VIDEO: Baker Mayfield Talks About His Future In Free Agency

While one Bucs Pro Bowler was holding a press conference at the AdventHealth Training Center, another Bucs Pro Bowler was taking batting practice with the New York Yankees in spring training.

Wide receiver Mike Evans and general manager Jason Licht met with the media to talk about Evans’ two-year contract extension and about their desire to re-sign Baker Mayfield before the Bucs quarterback hits free agency, which begins next week. Meanwhile with Pro Bowl left tackle Tristan Wirfs looking on, Mayfield took 14 swings at bat with the Yankees just down the street at Steinbrenner Field and briefly discussed his future in free agency in an interview with the YES network.

“We’re going to find out here in the next week or so,” Mayfield said when asked what his future holds. “Just working on that right now. God’s got a plan for me, so just trust in that. One day at a time.”

After moving from Cleveland to Carolina and Los Angeles during the 2022 season, Mayfield revived his NFL career year in Tampa Bay in 2023. He signed a one-year, prove-it deal with a $4 million base salary and incentives that pushed the deal to $7.5 million in total.

Mayfield, who turns 29 in April, threw for 4,000 yards for the first time in his six-year NFL career, as well as throwing a career-high 28 touchdowns and just 10 interceptions with the Bucs. The former No. 1 overall pick helped the Bucs win the NFC South for a third straight season and beat Philadelphia in the Wild Card round of the playoffs before losing at Detroit in the Divisional round of the postseason.

His successful season with the Bucs ended with him making the Pro Bowl for the first time in his career and winning the skills competition as well as Offensive MVP honors.

Will Baker Mayfield Hit Free Agency?

Bucs GM Jason Licht and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

While Wednesday, March 13 is the official start of free agency in terms of players being allowed to sign contracts with new teams, the open negotiating period begins at noon on Monday, March 11. Of course teams and agents meet secretly at the NFL Scouting Combine to have conversations to gauge a player’s worth and perhaps indicate interest in the club’s behalf, as Bucs general manager Jason Licht hinted at on Friday.

“Well a lot of them know what the market is at this point,” Licht said. “I think the start of the negotiation period is really almost the same as the start of free agency because they’re already talking and negotiating.

“So, as we get to Monday, any of our players aren’t signed – it doesn’t mean they’re not coming back. It just means that maybe we’ve got an agreement that hey they’ll see what [their] worth [is]. We have a disagreement right now and then let’s just try to work it out. We don’t want the player to be unhappy, either.”

So will the Bucs be able to re-sign Baker Mayfield prior to the start of free agency? The two sides were “not close,” according to a Pewter Report report on Wednesday, but have made some progress since then. On Friday Licht told the media: “We’ve had good conversations.”

Licht did suggest that Baker Mayfield hitting free agency could be a possibility if a deal cannot be reached by Sunday night.

“You just have to remain patient,” Licht said. “You can’t panic and you’ve got to know sometimes you’ve got to let some of them go into free agency and then come back. So hopefully they come back. You don’t want to do something that puts your club in a bad position. And at the same time, you also want to do everything you can to put your club in a good position.”