A massively important offseason lies ahead for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with one of the biggest tasks being how to handle Baker Mayfield's future with the team.
It seems like a consensus that Baker belongs in Tampa Bay, as he managed to revive his career with the Bucs and set career highs in almost every major passing category. Not many people saw that sort of success coming, but Jason Licht did and his gamble paid off more than he could have imagined.
Now comes the next step, which is locking Baker in as the Bucs new franchise quarterback.
That's where things get a little complicated. Baker will be an unrestricted free agent this March and his market is going to be much more robust than it was a year ago. Tampa Bay has some extra cash to play with, but the national narrative seems to be suggesting that Baker might not be a slam dunk to return to the Bucs next season.
It seems Baker, however, may have already made up his mind about where he's going to play.
Baker Mayfield basically confirmed he's returning to Tampa Bay
While visiting the Up & Adams set at Radio Row in Las Vegas, Baker was having a conversation with Steve Young that got picked up by a hot mic. Rather than this turning into something embarrassing, the audio that got picked up sounded like he was telling Steve Young how he plans on re-signing with the Bucs this offseason.
It's hard to make out everything that's said, which makes context here impossible to decipher, but finely-tuned ears picked up the two talking about bringing pieces back and having finally found a home to have a career.
You be the judge:
Baker and Steve Young have a hot mic here on Up & Adams set. Baker basically tells Steve Young he’s coming back to Tampa and bringing “a couple pieces back.”
— JC Cornell (@CornellNFL) February 7, 2024
Steve Young mentions how Baker has found a place for his “career.”
LETS FUCKING BAKE pic.twitter.com/g0y6nVGnC0
Even if it's hard to make out the exact conversation, it all sounds extremely positive.
This is also where we're at, which is a place nobody could have predicted a year ago. This time last year Bucs fans were reeling from the announcement of Tom Brady's retirement and the uncertain future that lay ahead.
Little did we know at the time that a year later the Bucs would be coming off a deep playoff run while we all sit around trying to decipher hot mic audio that could tell us if Baker Mayfield is going to spend the rest of his career in Tampa Bay.
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