Tampa Bay faces a deepening divide as contract negotiations stall for Baker Mayfield and Vita Vea, leaving the franchise cornerstones at a tense standstill ahead of training camp.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers aren’t close to reaching deals with two of their best players.
Quarterback Baker Mayfield’s contract has been the top storyline of Tampa’s offseason.
Defensive tackle Vita Vea also wants a new deal, and although that hasn’t gotten quite the press that Mayfield’s situation has, it’s another thing the Bucs have to decide on.
NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo gave an update on both situations Monday night on an episode of “The Insiders.”
“I know what Baker’s doing,” he said. “Sometimes you got to put a little bit of pressure on the team, even if it is a situation where you know he is going to be the guy, and they know he’s going to be the guy, at least for the short term.
“They are not close yet. I know that now. I’m confident in that one. I can tell you that there’s a lot of work that needs to be done on this one,” he said.
Garafolo said that the Mayfield contract situation is “about finding that middle ground,” and the sides aren’t close to doing that just yet.
“The Bucs are in no rush on either one of these guys around the start of training camp,” Garafolo said. “That’s where some pressure could be applied (by Vea) to say we want to get this done and not have this be a storyline as we get ourselves into camp.”
Mayfield wants an extension on his overall annual salary, which currently sits at $33.3 million, the 16th-highest in the league among quarterbacks.
Mayfield signed a three-year, $100 million extension ahead of the 2024 season.
Vea staged a “hold-in” during OTAs because he wants more money on his current deal, a four-year, $71 million extension he signed with the Bucs in January 2022.
Vea is currently the 19th-highest-paid defensive tackle in the NFL, with Spotrac setting his value at almost $28 million.
There’s been speculation that the Bucs could trade Vea, perhaps to an AFC heavyweight. But the team has already lost a pair of franchise cornerstones in Mike Evans (free agency) and Lavonte David (retirement),and the thought of losing a third one isn’t pleasant for the Bucs or their fanbase, generally speaking.
With David gone, the 31-year-old Vea is now the leader of the defense, entering his ninth season with the Bucs. He’s made the Pro Bowl twice and has helped make the Bucs one of the best run defenses in the league, with top-five finishes in opposing rushing yards allowed in each of the last three years.
As for Mayfield, well, it’s never fun to have to go shopping for a quarterback, and that’s what the Bucs would have to do should Mayfield depart. With training camp three weeks away, the clock is ticking for the Bucs to find a resolution for each of these key players.
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