“He Didn’t Care What He Was Making”
June 17th, 2024
Baker Mayfield
Baker Mayfield was and is quite a salary cap tonic for Tampa Bay.
Even collecting a pile of incentives last season, Mayfield made less money than a lot of backup quarterbacks.
This year? All kinds of quarterbacks are making more than $40 million or $50 million, with other making more than Pro Bowler Mayfield will earn at $30 million for the 2024 season.
Mayfield has not been about the money, says Buccaneers Ring of Honor GM Jason Licht, so he told the Loose Cannons podcast recently.
“He didn’t care what he was making. He wanted to revive his career,” Licht said of Mayfield’s attitude before signing with the Bucs a year ago.
Licht called signing Mayfield an easy decision because of who he had endorsing him.
“When you got your former head coach and your current head coach saying, ‘I believe in this guy,’ that made it easy for us,” Licht said.
The GM noted that the Bucs still live under a salary cap pinch, which leads to Joe say Mayfield appearst to be the perfect fit now and for the life of his three-year contract.
“We’re still kinda strapped a little bit [for cap room] for the next couple of years,” Licht said.
The cap comment intrigued Joe. Is Licht already factoring in retaining Chris Godwin?
June 17th, 2024 at 11:20 am
Wirfs?
June 17th, 2024 at 11:49 am
“We’re still kinda strapped a little bit [for cap room] for the next couple of years,” Licht said.
A little bit? Ya think?
$55M in dead cap $ being paid off this year
$52M in dead cap $ due in 2025
$22M in dead cap $ due in 2026
$24M in dead cap $ due in 2027
Thats $153M in debt that the Bucs have to pay off over the next 4 years.
Going ‘all in’ for Brady and then trying to stay competitive post Brady has seriously racked up the credit card bills.
The only way out of a financial mess like this for an NFL team is to draft your way out of it.
Fortunately our GM is among the best in the league at drafting. Most teams that created similar circumstances (ahem – Saints) are screwed….
June 17th, 2024 at 12:08 pm
Yep. Perfect fit for both, right now. And at the exact top number I said I hoped we did not go over… a 3/$100MIL with maybe a few incentives in there that could push it up to $110MIL maybe, I think!? I’m sure that’d be for winning the Super Bowl! Anything more than that did not make sense. They would’ve only been bidding against THEMSELVES, at that point. People (not just on here either, but publicly) were screaming they didn’t care WHAT it took, $40MIL, $45MIL per+… Just whatever it takes. HAVE TO sign him. But, that was just total craziness. I would always ask them… “Yeah, But At What Cost!?” I think a 3/$100M is fair… MAYBE, I go to $105M, but that’s it. I believe you’ll see that the market is not going to be there for him like you might think. And, I believe that he saw that eventually, too. So, I don’t believe for a minute, that he took some kind of a “team friendly” type of discount. I believe he took the best, safest route he could take. The deal he got was the best he could get and plenty fair for both sides.
June 17th, 2024 at 12:16 pm
^^^^ This
That’s the beauty of rookie contracts. Last year we could’ve payed 1.5 mil for our starting QB instead of 8 mil. That 6.5 mil would’ve been nice to spend elsewhere, like perhaps SS, or C, or LG, or EDGE, or ILB.
30 mil this year is again way more than we needed to be spending. Either 1.7 mil for the guy we drafted, or 5-10 mil for a 1st round rookie.
There was no reason to continue pushing money after Brady left.
And honestly, I don’t think our offense would have looked any worse had Licht gone down that road.
June 17th, 2024 at 12:32 pm
realistic-optimistic says:
“And honestly, I don’t think our offense would have looked any worse had Licht gone down that road”
Then you’re out of touch with the history of rookie QBs. There have been what? Eleven rookie QBs that have won a playoff game their first season out of all the thousands of rookie QBs that have come through the NFL? The odds of having as good an offense with a rookie QB are astronomical and not bloody likely! Im glad that the bucks have a great GM that got a steal on a veteran QB instead.
June 17th, 2024 at 12:40 pm
Kind of Humiliating
The Bucs are in a massive financial pinch ($80M, $50M, $29M) and the other NFCS teams can’t take advantage. They seriously couldn’t beat us when we ate up $80M in dead cap! Looking at our roster, I fully expect the Bucs to win the division this year and next. Imagine what Licht can do when we have no dead cap?
