Baker Mayfield officially signs with Bucs

The time has arrived.

Baker Mayfield officially signed his contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday.

Let’s bake pic.twitter.com/CSAjPGLFTm

— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) March 20, 2023

Mayfield signed a one-year, $8.5 million deal, with $4 million guaranteed. The rest I we assume will come in incentives, i.e. playing time. Mayfield will compete with Kyle Trask, and at this point, I think it's Mayfield's job to lose.

This is a good opportunity for Mayfield to come in and prove it - he played well during a short stint with the Los Angeles Rams last season. Mayfield wanted a team that would put him in a good situation to win and thought Tampa was a good spot (maybe because of their god awful division). "It was important for me to be in a place that's stable and knows how to win, knows how to do it properly," he said in Monday's press conference.

And for the Bucs - they're in a semi-rebuild mode after Brady announced his retirement (again) earlier this offseason. But don't call Mayfield 'Tom Brady' just yet. "Listen, I'm never going to be Tom Brady. There's a reason why he's won so many Super Bowls. He's the greatest of all time - there's no doubt about that. I'm not going to try to be Tom. I'm going to be me."

more qb news:

• Javon Hargrave became a member of the San Francisco 49ers last week, but he was on the other side of things during the NFC Championship Game with the Philadelphia Eagles. We all know what happened during that game - Niners QBs were dropping like flies. Hargrave said things could have turned out differently if Brock Purdy hadn't gotten injured (he recently had surgery on a torn UCL): "Trust me, we've seen the film on Brock escaping. We knew it was going to be a challenge trying to get to him, so it would have been, definitely, a different game if he had stayed up."
  

• The Miami Dolphins officially exercised Tua Tagovailoa's fifth-year option. The deal comes with a slick $23.17 million salary.
  

• The Carolina Panthers are picking at the No. 1 spot in this year's NFL Draft and are 99.9% taking a QB. New head coach Frank Reich said he's not sure which one he's picking yet, but plans to meet with all the top candidates pre-draft. Reich stated further that whichever QB they end up picking could get a lot of reps, in hopes he can start ASAP.
  • In the meantime, fear not! The Panthers recently signed Andy Dalton as a backup plan. Dalton says he brings experience to the Carolina QB room. "I've played a ton of ball; there's a lot that can come from that. I started as a rookie; a lot will come from that." In all fairness, he never said he played a ton of good ball.
    

• Drew Lock re-signed with the Seattle Seahawks after sitting behind Geno Smith last season. I'm unsure if Lock had any interest elsewhere, but Lock said Seattle was a good spot for him. "They're building something here. It's really cool, and I really want to be a part of it."
  

• The Cleveland Browns signed QB Josh Dobbs to a one-year contract, where he will backup D*sh**n W*ts*n. The other QB on the roster is Kellen Moore, and I feel like we all know how that is going to go.
  

• The Arizona Cardinals agreed to terms with QB David Blough. Blough ended up starting the last two games of the 2022 season, and could end up starting the first few in 2023 due to starter Kyler Murray's injury.
  

• Free agent QB Cam Newton announced on social media that he will throw at Auburn's Pro Day on Tuesday. Newton has not played in the NFL since 2021. I'm all for a comeback.
  

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— Cameron 1 Newton (@CameronNewton) March 20, 2023