Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport X account this week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to SR each week via X using the hashtag #PRMailbag. Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: Scott, have the Bucs severed the relationship beyond repair with Baker Mayfield? What if Mayfield has a good year, as the Bucs are banking on, and refuses to extend?

ANSWER: No, absolutely not. Do you want proof? Baker Mayfield has participated in training camp rather than held out and he’s focused on both he and the team having a great season in 2026. If Mayfield were truly upset with the team he would hold out like Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett did this offseason when he was displeased about his contract situation.

Mayfield is a team-first player and a great leader. He loves his teammates and takes his role as a team captain incredibly serious. At the same time, the chip on his shoulder has grown a little bit bigger with his perceived “disrespect” from the team’s offer. But as we have come to learn, Mayfield and the Bucs truly aren’t that far apart – despite what Mayfield suggested in his press conference on Thursday.

Pewter Report’s resident salary cap expert Josh Queipo revealed that the Bucs probably offered a pretty robust offer of a two-year extension in the range of $51.75 million to $55 million per season, while Mayfield was likely looking for at least a three-year extension through 2029. The disparity is probably over the 2029 season and perhaps not having the contract fully guaranteed, which Mayfield likely would want.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Scott Reynolds/PR

But the Bucs and Mayfield do have a good relationship. Remember, this is Mayfield’s third time dealing with general manager Jason Licht and assistant general manager Mike Greenberg on a contract. Mayfield signed a one-year, $4 million prove-it deal in 2023 and then inked a three-year extension the following offseason for $100 million. He wants to stay in Tampa Bay and the Bucs certainly want the 31-year old under center for several more years, so the fact that there is mutual interest is ideal for getting a deal done in the offseason.

If the Bucs meet Mayfield on his terms – or closer to them – I’m sure all will be forgiven in 2027 moving forward, and I think that happens if he has a very good or great season. In the meantime, Mayfield needs to stay healthy and ball out. If he does that I’m sure his price tag might go up a bit, but so will the Bucs’ salary cap in 2027. So it might cost the team a little more in the end, but having an angry worker leading the Buccaneers offense could push the team to new heights and perhaps further in the postseason.

QUESTION: While I don’t think there’s a bad guy in the Baker Mayfield negotiations, between Mike Evans leaving, Vita Vea wanting a trade, and Mayfield’s public statements, is there some discontent beneath the surface at One Buc Place? Or are these just isolated and everyday NFL occurrences, and things are fine?

ANSWER: I’m sure outside the walls of the AdventHealth Training Center it looks like the sky is falling. And I’m sure on Pro Football Talk and ESPN – I don’t watch any ESPN programming outside of live sports because it’s really gone down hill – the perception is that the Bucs are a dysfunctional organization. I just don’t see it that way. I think there is a lot of media-driven drama, and we’ve tried to stay away from that at Pewter Report.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles seemed unfazed by Baker Mayfield’s criticism of the team during his press conference on Thursday.

“I didn’t have a reaction,” Bowles said on Friday. “He had a few things to say. He said it. We were all about ball today, and we moved on.”

Bucs HC Todd Bowles and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

As Bowles said, players go through contract years every year, it’s just that this year happens to involve star defensive tackle Vita Vea, who is choosing to be a “hold in,” and Mayfield, who has vocally criticized the team over not getting a new deal on his timetable. Cornerback Jamel Dean wasn’t happy about being forced to take a paycut to stay with the team last season, but he didn’t say much about it, went out and played in his contract year and had a great season.

Vea, who requested a trade, isn’t going anywhere. Tampa Bay has no desire to trade the 31-year old two-time Pro Bowler. This was just a negotiating tactic on Vea’s part. But the fact that he’s been seen laughing and talking with Bowles is a clear sign that he’s not too upset over the fact that he hasn’t gotten a contract extension yet. If he was really upset, he would be a hold out and wouldn’t have reported to camp.

Same with Mayfield. He’s participating in practice and plans to play this season – and ball out. This won’t be a distraction because at the end of the day, there are two players – out of the 53 that will be on the roster – that have publicly made it known they’re not thrilled about their contract situation. That’s it – two. The Bucs are a very tight knit team and very motivated to have a bounce-back season in 2026. Mayfield has even said this won’t be a distraction and he’s done talking about the contract and is focused on the season ahead.

QUESTION: Even if Baker Mayfield balls out and the Bucs offer what he wants at that point, does he still want to come back? He used the word “disrespect” and Mayfield has shown he definitely can hold a grudge. They know what they have in Mayfield and can’t go back to bad the QB play of the 2010s.

