Buccaneers Finalizing Deal With QB Baker Mayfield, per Report

Tampa Bay appears to have found the successor to Tom Brady.

The Buccaneers are reportedly close to bringing aboard the successor to Tom Brady: former No. 1 pick Baker Mayfield. 

Tampa is finalizing a deal with Mayfield, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, paving the way for the 27-year-old to become the team’s starting quarterback in 2023. Mayfield will not be able to officially sign the deal until the new league year begins Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET.

Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reports that Mayfield and the Bucs reached an agreement on a one-year deal worth $4 million which could increase to a maximum of $8.5 million.

Mayfield, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 draft, is fresh off of his fifth year in the NFL. In 12 games with the Panthers and the Rams he completed 60.0% of his passes for 2,163 yards, 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Despite showing flashes of his former self, Mayfield struggled to convert his performance on the field into wins. He went 2–8 in 10 starts for the two clubs, making for the worst single-season winning percentage of his career. 

Mayfield began his career in Cleveland in 2018 as the top pick in the draft out of Oklahoma. He began to hit his stride in his third season in the league in ’20 when he posted an 11–5 record as a starter and led the Browns back to the playoffs for the first time since ’02. However, Cleveland acquired Deshaun Watson in March of last year in a blockbuster trade that left Mayfield without a role on the team. The Browns traded him to Carolina last July. The Panthers released him in December and he finished the campaign with the Rams.

Now, Mayfield will make way for another NFC South team in the Bucs, who are preparing for their first season since 2019 without Brady and will likely play host to a quarterback competition between Mayfield and ’21 second-round draft pick Kyle Trask. Tampa Bay finished last year 8–9 and was eliminated in the wild-card round of the playoffs.