Baker Mayfield Contract Structure Is A Real Weapon For Bucs

Now there are a lot of interesting things to note based off of OTC’s reporting. Let’s break them all down.

No Void Years?

According to OverTheCap.com the Bucs opted not to spread out any of Baker’s signing bonus across any void years. There are pros and cons to this.

The pros center around the fact that there will be no “dead money” once the deal expires. This is something general manager Jason Licht and assistant general manager Mike Greenberg shied away from early in their tenures with the Bucs, but then used heavily over the 2020-2023 time period once the team’s playoff window opened.

The cons of going this route is that it does inflate the salary cap hits over the 2024-2026 seasons. There is a massive jump between $10.75 million in 2024 and $39.625 million in 2025.

Note this is subject to change. In speaking with someone from OTC, as well as others, there is a good bet there may be void years attached to the deal. If there are it may change the calculus a bit.

Relatively Low Year One Cap Hit

Even without the use of void years the Bucs were able to keep Baker Mayfield’s 2024 cap hit very reasonable. At $10.75 million the Bucs have plenty of room to continue to build out the roster.

Mayfield’s cap hit has not stopped Tampa Bay from franchise tagging All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr., or re-signing Pro Bowl wide receiver Mike Evans, kicker Chase McLaughlin or reserve nose tackle Greg Gaines.

Maybe it stopped them from giving inside linebacker Devin White his $100 million deal (I kid), but at less than $11 million this year, Mayfield’s deal is a bargain cap hit for a quarterback with multiple playoff wins and a Pro Bowl under his belt.

Lots of Flexibility

Let’s play out two scenarios with this deal.

First scenario, Baker Mayfield regresses mightily in 2024. Tampa Bay loses 10 games or more and has a high draft pick in 2025. If they decide to do a reset, move on from Mayfield and go with a rookie quarterback with their first-round pick, then his contract will not be a hindrance to them pivoting. His current projected cap hit for 2025 is $39.625 million.

If the team decides to release him, they will take on a $29.250 million dead cap hit, but still save $10.375 million in salary cap room. And if the team decides to make that cut a post-June 1 move they can spread that dead cap hit across 2025 ($19.625 million) and 2026 ($9.625 million).

Scenario two, Mayfield continues to play well. He even takes a step forward from his 2023 performance. The Bucs make the playoffs again with a young, talented roster and are looking to compliment that roster with more veteran pieces.

Would Mayfield’s contract and cap hit prevent them from making those moves? The answer to that is no. In this scenario the Bucs could restructure up to $28.745 million of his $30 million base salary. Depending on if Jason Licht and Mike Greenberg wanted to use void years at that point they could open up as much as $22.996 million in cap space while reducing Mayfield’s cap hit to as low as $16.629 million.

Door Is Open For Another Extension In 2026

If the marriage of the Bucs and Baker Mayfield continues to bear fruit through 2025 the structure of this deal makes for an easy extension. The $40 million salary Mayfield is set to earn in 2026 is not guaranteed. If he gets to that point in the contract and the two parties want to extend it makes a perfect total to guarantee in the form of a conversion to a prorated bonus.

Tampa Bay could then tack on guaranteed salary in 2027 as the balance of the full guarantees of that new deal while adding a third year of non-guaranteed money. Using this contract as a model that deal could look something like: two-year extension (through 2028), $85 million in new money. $50 million fully guaranteed. Cap hits:

2026 – $14.2 million

2027 – $52.9 million

2028 – $57.9 million

What If There Are Void Years?

As I noted earlier, there is some conjecture that the Bucs have used void years in Baker Mayfield’s contract, and they just have not been reported by the NFL Players Association. So, what changes if they have used them? A few things would adjust.

First of all, Mayfield’s 2024 cap hit would reduce to a likely $6.9 million. The 2025 cap number would come down to $35.775 million and 2026 would drop to $45.775 million. It would also set placeholder dead cap hits of $5.775 million in 2027 and 2028. The 2028 amount would accelerate to 2027 once the deal expired and the Bucs would be left with an $11.55 million dead cap charge.

If the team were to decide to cut Mayfield after 2024, they would be responsible for a $33.1 million dead cap charge against a $35.775 salary cap hit, so they would still realize a slight savings of $2.675 million with a straight cut, and $20 million with a post-June 1 designation (and a $17.325 million dead cap charge in 2026).

No matter how you slice it the Bucs have dealt themselves a solid hand. They have multiple outs with this contract.

And a solid quarterback on the roster.