Browns Insider Takes Jab At Baker Mayfield After New Contract

Baker Mayfield’s contract situation in Tampa Bay resolved itself on Monday, just days before his Buccaneers face his former team in Week 2. ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Mayfield and the Buccaneers agreed to a 3-year, $165 million extension, a deal that keeps him in Tampa through the 2029 season and averages 55 million dollars annually, tied for the third-highest average in the league. Longtime Cleveland reporter Tony Grossi took the chance to take a jab at Mayfield for the big money deal that he got, despite owning a 58-62 record as a starting quarterback in the NFL.

“Fantastic deal for a 58-62 quarterback and less than 2 to 1 TD to INT ratio. Well done,” Grossi posted.

Fantastic deal for a 58-62 quarterback & less than 2-to-1 TD-to- INT ratio. Well done. https://t.co/NMZJrLDqZr

— Tony Grossi (@TonyGrossi) September 8, 2026

Mayfield enters this extension with a career record of 58 wins and 62 losses across 8 NFL seasons, along with 197 career touchdown passes against 101 interceptions, a ratio that sits just under 2 to 1.

Mayfield and his agent had reportedly turned down an earlier offer of 2 years and 50 million dollars a year, viewing it as light compared to where he felt he belonged among the league’s quarterbacks, and general manager Jason Licht had expressed optimism throughout camp that a long-term deal would eventually get done. Mayfield’s actual body of work in Tampa Bay includes 2 consecutive division titles and a playoff win in 2023, along with a 2024 season that Licht and others around the organization have called one of the best individual campaigns by any quarterback in the league that year.

Still, Grossi’s larger point is how teams value quarterbacks in today’s market where career winning percentage and touchdown-to-interception ratio do not always align with the size of the check being written. Whether his play on the field this season validates the money now attached to his name will be a storyline worth watching well beyond just his one matchup against Cleveland in Week 2.