one big moment with the LA Rams and he became a free agent and
at the end of the day he did the one-year deal. Look,
the multi-year deal wasn't there, and Chris it's shockingly low.
With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the point where I don't
think it guarantees him anything. I don't think it's
OEM versus Kyle Trask and open competition. It's a four
million dollar
base salary. That's it for
Baker, Mayfield in Tampa Bay with a lot of incentives.
So he does have the incentive to go out there and win the job
and play while but had a lot of incentives last year in
Carolina and didn't earn a penny of them before, he was
Cut Loose by the team.
So,
look, I admire the guy for playing at all for only four
million dollars, who would have dreamed
a couple of years ago that we would be in a world. Where
Baker Mayfield is playing football on a one-year deal
with a base value of 4 million. But here's where we are and
that must be the only team that we seriously interested in him.
I'm kind of stunned. The Raiders worn in this,
And I really am surprised. There was no one else with
anything better on the table than one year for million with
another four and a half or so and incentives. Yeah. I mean it
was I'm surprised by the number two I am but
you know, I think at the end of the day, the most important
thing or the most important incentive was the fact that he
get it gets a chance to be in a place where he can start. And
I don't know if there was any other place out there that
he was going to be trusted in that situation.
I don't, I think this is the perfect, you know, the Raiders,
I think it was a little dicey, they obviously had Some other
people on their radar, you know,
Josh Josh McDaniels with the point he's at in his career
maybe he just didn't like the risk of that and how that
looked. And if it didn't go right, you know, how he could
be vilified. Here, there's one in Tampa, where,
you know, it's it's, it's nobody that is trustworthy or
out there that we thought was going to be associated with
them. There's not a lot of options
and hey, okay, he can be the starter. Come here. Be
the starter. Yeah, we're not going to pay you a lot. But at
the end of the day,
Him is just about playing getting good film out there and
then hopefully like we talked about a lot of the times he can
Rebrand His Image around the NFL to then he gets viewed as
a big-time starter and gets paid a lot of money. It's a
great move by the Buccaneers it is it's shocking but the money
but also I think at the end of the day it's the best option
for Baker. Mayfield to get back where he wants and he was
probably willing to sacrifice a few dollars just to have
the chance to compete and be the starter.
Yeah, and lays the foundation, you know, it's he's betting on
himself. It's another scenario where a guy bets on himself. He
bet on himself last year
and it didn't work this year. He's betting on himself, taking
much less. Remember, last year he had that 19 million fully
guaranteed in Cleveland. He cut it down significantly and was
going to make some of it back potentially and incentives and
ended up
losing their mean. When I look at it,
Chris I need to go back and do the math.
It's possible that his base salary this year.
We'll only make up the difference and what he would
have made. If he just would have said to Cleveland last
year
deal with me, you know, it's funny. Wait, we were trying to
come up with an example of a team
that had a guy that they were done with
but was being unreasonable and what they wanted for him
and even though Baker Mayfield wasn't an all-time great of
the Cleveland Browns. We did kind of have that last year where
the Browns were done with him,
they were trying to dump his salary from the roster
but they they waited a long time.
Trade him, and eventually traded to the Panthers after
the offseason program, made it harder for him to really have
a good season. I still believe he can play well, I agree 18, he
was good 2020, he was great 20:21.
Who knows how good he would have been
he threw a tantrum on the field as a practical matter after he
threw an interception and had to go make a tackle he was
upset right? So he's going to go let some of that frustration
out her knees, she packed up his shoulder, right? And he
was ruined for the rest of the year and he
under the circumstances, he still played pretty well, huh.
One arm right. Right played pretty well. Yeah. So I it's
just amazing. He's already at this point. Five years. After
being the number one overall pick. He's at the point where
he's taking a four million dollar deal.
Yeah. No, it is. It's shocking. But I'm with you and the fact
that he's still got a lot of starting caliber trace. And
I think that's why he's probably willing to take the chance of
the lack of money or whatever. And just going, I don't care.
I've made good money did commercials all of that I want
to play and start. Right? And and I think too for Tampa who's
kind of unsure. Yeah, it's a contract that
Favors them, I'm with you. And that it's a little scary in
that,
you know, I would worry if I'm Tampa weight of some
quarterback Falls, you know to us where we're sitting in
the draft or something like that. Yeah. But that type of money
they certainly could draft somebody for the future and
they're now you are, you know, mr. Bridge quarterback. That's
what would scare me more
than anything. If I was Baker, Mayfield in this situation,
you know, also, with the money and all, and I believe they got
a little bit of a hit, right? Because of Tom, Brady. So they
probably sold that to him as far as that's concerned.
Concern when we know money at the quarterback position 1 mil.
Yeah, so you know they've got to play that angle
but like all in all for himself to hey we know they got to fix
the old line a little bit but decent weapons around you. We
know that still a good defense there, on that side of the ball
and especially with Todd Bowles,
Dave Canales, their new coordinator from Seattle,
he's going to run a system that
is not very different than
what McVey are stefanski. Ran,
you know, Rams Browns before.
