On December 5, 2022, the Carolina Panthers waived Baker Mayfield.
At that moment, it was entirely reasonable to wonder whether the former #1 overall draft pick would ever be a full-time NFL starting quarterback again.
Mayfield’s career had fallen apart with astonishing speed. A little more than a year earlier, he had been the starting quarterback of a Cleveland Browns team coming off its first playoff victory in more than a quarter-century. Then he injured his shoulder, struggled through the 2021 season, watched Cleveland trade for Deshaun Watson, and was shipped to Carolina for a conditional fifth-round draft pick.
The Panthers didn’t even make it through one full season with him.
Mayfield was benched, asked to be released and suddenly found himself available to virtually any NFL team willing to take a chance on him. The Los Angeles Rams claimed him off waivers, giving Baker his third team in five months.
Less than four years later, Baker Mayfield has completed one of the most extraordinary financial comebacks in modern NFL history.
On Tuesday, Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers agreed to a three-year, $165 million contract extension, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The deal averages $55 million per season and keeps Mayfield in Tampa through 2029.
And remember: this is an extension.
Baker was already under contract for 2026 and scheduled to receive $40 million in cash this season under his previous deal. So, assuming the existing 2026 compensation remains intact and he earns the full value of the extension, Mayfield now has roughly $205 million of contractual compensation covering the next four seasons.
Not bad for a guy who was literally waived by the Carolina Panthers less than four years ago.
(Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
How Did Baker Mayfield Get Here?
There was a time when none of this would have seemed surprising.
Baker won the Heisman Trophy at Oklahoma and was selected first overall by Cleveland in the 2018 NFL Draft. The Browns gave him a four-year rookie contract worth roughly $32.7 million, fully guaranteed.
Mayfield immediately provided something Browns fans hadn’t experienced in a very long time: hope.
His high point in Cleveland came during the 2020 season. Baker threw for 3,563 yards with 26 touchdowns against just eight interceptions, Cleveland went 11-5 and reached the playoffs for the first time since 2002. The Browns then went into Pittsburgh and demolished the Steelers in the Wild Card Round for the franchise’s first postseason victory since the 1994 season.
Then everything unraveled.
Mayfield suffered a torn labrum in his non-throwing shoulder during the 2021 season and continued playing through the injury. His production declined, the Browns missed the playoffs and Cleveland decided it wanted an upgrade.
In March 2022, Cleveland traded for Deshaun Watson and handed him a then-unprecedented five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract. The move effectively ended Mayfield’s Browns career.
In retrospect, the contrast is almost absurd. Cleveland decided Baker wasn’t worth building around and committed $230 million guaranteed to Watson. Baker was subsequently traded to Carolina for a conditional late-round pick.
A few months later, Carolina didn’t want him either.
The $4 Million Gamble That Changed Everything
After finishing the 2022 season with the Rams, Mayfield entered free agency in an entirely different universe from the one he occupied as the #1 overall pick five years earlier.
Then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers called.
Tampa had just lost Tom Brady to retirement and needed a quarterback. Instead of making a massive investment in Mayfield, the Buccaneers effectively offered him a chance to prove he still belonged.
Baker signed a one-year contract with a base value of just $4 million, with another $4.5 million available through incentives.
Mayfield proceeded to make the Buccaneers look very smart. He started all 17 games, threw for 4,044 yards and 28 touchdowns against 10 interceptions, led Tampa Bay to an NFC South championship and then beat Philadelphia in the playoffs. He was also selected to his first Pro Bowl.
From $4 Million To $100 Million
Tampa rewarded Mayfield in March 2024 with a three-year, $100 million contract, including $50 million in guarantees and incentives that could push its maximum value to $115 million.
And Baker responded by getting even better.
During the 2024 season, he set career highs with 4,500 passing yards and 41 touchdowns, completed more than 71% of his passes and made his second consecutive Pro Bowl. Tampa Bay won another NFC South championship.
The 2025 season wasn’t as spectacular. Mayfield threw for 3,693 yards, 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions as Tampa Bay started 6-2 before collapsing to an 8-9 finish and missing the playoffs.
But by then, Tampa knew what it had.
Since joining the Buccaneers, Mayfield had thrown for more than 12,000 yards and 90 touchdowns, made two Pro Bowls, won two division titles and provided stability at the most important position in sports.
There was just one problem. Baker wanted to be paid accordingly.
“Disrespected”
Mayfield entered 2026 in the final year of his $100 million contract and made it clear that he wanted another long-term agreement.
The negotiations didn’t go particularly well.
Mayfield wanted to enter the neighborhood of $50 million or more per season, but the Buccaneers’ initial offers reportedly weren’t close. Tampa also offered only a two-year extension, which Mayfield viewed as insufficient long-term commitment.
He set the start of training camp as his deadline for negotiations.
The deadline passed without a deal.
And Baker was not shy about how he felt.
He publicly described himself as feeling “disrespected” and “undervalued.” He also made it clear that he believed another strong season would only make Tampa’s eventual bill larger.
For a while, it looked like Mayfield would simply play out the 2026 season and potentially test free agency.
Then Tampa came back to the table. And instead of $50 million a year, Baker got $55 million.
$269 Million Worth Of Tampa Bay Contracts
The progression is remarkable.
In 2023, the Buccaneers gave Baker Mayfield a one-year, $4 million prove-it contract.
After one good season, they gave him three years and $100 million.
Now they’ve added another three years and $165 million.
That’s $269 million in headline contract value from Tampa Bay alone across those three agreements, before counting the additional incentives that were available in his first two Buccaneers contracts.
And the newest agreement is the largest contract in Buccaneers franchise history.
At $55 million per season, Mayfield also moves into a tie with Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence and Matthew Stafford at one of the NFL’s highest annual quarterback salaries. Only Patrick Mahomes and Dak Prescott currently have higher average annual values.
Perhaps the most satisfying part of the story is what happened after Baker’s original team decided he wasn’t its future. Cleveland gave another quarterback $230 million guaranteed and sent Mayfield away for a conditional fifth-round draft pick.
Baker just kept playing.
And if he earns the full value of his latest deal, the quarterback who briefly looked like he might become one of the NFL’s great #1-pick busts will instead have turned his Tampa Bay opportunity into more than a quarter-billion dollars of contracts.
That’s one hell of a comeback.
