Tampa Bay Buccaneers

On Friday, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield made it clear that talks on a new contract are not going well. It remains to be seen whether that will change.

For now, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reports that Mayfield’s representatives have not responded to the team’s opening offer.

Coupled with Mayfield’s comments, this means that Mayfield and company view the starting point as reflecting a bottom line that won’t be acceptable. So why bother to respond?

Here’s the problem. If Mayfield has a number in mind (and he clearly does), the initial position in response to the first offer will need to be sufficiently higher than the opener in order to get to the preferred ending spot via negotiation. So if Mayfield comes in with a number aimed at doing that and it leaks, Mayfield loses the P.R. war.

Mayfield’s current deal averages $33.3 million per year. He’s due $27 million in cash in 2026, with $5 million in available incentives. (There’s another $13 million that he’ll be paid in 2026, but that was earned in 2025. It pushes his 2026 base compensation to $40 million.)

The market currently tops out at $60 million per year for Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (if we ignore the new-money average as to Bills quarterback Josh Allen’s latest contract). Where should Mayfield land between $33.3 million and $60 million?

On one hand, too many teams pay too much for quarterbacks. On the other hand, the market is the market.

It’s not Mayfield’s fault that Packers quarterback Jordan Love makes $55 million per year, or that Lions quarterback Jared Goff makes $53 million. (Or, for that matter, that the Dolphins paid quarterback Tua Tagovailoa $53.1 million per year.)

Where should Mayfield land? Apparently, the team’s opening offer points to a final offer that won’t be good enough.

The question becomes whether the Buccaneers would use the franchise tag on Mayfield in 2027. After he finished a one-year deal in 2023, the Bucs didn’t tag Mayfield. Other teams that were looking for a quarterback didn’t make a move. (Some should have.)

Mayfield is surely willing to bet on himself. And, for as much as the Buccaneers claim to love Mayfield, they need to back that up with something that better reflects his value. Or they’d better have a good plan for life without Baker in 2027.

Baker Mayfield’s take on his contract situation was the juiciest bit of information to come out of his first media session of the offseason, but he also had a chance to weigh in on a significant change to the team’s receiving corps.

Mike Evans left for the 49ers as a free agent and Mayfield said that there’s no way to sugarcoat that it is “disappointing to not have him back” for the 2026 season. Mayfield then pivoted to praising Chris Godwin’s leadership of a receiving corps and expressing confidence in a group that also includes Jalen McMillan, Emeka Egbuka, Tez Johnson, and third-round pick Ted Hurst.

“To also have J-Mac, Chris and Emeka really, really healthy right now, feeling good — to lead those guys and just to watch the steps from Year 1 to Year 2 when it comes to Meck and Tez and watching them help Ted Hurst out as well,” Mayfield said, via Jenna Laine of ESPN.com. “There’s a lot of weapons in that room. And so when you lose a guy like that, you got to have a lot of people fill those shoes, not just one person and we have that.”

If the Bucs don’t sign Mayfield to an extension ahead of the season, his performance with that group of wideouts will likely determine whether there’s an appetite for continuing the relationship in Tampa. If that appetite does not develop, the Bucs could be looking at another significant change next offseason.

Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield is entering the final year of his contract.

He has re-established himself as a starting quarterback, having played every game for the Buccaneers over the last three years, leading the team to a pair of division titles.

But what of the future?

Mayfield told reporters on Friday that negotiations with the Buccaneers are ongoing. But they aren’t necessarily going to his liking.

“First and foremost, regardless, we’ve built roots here in Tampa. We love the community, we love being here. They’ve embraced us. We enjoy being here and, obviously, are going to raise kids here,” Mayfield said, via Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times. “But the contract stuff, it’s happening, it’s starting — talks and whatnot. But, not anywhere close to what we were thinking. So, would love to be here long-term, and as of right now, that’s not exactly the case. But I’m under contract for 2026. The guys in that locker room, the staff know that I’m still going to be me — I’m still going to do everything I can to help this team win a Super Bowl. To me, that’s the priority. Everything else will take care of itself.

