When the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signed quarterback Baker Mayfield to a three-year, $165 million contract extension just before the season, it meant the 31-year-old was going to be scrutinized like never before.

Mayfield and his standing among NFL QBs had already been a hot topic for months as his contract standoff with the Bucs played out very publicly.

Some believed the 2018 top overall pick had already proven himself as a franchise quarterback and deserved to be paid the $50 million-per-year benchmark several other comparable QBs had received.

Others thought Mayfield was still too erratic, took unnecessary risks with the ball, and was too much of a long-term injury risk to be paid among the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

In the end, Mayfield got paid. Now the focus turned to whether or not his level of play would match his hefty salary.

Only two games in, Mayfield hasn't played well at all.  In Tampa's season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, Mayfield lost three fumbles in a sloppy loss.

Week 2 was even worse. Mayfield was thoroughly outplayed by Deshaun Watson as the Bucs fell at home to the Cleveland Browns. It was an unacceptable loss that has fans calling for head coach Todd Bowles' job.

Now Mayfield is starting to receive plenty of criticism of his own. He was booed by the home fans during Sunday's loss to Cleveland, and at least one analyst has publicly declared that he is not worth the huge contract he just signed.

Former NFL running back Damien Harris, now an analyst for CBS Sports, laid into Mayfield after Tampa's latest loss. Harris was blunt and harsh in his assessment of Mayfield.

Harris believes Mayfield is too inconsistent to pay top-QB money. He feels like Mayfield no longer has a chip on his shoulder now that he signed his extension and puts the Cincinnati loss squarely on him.

"He (Mayfield) is not worth that money. Sometimes he plays like it, but sometimes he doesn't. Why do you guarantee that much money? Give that money to a quarterback where, essentially, every time you're rolling the ball out there, he's a competitor, he's scrappy, but which version of Baker are you gonna get? Are you gonna get the hot hand? Or are you gonna get a cold Baker Mayfield? That's what we're seeing in the past two games. He's not living up to the contract that he just played at...There are a lot of problems around Mayfield. But at the end of the day, he's not playing well."

Ouch.

Harris is right to say Mayfield hasn't played well since signing the extension, but his criticism seems very extreme after only two games.

Mayfield needs to be much better. But already saying he isn't worth his new deal is incredibly hasty. The entire team has been a train wreck so far. Mayfield has a habit of trying to do too much, and that is likely a big part of his early-season troubles.

If Mayfield's extension caused him to lose the chip on his shoulder, losing his revenge game against Cleveland and Watson is almost guaranteed to bring it right back.

Mayfield's poor play so far this season is a major factor in the Bucs' 0-2 start, but expect him to play much better in the near future.

The Bucs need Mayfield at his best. If it takes too long for him to hit his groove, Tampa's season could be over before it ever had a chance.