It's hard to sell that there is anyone who wins from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield contract negotiation debacle. The Bucs and Baker were unable to come to an agreement before the self imposed deadline of training camp, so Baker will head into the 2026 NFL regular season and play through it without a new deal, leaving him vulnerable to leaving when the new league year begins in March 2027.
The crux of the issue was Mayfield getting lowballed below $50 million per season, which is the bare minimum for a franchise quarterback, which implies Jason Licht secretly doesn't think Mayfield is a franchise quarterback and hopes that this snub lights a fire under the quarterback to have a career year and prove it.
Mayfield's ensuing remarks about the negotiations and feeling "disrespected" obviously aren't going over well with anyone, but if there is one person who can walk away from this ordeal feeling like he can use this to his benefit, then it is head coach Todd Bowles.
Todd Bowles has another scapegoat if Tampa Bay Buccaneers fail in 2026
The microscope is fully on Bowles after another losing season, and he truly was the architect of the collapse. A lot of the big departures, especially stars Jamel Dean and Mike Evans in free agency, are pointed to as the doing of Bowles and the fact that players with Super Bowl ambitions do not buy into a coach who had a losing season with Tom freaking Brady as the right man to do the job.
Bowles benefits from the volatile Mayfield situation in two ways. Firstly, he can benefit if Baker Mayfield uses that boulder on his shoulder to have that career year at an MVP level, because the head coach, who probably should have been fired earlier this year, can then ride Mayfield's coattails again to success.
But secondly, if the opposite happens and Mayfield spirals like he did in Cleveland and Carolina after feeling rejected, then Bowles can argue to the Glazers, who seem to absolutely adore this man, that it's not his fault and he was hung out to dry. He can sell it that the Bucs failures were because Mayfield was a fraud and he needs more time to win with a new quarterback of his and Jason Licht's choosing.
The latter outcome is unlikely for a couple of reasons - Mayfield is more likely to succeed than fail and the Glazers are probably not going to give him more time if he does fail - but it is still possible. And it is the one out Bowles can try to use if the Bucs don't make the postseason again, just like Josh Grizzard and the other coaches were his scapegoats last season.
Add us as a preferred source on Google