“Obviously, yes, I would love to have a long-term deal done. But, they know my deadline — as soon as training camp starts, we’re not doing [anymore] contract stuff. It’s all ball. So, it’s not up to me when that gets done by. So, hopefully before that. If not, we’re still going to have a good year.”

Mayfield’s last deal was for three years and $100 million, putting him at an average annual value of $33.3 million. He’s currently set to count $39.975 million against the cap in 2026.

With offseason programs coming to an end, it stands to reason that the Buccaneers will try to work out a new deal with Mayfield and his representation over the coming weeks — particularly if Mayfield has a hard deadline of the start of training camp.

In 2024, 49ers receiver Mike Evans set a record in Tampa by becoming the first player with 11 straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons to start a career. That also tied the all-time record for consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons, with Jerry Rice.

Injuries kept Evans from breaking the record in his twelfth and final season with the Buccaneers.

“Oh, it was super disappointing,” Evans told reporters on Thursday, via JoeBucsFan.com. “I’m extremely competitive and for me to not break that record, I thought I was going to be able to break it easy — how hungry I was going into that season.”

Injuries limited him to eight games in 2025 and 382 receiving yards. He could, in theory, still catch or pass Rice’s all-time record of 14 career 1,000-yard seasons.

“You know, in life, some things, it’s not going to go your way,” Evans said. “But I look at that injury as a blessing in disguise, because I’m feeling really fresh, feeling rejuvenated. I’m in a new spot, new change like I felt I needed. And I’m looking forward to get back.”

A first-round pick in 2014, Evans turns 33 in August. The question moving forward will be whether he can continue to perform at a high level, and ultimately for how long.

The Browns signed free agent defensive end Benton Whitley, the team announced on Thursday.

Whitley is officially in his third NFL season out of Holy Cross.

In 2025, he spent time on the Buccaneers’ practice squad but did not play a regular-season game.

The Rams originally signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2022, and he spent time on their practice squad as a rookie.

He also has had stints with the Chiefs, Vikings and Giants.

Whitley, 27, has played six career games and has totaled a pass defensed and a fumble recovery. He has seen action on 16 defensive snaps and 74 on special teams in his career.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tampa Bay Rays are hoping to strike stadium deals. And there are only so many taxpayer dollars to go around.

Via Emma Behrmann of the Tampa Business Journal, the Tampa Sports Authority plans to inform both Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa that the renovation to Raymond James Stadium “should be prioritized” over a new stadium for the Rays.

The Bucs want a renovation that will cost roughly $1 billion. The Rays want $976 million from the county and the city to help build a new stadium.

The TSA has concerns, as it should, regarding the available funds for the two major-league teams.

That puts the local NFL and MLB teams in direct competition for a finite number of dollars. Every public dollar that goes to one project becomes one less dollar that can go to the other project.

Obviously, the NFL is king. Although there are far fewer home games (10 vs. 81), having an NFL team generally means more than having an MLB team.

Not that either team has suggested the possibility of relocating. But we’ve seen this movie before. If teams can’t get what they want in their current market, they start looking around for a market that will foot the bill.

Chris Godwin has spent nine seasons in the NFL, all of them with Mike Evans as his teammate. When Evans decided to leave in free agency for the 49ers, Godwin didn’t accept it.

“Honestly, I didn’t believe it,” Godwin told reporters on Tuesday, via Jenna Laine of ESPN. “I mean, there’s a bunch of stuff on the Internet that you can’t really believe, a lot of AI stuff. So I didn’t really believe it. And then I texted [quarterback Baker Mayfield]. I was like, ‘Yo, is this for real?’ And he was like, ‘Sad face [emoji].’”

Evans and Godwin are first and second in franchise history for catches, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. Now, Evans is gone.

