Buccaneers reportedly have made huge Baker Mayfield decision amid contract rumors

Perhaps the biggest story hovering over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this spring involves the fact that quarterback Baker Mayfield remains in the final year of the three-year deal he signed in March 2024.

One April report hinted that Tampa Bay could keep Mayfield on his current agreement through the 2026 season. However, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter suggested during a recent edition of the "NFL Live" program that the Buccaneers don't plan to mess around regarding Mayfield's future. 

Buccaneers "intend" to do this with Baker Mayfield

"They intend to re-sign him and get that extension done," Schefter said about the Buccaneers' handling of Mayfield's status, per the JoeBucsFan website. 

Additionally, JoeBucsFan noted that "Schefter is very tight with the folks at One Buc Palace" and has had Buccaneers assistant general manager Mike Greenberg as a guest on his podcast.

As it pertains to Mayfield, he guided Tampa Bay to a pair of division titles and to one playoff win over his first two seasons with the organization. The 2025 Buccaneers then entered their Week 9 bye at 6-2 before things fell apart for the club. Mayfield suffered a significant injury to his non-throwing shoulder in Week 12, and Tampa Bay ultimately missed the playoffs and finished the campaign with a record of 8-9. 

Publicly, Buccaneers co-owner Joel Glazer and general manager Jason Licht have seemed to be all-in on keeping Mayfield beyond just the 2026 season. However, such words only mean so much without a signed contract. 

Do Buccaneers still believe in Baker Mayfield?

"Obviously, he fell off a little bit at the end of the year last year," Schefter added during his report about Mayfield. "And maybe [the contract extension] would have been done sooner if that weren’t the case. But the fact of the matter is, they still believe in Baker Mayfield. They love Baker Mayfield. They want to have Baker Mayfield. And I believe these two sides will get this deal done."

One longtime personnel executive thinks the Buccaneers could offer Mayfield an extension similar to the three-year, $100.5M contract that Sam Darnold signed to join the Seattle Seahawks last offseason. While it's unclear exactly how much money Mayfield's camp wants attached to a deal, it sounds like Schefter believes the Bucs will soon give the 31-year-old millions of reasons to want to stay put.