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By Michael Gallagher
Sports Content Coordinator
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Things took another turn in the ongoing contract dispute between star quarterback Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Mayfield, who gave the Bucs a deadline to get a new contract done by training camp, admitted to reporters on Thursday that he wasn’t too happy the team didn’t meet his ultimatum.
“That's really the disappointing part — to feel undervalued after thinking you've earned it,” Mayfield said. “… I think I'm a franchise quarterback. I've been told I'm a franchise quarterback. It's been said from ownership down here, and so to not have a deal done is very disappointing. But I said the deadline is the deadline.
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“If you've waited this long to take care of your franchise quarterback, that's too bad because it's only going to get worse from here. I'm going to have a really big year.”
The Bucs didn’t like being called out publicly by Mayfield, likely because the organization came off looking cheap in not wanting to pay a borderline top-10 franchise QB.
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And based on the numbers Tampa offered Mayfield, it’s clear he thinks the Bucs low-balled him in their negotiations.
“The Buccaneers felt their offers in the final days of the negotiation were competitive, including a two-year deal worth slightly above $100 million in total, sources told (Jeremy) Fowler,” ESPN reported.
Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reported the Bucs’ offer was for two years and a little less than $50 million per year.
As things sit right now, Mayfield is the 16th-highest paid quarterback in the NFL on a per-year basis ($33.3 million) — a fact that doesn’t sit right with him given his production compared to some of the players above him like Indianapolis’ Daniel Jones ($44 million), Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson ($46 million), and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts ($51 million).
“This is not a ‘poor me’ thing,” Mayfield added. “There's a lot of other people that have it way worse off. But I can sit here and look at other quarterbacks and peers and evaluate myself based on that and put myself in certain categories, [and] I deserve to be compensated for that.”
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