ANSWER: Yes, I think Baker Mayfield would absolutely want to re-sign with Tampa Bay if the team put forth an offer that was in the ballpark of what he was looking for, and if he went to the open negotiating period of free agency and received other offers the Bucs would have to be in that realm. Ultimately, Mayfield loves the organization that took a chance on him in 2023, and he loves his Tampa Bay teammates, many of whom are his best friends.

Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The reason why he’s unhappy is that Mayfield does want to stay with the Bucs and the team didn’t give him the contract terms he was looking for. That level of disappointment is understandable. I think Mayfield wouldn’t mind making the team sweat a little bit next offseason because they didn’t ultimately meet his deadline of getting a deal done prior to the start of free agency.

If push comes to shove and Mayfield does grow a bit bitter towards to the Bucs and has some thoughts about if the grass is truly greener elsewhere the team can always apply the franchise tag to prevent him from leaving – or being heavily compensated for it if he does. Tampa Bay has the salary cap room to absorb his $30 million cap hit and the $50 million franchise tag amount of cap space.

QUESTION: Why do players feel slighted when working on the last year of the contract that they agreed to? If you want a new contract in two years of a three-year deal then sign a two-year deal become a free agent. If they were underperforming I’m sure they wouldn’t request worse terms.

ANSWER: It’s a two-way street for sure. Sometimes players hold out or publicly gripe about their contract situation, but sometimes they don’t. Baker Mayfield has been very vocal about heading into his contract year without an extension, but wide receiver Mike Evans and safety Antoine Winfield Jr. didn’t say much publicly about having to play out their contract years in 2023 in order to get a new deal. Both were handsomely paid with multi-year extensions after the 2023 season – along with Mayfield.

Bucs GM Jason Licht and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by Cliff Welch P/R

To Mayfield’s credit, he intends to play out his three-year deal that he signed in 2024, which paid him $100 million. He didn’t hold out or demand a new deal after the 2024 or 2025 season despite being among the league leaders in touchdown passes and passing yards since 2023. But this scenario can also work both ways.

There are plenty of times when NFL teams cut players before the final year or years of their contract. This happens often when teams need to clear salary cap space and want their roster to get younger at certain positions. So NFL contracts are two-way streets in essence.

QUESTION: On a scale from 1-10, how concern should the Bucs be with Benjamin Morrison? They knew he had this injury history and still drafted him like other high draft picks at CB with injuries? Sign a vet CB and instead they signed a safety.

ANSWER: I’m about at an eight for Benjamin Morrison in terms of concern for this season, but I don’t think the team’s level of concern is that high – yet. The injury history issue with Morrison leading into the 2025 NFL Draft was that he had two hip surgeries to correct some issues he dealt with in the past. He had surgery on one hip in high school and waited until college to do the surgery on the other hip, which happened to be during his junior season at Notre Dame. Since entering the league as Tampa Bay’s second-round pick last year, Morrison hasn’t had any issues with his hips.

Instead, it’s been his hamstrings. Both of them as it turns out, which isn’t good.

“It’s been two different ones,” Bowles said. “[That] remains to be seen [as to which injury was worse].”

My concern is that his hamstring issues could be tied to his surgically-repaired hips, although I’m not a doctor. I just remember former Bucs defensive tackle Brian Price, a second-round pick in 2010, having some hamstring issues stemming from his pelvic surgery and he was never the same. I hope that won’t be the case for Morrison, but he’s missed some significant time.

Bucs CBs Ayden Garnes, Jacob Parrish, Benjamin Morrison, Josh Hayes, Keionte Scott and Demarion Williams – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Last year Morrison missed the final day of mandatory mini-camp due to a hamstring injury and then reported to training camp, re-injured it and missed an entire month of camp and all three preseason games, then played in the first three games, hurt his hamstring once more and wound up playing in 10 out of 17 games during his rookie season. This summer he missed the last OTA, both mandatory mini-camp practices and he’s been limited at the start of training camp through the first four practices.

“Hopefully he gets some work in this coming week,” said Bowles with a hint of frustration in his voice after Morrison missed the first four days of practice without participating in team drills. “I would like to see. He was out here moving around better, but I’ll see what the trainer says.”

Tampa Bay hasn’t signed a veteran cornerback and I would be surprised if they do unless there is an injury. There just aren’t a lot of great veteran options, especially guys under the age of 30. Jacob Parrish is running away with the CB2 job opposite Zyon McCollum, and Keionte Scott, the team’s fourth-round pick, has shown some real versatility to be able to play outside cornerback in addition to the slot. Undrafted free agent cornerback Ayden Garnes looks like a gem, too. We’ll see what happens with Morrison and how healthy he can remain in camp.