The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have nejoyed their recent run of free agent hits at the quarterback position. They started their hot run with a tenure with Tom Brady starting that led to an eventual Super Bowl. From there, they then landed Baker Mayfield with a chip on his shoulder that has played the best years of his career in Tampa Bay.
Now, as Mayfield looks to capitalize on the value that he has shown, he is sharing where things stand with contract talks.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Mayfield started out by stating how much Tampa Bay means to him and his family, saying, “We’ve built roots Bucs QB Baker Mayfield sets deadline in Tampa. We love you know, we love being here. They’ve embraced us, we enjoy being here, and obviously gonna raise kids here, but, yeah, contract stuff, it’s happening, starting, the talks and whatnot, but not anywhere close to what, you know, we were thinking. So, we’d love to be here long term. . .”
Baker Mayfield said that currently, contract talks “are not anywhere close to what we were thinking” but he’s “gonna do everything he can to help his team win a Super Bowl.” He wants to be here long term. He said once training camp hits, no more negotiation and wants to focus. pic.twitter.com/u1Wt9XNO7m
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Mayfield then reminded the media and everyone that football remains his top priority.
“As of right now, that’s not exactly the case, but I’m under contract for 2026, and the guys in that locker and the staff know that I’m still gonna be me. I’m still gonna do everything I can to help this team when a Super Bowl, and that’s, to me, that’s the priority. Everything else takes care of itself. I would love to have a long-term deal done, but, they know my deadline is, as soon as training camp starts, we’re not doing anything contract stuff. It’s all ball.”
You read this and get the sense that this is very early on in talks, so being nowhere close isn’t a death sentence. Could things get better or worse quickly, of course, but it seems they have a lot of room for growth with just over a month’s time left to get that done.
This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Baker Mayfield says he and the team are ‘not close’ on a new deal
