Last season the Tampa bay Buccaneers signed Baker Mayfield to a one-year deal hoping that the former overall No. 1 draft pick had plenty to prove to himself and the NFL. He exceeded expectations having his best season as a pro leading Tampa Bay to a third straight NFC South title as well as a fourth consecutive playoff berth.
Late Saturday night or early Sunday morning the two sides came together for a new three-year deal worth an estimated 100 million dollars according to multiple reports. Due to league rules, the deal can’t be officially announced until Wednesday the first day of free agency.
The Buccaneers helped make Mayfield comfortable by first resigning his favorite target Mke Evans and then The future of Mayfield following the departure of former OC Dave Canales to become the head coach of the Carolina Panther, the team hired a familiar face to Mayfield in former Kentucky and Rams’ OC Liam Coen.
The fans of Tampa Bay fell in love with Mayfield and despite the loss of Tom Brady the fan base started to get behind No. 8 and embrace him as their quarterback. GM Jason Licht took a chance on Mayfield and the man who played for three teams in two years found a home in what turned out to be a wonderful season.
Licht has to be one of the most creative executives in the NFL and he was able to make Mayfield comfortable in what was going to be a very active free-agent quarterback market with Atlanta, Minnesota, New England, and Denver all looking for a new signal-caller. But most football insiders felt Mayfield wanted to be a long-term member of the Buccaneers, he and his family loved the area, he knew the fans were behind him and in the end, the two sides worked out a win-win deal.
Now Licht and his crew will focus on the draft and getting some more players to keep the Buccaneers in the playoff hunt for the next few and beyond.
