Baker Mayfield’s return to Tampa Bay signals Bucs’ focus on continuity, contention

Greg Auman

NFC South Reporter

When our FOX Sports NFL staff ranked the league’s top 50 free agents, the Bucs were the only team with three players in the top 20. Retaining them was a daunting task for a team coming off three straight division titles.

But now, less than a day before Monday’s window for free agents to open negotiations with new teams, the Bucs now have all three back under contract for 2024.

The biggest deal came Sunday night, with news that the Bucs are signing quarterback Baker Mayfield to a three-year deal worth $100 million, taking one of the best free-agent passers off the market after a career year in 2023. Mayfield, who turns 29 next month, reset his career highs with 28 touchdown passes and 4,044 yards, leading the Bucs to the divisional round of the playoffs.

This came after the Bucs used their franchise tag on All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield — paying him $17.1 million for one year — and locked up Pro Bowl receiver Mike Evans with a two-year, $41 million contract. The Bucs still have important free agents to sign, like linebacker Lavonte David and kicker Chase McLaughlin, but the heavy lifting of their offseason has been done.

Bucs general manager Jason Licht sat next to Evans on Friday afternoon, thrilled about his progress but aware that getting Mayfield back was still a major hurdle to bringing back the leadership of his 2023 team. He gave credit to assistant general manager Mike Greenberg and vice president of football research Jackie Davidson, who have helped him plan for this offseason.

“You have great people working for you in the experts of Mike and Jackie. It’s a puzzle,” Licht said. “We have some constraints — there is the cap and all of those things. We’ve been planning on this for a while. It isn’t something that you wake up and decide to do. It’s the plan that you have. It’s something that, luckily, we have great people working in this organization that are helping us…

Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/nfl/baker-mayfields-return-to-tampa-bay-signals-bucs-focus-on-continuity-contention

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Publish date : 2024-03-11 00:20:59

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