Pat McAfee Says Mayfield Contract Drama Is Being Overblown
A day after Todd Bowles voiced full confidence in Baker Mayfield, Pat McAfee added his voice to the chorus pushing back on the idea that Tampa Bay's quarterback situation is in trouble.
Pat McAfee is not buying the narrative that Baker Mayfield's contract stalemate with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is anything to worry about. Speaking on his ESPN show, McAfee said the situation is not unusual for a quarterback entering the final year of his deal and pushed back on the idea that the two sides are heading toward a breakup. The comments land one day after head coach Todd Bowles said he "absolutely" wants Mayfield long term and that the lack of a new contract has not affected his quarterback one bit.
What did Pat McAfee say about Baker Mayfield's contract situation?
McAfee went straight at the premise that this is a crisis. "This is not abnormal. I think people try to make this a bigger deal than it actually is," he said. He pointed out that Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers are not going to be negotiating once training camp opens, which is standard practice across the league. McAfee also noted that GM Jason Licht has made clear how highly the organization values Mayfield, and said he does not think the two sides are anywhere near done with negotiations. "We still got time," he said. The broader point was that the loudness of the coverage does not match the severity of the situation.
Why does McAfee see this as a normal negotiation rather than a standoff?
The structure of the situation fits a familiar pattern: a quarterback on the back half of a team-friendly deal, a front office that has sent over an initial offer, and an agent who has set a soft deadline tied to the start of training camp. None of those elements are unusual. Baker Mayfield himself has said he wants to stay in Tampa Bay, where he rebuilt a career that had stalled in Cleveland, Carolina, and Los Angeles. McAfee's read is that the relationship between the player and the organization is intact, which is the part that actually matters. Negotiations are supposed to take time when the numbers are far apart.
Where does the contract situation actually stand heading into training camp?
Mayfield is in the final year of a three-year, $100 million contract he signed with Tampa Bay in 2024, a deal that now looks well below market. He has said talks are "not anywhere close" to his expectations, and his agent, Tom Mills, has asked for a resolution before the team reports to camp in late July. If no deal is in place by then, negotiations would pause until after the 2026 season, leaving Mayfield to play out the year and hit unrestricted free agency in 2027. The Buccaneers restructured his deal earlier this offseason to guarantee his 2026 salary, a move that protects the quarterback but does not resolve the long-term question. Both sides still have roughly six weeks before the informal deadline arrives.
Players in this story
Sources
- ESPN: Why McAfee isn't concerned over Baker Mayfield's contract status
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