Baker Mayfield Agrees to One-Year Deal with Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Report
It’s back to the NFC South for Baker Mayfield. After spending seven games with the Carolina Panthers before eventually being released and spending the rest of the 2022-23 season with the Los Angeles Rams, Mayfield has inked a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to a report by ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The contract is worth up to $8.5 million, Schefter reports, as he’s set to potentially become legendary quarterback Tom Brady’s replacement. His deal starts at $4 million, a source told ESPN’s Jenna Laine.
In order to win the job and officially replace Brady, Mayfield will have to beat out 2021 NFL second-round draft pick Kyle Trask. And the franchise has spoken highly of Trask, with general manager Jason Licht recently telling reporters at the NFL Combine the Bucs “have a lot of faith in Kyle.”
Mayfield, of course, brings with him some experience to pair with the more youthful Trask. The former No. 1 NFL Draft pick in 2018 began his career with Cleveland, then, as mentioned, spent about half of last season with both Carolina and Los Angeles.
In those latter five games with the Rams under Sean McVay’s tutelage, Mayfield completed nearly 64% of his passes for 850 yards and four touchdowns to two interceptions. That came on the heels of a first half where he threw for 1,313 yards and six touchdowns to six interceptions, completing a career-low 57.8% of his passes.
Mayfield has thrown for 16,288 yards and 102 touchdowns to 64 interceptions over the course of his now-five-year career. He’s completed 61.4% of his throws.
