Tampa Bay’s offseason decision to sign Baker Mayfield is looking smart. He’s playing well, and they’ve got him at a base salary of only $4 million.
When dollars are factored in, Mayfield is looking like the best of the offseason quarterback signings. Certainly a lot better than Daniel Jones, Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo. Those quarterbacks all signed contracts averaging $24-40 million. Mayfield comes at just a fraction of the cost, freeing up dollars to be applied to other areas of the roster.
Six teams, remarkably, signed backup quarterbacks in the offseason that are making more money than Mayfield: Jacoby Brissett ($8 million), Taylor Heinicke ($7 million), Jarrett Stidham ($5 million), Andy Dalton ($5 million), Marcus Mariota ($5 million) and Sam Darnold ($4.5 million).
On the bargain rack, the Colts also came up with a nice buy, getting Gardner Minshew for $3.5 million.
Where the Bucs go from here with Mayfield remains to be seen. I expect they’ll watch what he does in the second half of the season, then decide whether to re-sign him or pursue other options. But they’ve left themselves that flexibility, unlike the Giants and Saints (who are stuck with Jones and Carr for the 2024 season).
| OFFSEASON QUARTERBACK SIGNINGS | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Avg | Rec | Pct | Yards | TD | Int |
| Daniel Jones, NYJ | $40.0 | 1-4 | 68.9% | 884 | 2 | 6 |
| Derek Carr, N.O. | $37.5 | 4-4 | 64.5% | 1,910 | 8 | 4 |
| Geno Smith, Sea. | $25.0 | 5-2 | 67.6% | 1,645 | 9 | 6 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo, L.V. | $24.3 | 3-2 | 68.0% | 1,079 | 7 | 8 |
| Jacoby Brissett, Was. | $8.0 | 0-0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Taylor Heinicke, Atl. | $7.0 | 0-0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jarrett Stidham, Den. | $5.0 | 0-0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Andy Dalton, Car. | $5.0 | 0-1 | 58.6% | 361 | 2 | 0 |
| Marcus Mariota, Phi. | $5.0 | 0-0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sam Darnold, S.F. | $4.5 | 0-0 | 100.0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike White, Mia. | $4.0 | 0-0 | 66.7% | 67 | 1 | 1 |
| Drew Lock, Sea. | $4.0 | 0-0 | 33.0% | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Baker Mayfield, T.B. | $4.0 | 3-4 | 64.2% | 1,600 | 10 | 4 |
| Gardner Minshew, Ind. | $3.5 | 1-3 | 63.4% | 1,400 | 7 | 5 |
| Teddy Bridgewater, Det. | $3.0 | 0-0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tyler Huntley, Balt. | $2.6 | 0-0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Blaine Gabbert, K.C. | $1.3 | 0-0 | 60.0% | 31 | 0 | 2 |
| Kyle Allen, Buff. | $1.2 | 0-0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
—Ian Allan