June 17th, 2024 at 12:48 pm
Pickgrin … Excellent analysis, although I tend to think it’s still too early to have any real feel for how much Dead CAP we’ll be tagged for in 2025-2027. Of the $52 mil Dead CAP for 2025 for instance, $29.2 mil is as a result of Shaq & Jensen, but the other $23 mil or so is due to Godwin being a FA (and us still owing $18.9 mil for his past contracts), Nelson being an FA (with us owing $2.7 mil) and for Gaines being a FA (us still owing $1.4 mil). I could see us keeping at least 1 of those 3, maybe 2 of them, and that’d change the 2025 Dead CAP right then. Not to mention that some other players might get cut, impacting Dead CAP also.
Agree totally with your conclusion that ‘The only way out of a financial mess like this for an NFL team is to draft your way out of it’. JL done a very good job of drafting, but Todd Bowles & his assistant coaches have done an equally good job getting these players ready to contribute right from the git-go. IMO he’s had to deal with some far more difficult situations than BA ever had to.
June 17th, 2024 at 1:09 pm
DR – any ‘changes’ to those #s (like getting a deal done for Wirfs or re-signing Godwin next year) will only involve more deferment – more can kicking…..
All in all though – I’d say cap wizard Greenberg is handling all this pretty well considering how much $ he was ordered to spend the last 4 years.
June 17th, 2024 at 1:31 pm
He says it doesn’t matter but if he has 2 good years you bet it is going to matter. Wish he went elsewhere. Bucs don’t deserve him
June 17th, 2024 at 1:35 pm
He better be!!!
June 17th, 2024 at 1:42 pm
Where do the Bucs stand relative to every other NFL Franchise in these next 3-4 years, then… Seems-like, they’ve been saying this about the Saints for 8-YEARS, now!? And, Lord… The Bucs for already like, 2-3 years. I don’t get all of this “Dead Cap” stuff… Does it mean, that you can carry as much of it for a long as YOU WANT, depending on whether or not your owner is willing to do so, by PAYING-UP!? If that’s the case then where is Steve Ballmer when you really need him!?
June 17th, 2024 at 1:52 pm
If we decide to walk away from Baker after the second season of his three year deal, then where does that $40-MIL go… Not in Baker’s pocket. But, does it then become “Dead Cap,” or was it going to be “Dead Cap” regardless, or at least a portion of it!? It all basically seems like a lot of BS to me. Why can’t they just make the “salary cap” an actual salary cap, and REAL to begin with!?
June 17th, 2024 at 2:22 pm
That is our guy – Baker Mayfield. The money didn’t matter. It has to feel great for him to be surrounded by so many that believe in him. Agreed, sounding like a deal for Godwin is right around the corner with Licht saying they are strapped for the next two years. But he did say kinda. Sort of yes and sort of no. The mystery awaits!
June 17th, 2024 at 2:28 pm
“30 mil this year is again way more than we needed to be spending. Either 1.7 mil for the guy we drafted, or 5-10 mil for a 1st round rookie.”
6 qbs taken out of the first 12 picks. you would have traded up to take one? how much draft stock would you need to give up getting down there to get one? your thoughts?
want to draft one past the first round? which qb would you have selected?
June 17th, 2024 at 3:38 pm
Replying to bucsfan951:
The issue isn’t paying a QB less, thats easy, just plug in any backup or rookie.
The issue is winning games, and rookies and backups dont usually take teams to division championships and playoff appearances, much less wins. Baker as BUCS QB was literally the best move out there, even if hed of been paid $40mil.. The BUCs got the fourth ranked passer in the playoffs for a song and the team, management, and fans love him! The Bucs management and coaches are trying to get better quality players around Baker BECAUSE he’s able to win in the playoffs and they want another shot at the playoffs and NOT another series of four years of “failed rookie hell”.
June 17th, 2024 at 3:55 pm
If you draft a rookie and he’s not showing what Baker did in his first camp, you have to pay him PLUS bring in a veteran. Its suddenly not cheap and the cheaper you go on the veteran, the more likely that you not only lose games, but that your rookie QB doesn’t develop. Then you’re in the cycle for years 2,3,4, unless the” light comes on” and he plays well. By year 4 or 5 you either trade him( waste of $ and 4 seasons or he’s developed into a decent backup (Trask) in which case you just wasted the pick. Thats why teams with a decent amount of talent try to find a veteran who can play and pay him. THEN they pick up a rookie to learn behind him and try to develop that player. I expect we’ll see that move next draft because BUCS management is sound.
