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An update from earlier this week suggested that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and quarterback Baker Mayfield “are not on the same page” amid negotiations regarding a possible contract extension.
It appears that will remain the case heading into the final weekend of June.
Buccaneers, Baker Mayfield have made “no real progress”
For a piece published on Friday, NFL insider Jason La Canfora of SportsBoom US revealed that Mayfield and the Buccaneers have made “no real progress” during their talks. Mayfield is in the final year of his existing deal, and he warned earlier this month that his deadline for contract talks is the start of training camp in late July.
For a mailbag posted on Thursday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated predicted that Mayfield will “get something close to the top of the quarterback market with Tampa before Week 1” of the upcoming season arrives. La Canfora seems unsure about that.
“Mayfield joining the upper echelon of quarterbacks could prove to be a stretch in Tampa, or elsewhere, with him currently right in the middle of starting quarterback compensation at a little over $30M per year,” La Canfora wrote. “The team could always look at placing a transition or franchise tag on him in 2027, should it want to continue on a short-term basis with him while trying to identify a quarterback of the future.”
Interestingly, one NFL contract negotiator told La Canfora that Mayfield “doesn’t have as much leverage as he probably thinks he does” this summer. Presumably, such a comment is related to the fact that Tampa Bay could retain Mayfield’s rights for 2027 via the franchise tag or the transition tag.
Earlier this offseason, the Indianapolis Colts used the transition tag to retain quarterback Daniel Jones before the Colts and Jones agreed to a two-year, $88M deal that could be worth up to $100M.
C.J. Stroud may have to give the Houston Texans a discount?
Meanwhile, numerous reporters said throughout the spring that the Houston Texans are in no rush to give starting quarterback C.J. Stroud a lucrative extension after they picked up his fifth-year option for 2027. According to La Canfora, “executives around the NFL do not anticipate that changes much in the coming weeks.”
“Short of Stroud’s camp putting a proposal on the table that catches [the Texans’] attention,” La Canfora continued, “this appears headed to the quarterback playing out the fourth year on his rookie deal.”
Stroud giving the Texans a significant hometown discount could guarantee him money beyond the expiration of his current deal. However, the fact that the values of quarterback contracts go up every offseason could lead one to believe that Stroud will want to bet on himself and attempt to bolster his worth between now and the end of the next postseason tournament.
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