A year later, how does Tampa’s quarterback contract look?
In light of news breaking, that 37-year-old Matthew Stafford is pushing for a reworked contract that would place him in the 50-million-dollar per year range, let’s take a comparative look at Baker Mayfield’s current contract status.
A little less than a year ago, the Buccaneers re-signed quarterback Baker Mayfield to a long-term commitment agreeing to keep the former number one overall selection of the Cleveland Browns under center in Tampa Bay for the next three seasons. At the time, Mayfield was coming off a career season where he threw 28 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions, to go along with 4,000 yards. It’s hard to imagine now, but at the time there was division within the Bucs’ fan’s community over the proper decision regarding Mayfield. Camps of people believed Tampa Bay had found their next franchise player at the position while other groups remained confident Mayfield was inconsistent and those inconsistencies represented the face of a bust not the face of a franchise.
The Buccaneers’ organization proved to be in agreeance with the former, working out a new deal with their quarterback. Mayfield became the new 100,000,000 million dollar man in Tampa Bay and got the full franchise quarterback treatment— From the big payday, to having some pull in the team’s plans at offensive coordinator.
Photo by Perry Knotts/Getty Images
Nearly one full year has past since Mayfield’s re-signing— How does the contract stack up now? Some of the league’s highest paid quarterbacks are—
• Dak Prescott – $60M
• Joe Burrow – $55M
• Jordan Love – $55M
• Trevor Lawrence – $55M
• Tua Tagovailoa – $53M
• Jared Goff – $53M
• Justin Herbert – $52M
• Lamar Jackson – $52M
• Jalen Hurts – $51M
• Kyler Murray – $46M
• Deshaun Watson – $46M
• Kirk Cousins – $45M
• Patrick Mahomes – $45M
• Josh Allen – $43M
• Daniel Jones – $40M
• Matthew Stafford – $40M
—Via newsnationnow.com
Despite being one off of the league-lead in touchdowns, Mayfield doesn’t even find himself all that close to the league’s highest salaries at the position. More importantly, out of the above players listed, there are— at most—five passers who objectively outplayed Mayfield last season.
The aforementioned Stafford, does have a Super Bowl championship on his résumé, however, since that season (2021) his numbers have taken dramatic steps backwards. In his first season with the Rams, Stafford provided 41 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. As Los Angeles’ starter for each of the three years that have followed, he has only accumulated another 54 touchdown passes while adding nearly 30 more interceptions. Coming off a season where he threw 20 touchdowns and eight interceptions, Stafford is trying to negotiate a substantial increase and the reporting indicates that there are teams out there willing to give him one.
Baker Mayfield, a season ago, put up numbers shockingly similar to Stafford’s best year in LA— 41 touchdowns, 16 interceptions for Mayfield in 2024, 41 touchdowns and 17 interceptions for Stafford in 2021— Mayfield did so earning just nearly 10 million less, while being almost a decade younger.
With the market for franchise quarterbacks rising tremendously each year, Jason Licht’s ability to haggle for Baker Mayfield’s services looks more and more like another notch in his résumé’s belt.
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