June 17th, 2024 at 4:09 pm
They do when they’re attached to a top-10 scoring defense. We’ve seen many rookie QBs succeed under those conditions. Backups too. Heck, we saw one pull it off on this very team just last year.
June 17th, 2024 at 4:21 pm
You have got to be kidding me!!! Baker Mayfield takes the bucs to the playoffs and even wins a playoff game and there are people posting the bucs overpaid !!! Are you people just plain ignorant! You have no business posting anything bucs related …anywhere!!!!
June 17th, 2024 at 4:43 pm
Baker Mayfield is the 17th highest paid QB in the league and soon will be passed by Jordon Love and Tua T. To be the 19th highest paid QB in the NFL…the return on investment by the bucs is simply phenomenal.
June 17th, 2024 at 4:48 pm
Yes there is some dead cap money to be paid but the Bucs have won a super bowl recently and then landed a qb that can legitimately take you back to it for a lousy $30 million. Sounds to me like you all have gotten a little spoiled. Let the GM do GM sh** and just enjoy the ride. There are a lot of teams that would love to switch places with this Bucs team
June 17th, 2024 at 6:26 pm
Bucben61 Says:
June 17th, 2024 at 4:21 pm
You have got to be kidding me!!! Baker Mayfield takes the bucs to the playoffs and even wins a playoff game and there are people posting the bucs overpaid !!! Are you people just plain ignorant! You have no business posting anything bucs related …anywhere!!!!
==============================
BucBen61,
You are not going to get anywhere with the shamamateurs on this blog who routinely run down Baker. I believe most of them are dealing with huge inferiority complexes from being repeatedly cut from high school athletic teams. Most found a modicum of success marching in the school band. Nothing wrong with that. Somebody has to do it. Chief among the band kids, I believe. is RodMunch.
June 17th, 2024 at 6:35 pm
Baker is an excellent bargain at the moment. This new trend of locking up a new qb for huge money after just a few years is mind boggling. T Lawrence has been ok so far, but that contract he got just because the Jags would be scared to lose him is crazy.
If the way things were 7 or so years ago were like they are now, we would have locked up Jameis after year three because he showed “something”. No goat, no ring. Scary to think about
June 17th, 2024 at 6:56 pm
Booger says mr.know it all if u new anything pay attention Licht never let the bidding happen that’s why atlanta waited to sign cousins until mayfield signed with tampa I guarantee they wud certainly taken mayfield at 35mill verses cousin 50 mill & injured seriously injured,baker wud have had several opportunities other than tampa
June 17th, 2024 at 7:40 pm
Bucs are so dang lucky to have Baker.
June 18th, 2024 at 10:01 am
Godwin and Wirfs aint gonna be cheap. So thanks to Joe I have the answer to my question. We still got salary cap concerns.
Therefore not likely to go out and sign any expensive FAs this year.
Go Bucs!
June 19th, 2024 at 6:31 am
Bucs are in Fine Shape for 2024, and More “A Team” with Baker!
June 19th, 2024 at 10:50 am
Pickgrin Says:
June 17th, 2024 at 11:49 am
“We’re still kinda strapped a little bit [for cap room] for the next couple of years,” Licht said.
A little bit? Ya think?
$55M in dead cap $ being paid off this year
$52M in dead cap $ due in 2025
$22M in dead cap $ due in 2026
$24M in dead cap $ due in 2027
Thats $153M in debt that the Bucs have to pay off over the next 4 years.
Going ‘all in’ for Brady and then trying to stay competitive post Brady has seriously racked up the credit card bills.
The only way out of a financial mess like this for an NFL team is to draft your way out of it.
Fortunately our GM is among the best in the league at drafting. Most teams that created similar circumstances (ahem – Saints) are screwed….
I think this part is often overlooked. Some franchises continue to sign FA’s to get out of cap hell, but the best way is, as you already said, to draft out of it. Licht has been doing a solid job of that going back a few seasons now. Let’s just hope this current crop of rookies is a continuation of that trend, and not a fork in the road so to speak. Good post, I agree with you