NFL Insider Gives Update on Baker Mayfield's Contract Talks With Buccaneers

NFL Insider Gives Update on Baker Mayfield's Contract Talks With Buccaneers

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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield have done good work during their three-year partnership so far. Mayfield has thrown for 13,108 yards and 103 touchdowns with the Buccaneers so far, and he's looking for a new deal as he enters the last year of the $33 million APY contract he signed in 2024.

Mayfield has given the Buccaneers until training camp to negotiate with him, and he recently told reporters at a football camp in Oklahoma that he and Tampa Bay would like to get the extension done. The Bucs clearly want him back, but when will they begin picking up negotiations again as training camp draws closer?

NFL insider Jeremy Fowler recently spoke on NFL Live, and he gave an update on where Mayfield's talks with the Buccaneers are — and when they might start really picking up.

Buccaneers and Mayfield to Resume Talks Soon?

“I’m told that the Bucs and Baker Mayfield have not made any progress on a new deal since he made those original comments in [June] that he wants a deal,” Fowler said on NFL Live, per JoeBucsFan. “And he needs it before training camp. “But neither side is worried, I’m told, because they got five weeks here to hash this out. I expect some movement closer to mid- to late-July when players are about to report."

The Buccaneers and Mayfield would certainly like to get things done on this front before training camp, as it would allow Mayfield to purely focus on football and allow Tampa Bay to feel secure at the quarterback position for years to come. Based on Fowler's comments, talks could heat up fairly soon with training camp set to kick off on July 28.

Recent estimates put Mayfield's impending deal over the $50 million mark. There are 12 quarterbacks currently making that much money in the NFL, and Mayfield certainly feels as if he's worthy of being among those quarterbacks.

His target will likely fall around the $53 million APY mark. Detroit Lions QB Jared Goff and San Francisco 49ers QB Brock Purdy both make that on their current deals, and it would make sense that Mayfield — with his highs in mind — could get a comparable deal.

Mayfield has taken a lot of sacks and has fumbled the ball quite often as a Buccaneer, and the back stretch of his 2025 campaign has caused some concern. He played through injuries during that back half of the year, though, and his supporting cast was injured as well, so he could have a big year in 2026 if everyone stays healthy.

It's clear that the Bucs and Mayfield want to keep a good thing going, and based on NFL chatter, his extension could be coming very soon.

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River Wells is a sports journalist from St. Petersburg, Florida, who has covered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers since 2023. He graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Florida in 2021. You can follow him on Twitter @riverhwells.

Kawhi Leonard trade: The Raptors are taking a risk that paid off once before. Why not again?

Everyone loves a good reunion, and Kawhi Leonard is returning to the Toronto Raptors.

When last we saw Leonard sporting dinosaurs, in his lone season in Toronto, he led the Raptors on a magical run to the 2019 NBA championship, the franchise's first title.

It had cost them DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a first-round draft pick (Keldon Johnson), and it was worth every penny, because they won. But Leonard did immediately leave Toronto at the altar in 2019 free agency, choosing instead to team with Paul George on their hometown Los Angeles Clippers, where controversy ensued over seven years.

Leonard, in coordination with the Clippers, remains under investigation by the NBA for allegedly circumventing the salary cap. A Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by Pablo Torre uncovered an alleged no-show job that earned Leonard an additional $50 million.

Leonard received $291.7 million from the Clippers, and allegedly more, over seven years. He is owed $50.3 million this coming season and presumably wants much more. As Chris Haynes reported, Leonard is already working on a two-year contract extension in Toronto.

Beyond the controversy, though, there is plenty of injury concern about Leonard. He left the San Antonio Spurs in 2019 with what was termed as right quadriceps tendinopathy, a chronic condition in his leg. But the Raptors gambled and managed the then-27-year-old, who delivered 60 games in the regular season and 24 even better ones in the playoffs.

Leonard was phenomenal in the 2019 postseason, averaging a 31-9-4 on 49/38/88 shooting splits, defeating Joel Embiid's Philadelphia 76ers (thanks to a buzzer-beating Game 7 winner from Leonard), Giannis Antetokounmpo's Milwaukee Bucks and Stephen Curry's dynastic (albeit injury-plagued) Golden State Warriors en route to his second Finals MVP award. (He also took home the honor in 2014, when his Spurs won the title.)

Was that lightning in a bottle? Due to injury, Leonard missed 40% of the Clippers' regular-season games and 30% of their playoff games in his seven seasons, including their only trip to a conference finals in 2021, when his right ACL required season-ending surgery. He missed the entirety of the 2021-22 season and has dealt with inflammation in the knee ever since — concerns that cost him the end of the 2023 and 2024 postseasons, too.

After appearing in just 37 games of the 2024-25 season, Leonard enjoyed a bounce-back campaign at the age of 34 this past year, averaging a 28-6-4 on 51/39/89 shooting splits over 65 games. It was arguably the best statistical season of his career. He earned MVP and All-NBA First Team consideration, despite the controversy ever-swirling around him.

It is not controversy that should concern the Raptors. It is injury. How could they possibly put their faith into Leonard's right leg seven years removed from a miracle season, and one season removed from another? It does feel like every game Leonard plays is a gift.

But that's the thing. When he plays, man, is he good. He is a gift to the basketball gods, a two-way menace on par with anyone in his generation at his peak, and he gives Toronto a chance to win. With All-Star forward Scottie Barnes and a ton of talent around them, including RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Collin Murray-Boyles, they can compete in an open Eastern Conference. The Raptors limped to a Game 7 in the first round without Leonard.

Now, they enter the summer with the chance to further bolster the roster, having landed Leonard in the hours before free agency opened. Might more moves be on the horizon?

Regardless, everything hinges on the health of Leonard. It cost them Brandon Ingram (a 28-year-old two-time All-Star), Gradey Dick, two first-round draft picks, a first-round pick swap and a pair of second-rounders, according to Charania. That was not much more than they gave up for him the first time around. It paid off before. Why not again? Well, does lightning in a bottle strike twice? Is this a good reunion? Only time will tell.