“I think it’s part of the game, unfortunately,” Godwin said. “Mike is -- I mean, we all know what Mike has been to this community and this organization. That’s my brother and I wish him the best and his time in San Fran. I’m sure that they know what kind of player that they’re getting.

“I mean, obviously it’s going to be difficult that he’s not here. And I think anytime you’re missing Mike, that’s a tough situation. But fortunately we have a room full of guys that are ready to go.”

Evans, a first-round pick in 2014, left Tampa Bay with credentials that may already be good enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. In San Francisco, Evans gets an opportunity to win his second career Super Bowl.

Assuming the 49ers can compete with the Seahawks, who won Super Bowl LX, and the Rams, who are loading the cannon for a Super Bowl run of their own.

Buccaneers receiver Jalen McMillan played only four games last season after a scary neck injury that not only nearly ended his season but also jeopardized his career. McMillan fractured three vertebrae and had herniated discs after landing on his head in a preseason game.

He caught 12 passes for 178 yards to close out last season.

“I am happy,” McMillan said last week, via Matt Matera of Pewter Report. “Just to be out there and to catch balls from Baker [Mayfield] and just to run on my feet, I feel good. . . . I am definitely taking appreciation for the small things and celebrating small wins and call my mom and dad every day. I am not taking any relationship for granted, so life has been good.

“I had to sit in my bed and wonder, ‘Is my neck going to heal correctly?’ So, as soon as I was given the opportunity to play again, I knew that I could not look back and there was no time to be nervous and no time to be thinking about anything.”

The Bucs made McMillan a third-round pick in 2024, and he made 37 receptions for 461 yards and eight touchdowns in 13 games.

The team needs that McMillan this season with Mike Evans now in San Francisco.

“Jalen’s tough. His mental toughness is unbelievable,” Bucs coach Todd Bowles said. “His competitiveness, the way he attacks the ball, the way he fights for every route and tries to get open and wants to be ‘that guy,’ you know, that gives you a lot of confidence that he’ll be doing that in the games.”

With the World Cup starting next month, many of the teams will be playing tuneup games before the competition commences.

In Tampa, England could be playing before an intimate collection of fans.

Per the Telegraph (via Sports Business Journal), the England-New Zealand match to be played on June 6 could have more than 50,000 empty seats at Raymond James Stadium.

So far, only 13,000 tickets have been sold. The cheapest tickets prices are $72.

Here’s an idea: Slash the prices. Make it cheap it get in. If nothing else, it could attract folks who aren’t as interested in soccer as they could be, after attending a match.

England will have another so-called “friendly” on June 10 in Orlando. In the 25,000-seat venue, only 12,000 tickets have been sold.

As more new stadiums are built and existing stadiums are renovated, there will always be a next wave of aging stadiums to be replaced or revamped.

In Tampa, the local NFL team is hoping for a massive overhaul of a stadium that opened in 1998.

Via Colleen Wright of the Tampa Bay Times, Tampa Sports Authority President and CEO Eric Hart said he expects the Buccaneers to seek a renovation that will cost between $700 million and $1.3 billion.

The Buccaneers reportedly have floated the notion of footing the bill for one third of the expenses, with the public picking up the rest of the tab.

Complicating the situation is the fact that a new stadium for the MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays will impact the capacity to devote taxpayer money to a renovation of the football stadium. Via Emma Behrmann of the Tampa Bay Business Journal, the baseball venue is expected to include $976 million in public funding.

While the renovation will be pricey, it’s always more expensive to build a new stadium. The real question is the extent to which a major renovation will extend the overall life of the facility. At some point, it will make more sense to just build something new.

That’s the way it will continue to go. As better stadiums are built in other cities, pressure will build on other teams to do the same. It’s a cycle that will continue for as long as the NFL remains the powerhouse product it has become.

Or until enough cities and states refuse to do it, even if (for some) that entails a risk that the franchise will relocate.