiations, this would provide them with about a year and a half more to negotiate. Considering both sides feel fairly determined to extend their time together, it’s a reasonable fallback plan.
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