After spending his first 4 years of his career with the Cleveland Browns, Baker Mayfield is now on his 4th NFL team, in a 3 year span. But all of that is irrelevant because he has secured a playoff spot for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as well as a 1 million dollar incentive.
Heading into today's game it was simple, win and you're in, for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Despite Mayfield having a lackluster performance, throwing for a season low of 137 passing yards (4th time he was under 200 pass yards this season), as well as the Tampa offense stalling and being held to only 3 field goals.
Luckily for Baker and the Bucs, they were playing Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers who played even worse. Quick side note and not to pile on Bryce Young here, but man does it have to suck to be the #1 pick and watch CJ Stroud steal your shine. Im sure Young is rich as fuck and doesn't care too much, but man did his rookie season stink all around. Anyway, back to Baker.
Here is the outline of his 1 year deal he signed with the Bucs heading into the season. "Baker Mayfield signed a 1 year, $4,000,000 contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, including a $2,875,000 signing bonus, $4,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $4,000,000. In 2023, Mayfield will earn a base salary of $1,125,000 and a signing bonus of $2,875,000, while carrying a cap hit of $1,700,000 and a dead cap value of $4,000,000." - via Spotrac
The quarterback is going to receive the following bonuses from the incentives. Considering he entered Week 18 at 99.7% of snaps played, he had already secured the $1 million total bonus for playing time.
However, he doubled those numbers with the Buccaneers making the postseason.
66% of snaps: $500,000
75% of snaps: $250,000
85% of snaps: $250,000
If Bucs make playoffs: Double the playing time incentives ($1 million)
In addition to playing time, Mayfield had incentives for where he finished in the league's passing categories. He needed to finish in the NFL top 10 or the NFC top five in these categories to earn extra cash:
Passer rating: $300,000
TD passes: $300,000
Passing yards: $300,000
Completion %: $300,000
Yards per pass attempt: $300,000
Mayfield did just that, in the end, placing within the league's top-ten in touchdowns (28, tied for fourth in the NFL, tied for fourth in the NFC), passing yards (3,907, ninth in the NFL, fifth in the NFC) and passer rating (95.9, ninth in the NFL, fifth in the NFC). He just fell out of the league's top-ten in yards per pass attempt (7.15). His completion percentage of 64.4% was well outside of the NFC's top-five and NFL's top-ten.
Just last season, Mayfield dealt with being cut from the Panthers mid-season. Then, he played five games with the Los Angeles Rams. Now, he will make just his second playoff appearance in his career after he led the Cleveland Browns to the divisional round in the 2020 season. I would say its a two horse race for come back player of the year between him and Joe Flacco, but you know the Damar Hamlin and his 2 games played and 2 tackles will secure him the award. That's just showbiz baby!
I tried to tell people about Baker before the season. I also tried to tell them he was better than Daniel Jones. One QB is headed to the playoffs, one is on crutches.