Buccaneers fans will love Baker Mayfield's message after agreeing to new contract

When NFL Free Agency opens in a few days, one of the most sought after players won't be hitting the market.

Baker Mayfield will remain with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after agreeing to a three-year, $100 million contract. It was the outcome we all expected, despite some anxiety and outside noise making things a little more dramatic than anticipated.

Mayfield had interest from the Falcons, Patriots, and Vikings with plenty of others likely joining the fray had he still been available when the legal tampering window opens on Monday. That outside interest created some doubt that the Bucs would be able to get a deal done with Baker and opened up a potential nightmare scenario where Tampa Bay lost him.

That won't happen, as Baker not only is back with the Bucs after a long negotiation but sounds like he's ready to get back to business.

Baker Mayfield had a perfect reaction after agreeing to re-sign with Buccaneers

After agreeing to re-sign with the Buccaneers, Baker sent about as perfect a message as he could have to everyone in Tampa Bay.

“I wanted a chance to come back,” Mayfield said. “I love coach Bowles and the staff. I’m happy to be here and I want to win more in the postseason.”

This echoes what we've heard all season from both sides. Baker was singing Tampa Bay's praises during training camp and that mutual respect only grew stronger as the season wore on. Through ups and downs, Baker and the Bucs stuck together and the end result is a far more team-friendly deal than most experts anticiaped.

Baker's deal will pay him around $33.3 million AAV, which is about $5 million less than what the franchise tag value was set at this season. He has $5 million in incentives which would elevate the overall value to $115 million which means his annual value would be closer to where the tag was this year.

The actual numbers are structured differently, rather than broken up evenly, but it still gives the Bucs some cap flexibility while also giving them a franchise quarterback under center.

Last season was an unexpected success for both Baker and the Bucs. There's a lot of work that must be done to run things back even further, and it sounds like everyone is ready to do exactly that.

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