The Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 32-9 win over the Philadelphia Eagles during Monday night's NFL wild-card game was the biggest win of Baker Mayfield's career — both in terms of his legacy and his bank account.
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During the game, Michael Ginnitti, co-founder of Spotrac, posted on X that "Baker Mayfield's contract with the #Buccaneers pays him an extra $250,000 per playoff victory. A win against the #Eagles will increase his 2023 pay to $6.85M."
Baker Mayfield’s contract with the #Buccaneers pays him an extra $250,000 per playoff victory. A win against the #Eagles will increase his 2023 pay to $6.85M.
— Spotrac (@spotrac) January 16, 2024
Monday's Wild Card win isn't the only time Mayfield has earned a bonus this season as a result of his excellent play. In fact, the one-year, $4 million contract he signed with the Bucs in March 2023 had multiple performance-based incentives including $500,000 for playing 66% of the team's snaps, and $350,000 each for passing 75% and 85% (all of which were doubled because of the Bucs' playoff berth).
In addition, Mayfield earned $600,000 in incentives for being in the NFL's top 10 and the NFC's top 5 for both passing yards and touchdowns.
Therefore, Mayfield has nearly earned as much from incentives this season as he did from his guaranteed contract. Considering that Mayfield gets $250,000 per playoff victory — and the Bucs potentially playing in three more playoff games if they were to go all the way to the Super Bowl — much more money could be in store for Mayfield.
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Regardless of how far Tampa Bay can take this playoff run, making Mayfield their starting quarterback this season has certainly paid off. While the Bucs' defense was the star of the show Monday night against the Eagles, Mayfield completing 22 of 36 passes for three passing touchdowns and no interceptions led to Tampa Bay dominating Philadelphia on both sides of the ball.
Mayfield isn't the only quarterback remaining in the playoffs with an incentive-centric contract. Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love saw his one-year, $13.5 million contract for 2024 increase by $500,000 once the Packers made the playoffs this season. Love then earned another $500,000 when the Packers embarrassed the Cowboys on Sunday. And a win for Green Bay in the NFC championship game would be worth another $1 million for Love. He'd also get an additional $1 million on top of that if they win the Super Bowl.
So a lot of cash is on the line for a couple NFC quarterbacks.
What's certain is that, regardless of whether Mayfield's Buccaneers squad can beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday, he has been a worthy successor to Tom Brady in the Bucs' backfield.
