On Thursday, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield had plenty to say about his inability to get the team to offer him a contract that he deemed to be suitable. On Friday, coach Todd Bowles was asked for his reaction.
“I didn’t have a reaction,” Bowles told reporters. “You know, he had a few things to say. He said it. We’re all about ball today, and we moved on.”
Bowles has the kind of even keel that rarely results in him having a public reaction to anything — except when the team blew a Thursday night game against the Falcons.
From Bowles’s perspective, Mayfield’s status beyond 2026 doesn’t matter. With 10 head-coaching jobs opening up after the 2025 season, it’s clearer than ever that the NFL is a year-to-year business.
Mayfield’s contract status gives him an added incentive to have the best year possible in 2026. Which will boost Bowles’s prospects for returning in 2027.