That so he should be able to hit the ground running in that
department and you know, I think with Todd Bowles he wants
to run the ball and where Baker Mayfield I think is really good
is run. You know, play action, pass Baker. Mayfield aggressive
throwing the ball down the field to targets like
Godwin and Mike Evans. There's potential there,
you know? So I mean, this is a,
I think a really good move I'm with you and I still think he's
got, you know, starting
starting quarterback caliber talent and he just got to get
in the right situation.
And since this is unofficially quarterback,
chip-on-the-shoulder day at PFT live my God what motivation it
gives him to prove everyone wrong for not believing in him
and only offering him for a million dollars. I can't
imagine he had,
you know, a seven eight nine, ten million dollar
offer out there that he said no to go play for the bucks.
What if it was for a backup
spot like best he could do, what have you got like a seven
or eight million you know, backup offer right now the know
like that's where I was just.
Wandering or at least where my brain went. And I think we'll
probably hear that as time goes on. That will kind of come out
through the grapevine. But but if you got a seven or eight
million you're going to pick up who though I know pens on who
know I know
it depends on who you're right but I'm just saying generally
speaking if you got a seven or eight million dollar deal to be
a backup and you got a four and a half million dollar deal or
whatever to be the starter know, for a guy like me and
I think a lot of quarterbacks they go. All right. Screw it.
Screw that extra two and
a half three million. I'm going to play
bet on myself. Like you're talking about and go from there.
The Angle to would Baker. Mayfield to your point? Here
is, yeah, he's not the most ideal back up in the world so
that can lower his price because he is polarizing,
he was the number one pick.
And told the point we always make Mike, He's Got Talent. So
if you don't have the most like, you know,
confident, talented starting quarterback, you're going to
have some days out there, practicing to go Baker,
Mayfield was throwing the lasers out there today, all
over the field, he kind of looked better than our starter,
so he's not the most ideal back up for a lot of
Teams to because they feel like it's going to cause a situation
so that probably hurt himself in the marketplace as well.
We say all the time, just to kind of backups the backup. Who
knows his place and the backup. Who is there to make life
miserable? Yeah. For the starting quarterback and try to
do everything he can to get on the field.
I think one of the keys here
is what it takes to get to eight and a half. We know he's
at for, what does it take to get a tan? Yap, is it playing
time? Is it, easily, achievable? Or is it Super Bowl
MVP? Because sometimes, that's what it takes to get
to the high end of an incentive package and
My experience has been that
that if it's easily achievable, the agent says that when
the agent gives the information
to the 567 reporters, who get the text message and and that
because that's how it gets sold and you'll see the pattern if
you pay attention to it.
And it really is sad that we've gotten to this point where
the reporters are basically, the trained seals that do whatever
the agents want, but if you don't, you don't get the text
message. They just give it to
the ones who play along. You'll see some reports where
the signs for a deal worth up to 10 million dollars
with no indication with the bases. And they could have done that
with Baker, Mayfield up to eight and a half million.
That's not all not halt. The agent, put the information out
there, but I'm going to be curious to see the real
contract on this one. What are the triggers to get to eight
and a half? Because maybe it's an easy path
and he knows, hey, I'm going to easily get to eight and a half
like you know the stuff they wanted me to do last year in
that Carolina deal to earn back. Some of my money.
That was a high bar.
This is achievable,
I can do it and I'll get to it. Half. Then that looks like
a better deal. But even then for a starting quarterback,
if he starts every game
and plays, well,
eight and a half, is a steel
that is, that is put on a ski mask, Jason light. Well, it's
almost like bank, it's almost like, darn Ya Back, frightened,
half mil. It's almost like that's how maybe Baker,
Mayfield in his representative, sold to them, like, hey, he'll
come down there and play for this. If
you just let him play, he'll play for this.
It's almost what it
looks like to me. It's really one of the first thoughts that
went through my brain. When I saw the deal go down and read
Some of the details there,
I think. Again, he just wants to play
and he's in a decent situation.
Let's see if they can protect them because they weren't great
at protecting Brady last year.
But, you know, I think we're both in the same boat here. You
know. You give him a little help. I think he can show that.
He's got a big-time arm. Still, he's a leader. He's got some
Moxie
and yeah, let's not forget, he played hurt and got screwed
over by the Browns, in a major way. And that's unfortunate and
that's a huge reason. Why he's in this situation
I don't know how much of a role Bruce Arians played in this.
I saw that there were some items that he wasn't at
the combine. I didn't even know that he's still working for
the Buccaneers at this point, but to the extent, they has any
influence. Remember, during the year, he was retired
and the noise started to come up again. Of him coming back.
He said the one job I would take his the Browns and that's
when Baker Mayfield was a starting quarterback. Yeah so
my guess is he's been
he's been whispering into Jason lights here about what this kid
can do and I think the Buccaneers got a steel. Yes.
For Baker, Mayfield for a base salary of four million and even
if he earns every penny,
that's still a damn, good deal. For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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