Quarterbacks don’t exactly grow on trees. It’s a premium, and arguably the most important position on the field that can make or break your franchise.
If you’re a team like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are teetering on the brink of determining whether or not to pay their own, you may not know what you have until it’s gone.
Chris Simms Talks Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers
Since arriving in Tampa Bay as the successor to Tom Brady, Mayfield has yet to miss a single game. He’s played in 17 games each of the last three seasons, but the Buccaneers are likely hoping 2025 was merely a blip on the radar rather than the start of a trend.
Mayfield gutted through a painful left shoulder injury and failed to eclipse 4,000 passing yards for the first time in his tenure with the team. He completed just north of 63% of his passes with 26 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The Buccaneers, who had won the NFC South in each of Mayfield’s first two seasons at quarterback, failed to do so last year.
If they’re confident that the former No. 1 overall pick, who turns 31 years old next Tuesday, can bounce back from an underwhelming campaign, they should have no qualms with inking him to a long-term extension.
NFL analyst Chris Simms, who spent five seasons with the Buccaneers after they drafted him in 2003, made his case for paying Mayfield clear in a segment on PFT Live.
“I kind of look and go, ‘Man, there’s not too many of them out there,'” he said, according to JoeBucsFan.com. “And you’ve got one in Tampa Bay. You got one. You got a guy that’s a leader, he can make big plays, he’s got a great arm. There’s just very few quarterbacks that you can say, ‘Hey, we got it.'”
2025 marked a devastating season for the Buccaneers, who were ravaged by injuries. Even so, they opted to retain head coach Todd Bowles for what would mark a fifth season with the team.
The synergy between Bowles and Mayfield is another reason to lock the quarterback in for a long-term deal; if the plan is to keep Bowles in the mix for the foreseeable future, then continuity between a head coach and his quarterback is imperative.
The Buccaneers lost 7 of their final 9 games to end the season, and 5 of those were 1-score losses. The same can be said for their impressive start to the season, though; 4 of their 6 wins were by 1 score. The pendulum just so happened to swing the other way down the stretch.
Bowles’ tenure as the team’s head coach has left much to be desired. Sure, the Buccaneers have finished with first-place records in the division in 3 of his 4 years, but that isn’t saying much when an 8-9 record will get the job done and earn you a home playoff game.
The Buccaneers won their division with 10 wins in 2024, 9 in 2023, and 8 in 2022. This past season, they finished below .500 for the second time under Bowles with an 8-9 record, and now Mayfield is entering a contract year.
“I would think they’re going to find the sweet spot [for a contract extension] here,” Simms said. “It’s just about what that number is; what makes sense for where Baker Mayfield is in his career.”
“He’s a damn good player,” Simms continued. “He gives your team an edge. He gives your team an, ‘Ooooh, the Bucs are on. It’s Baker? Let me watch them.’ Because Baker’s going to go for it. He doesn’t play the politics of the sport. He goes for it. He’s trying to win. He’s trying to throw lasers. And he’s one of the more explosive quarterbacks in football in the pocket because of his frame of mind and his big right arm.”
For much of Mayfield’s stint with the Buccaneers, he’s been at the helm of an explosive offense headlined by the likes of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin at receiver. Evans departed in free agency and signed a deal with the San Francisco 49ers, while Godwin has yet to truly return to form following a gruesome lower-leg injury in 2024.
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Mayfield will shoulder much of the load on offense in 2026. Last year’s rookie phenom, Emeka Egbuka, cooled off down the stretch after a blazing start to his career. The Buccaneers also still have Bucky Irving in the backfield, who is now paired with Kenneth Gainwell following the departure of Rachaad White in free agency.
According to PFSN’s QB Impact Metric, Mayfield finished the season as the 24th-ranked quarterback in the league, and the Buccaneers’ offense as a whole ranked No. 21 on PFSN’s Offense Impact Metric.
