Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

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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: Do you think it’s possible that Baker Mayfield’s contract extension happens this offseason to get a discount again, considering the future quarterback market?

ANSWER: This is a great question, and to set the table on this discussion, let’s take a look at where Baker Mayfield is in his current contract. After his first season in Tampa Bay in 2023, Mayfield signed a three-year contract extension worth $100 million. Despite back-to-back Pro Bowl seasons and a year in which Mayfield’s career-high 41 touchdown passes were the second-most in the NFL in 2024, he is still the third-highest paid quarterback in the NFC South behind Atlanta’s Kirk Cousins and New Orleans’ Derek Carr.

That will surely change soon, as Carr, who was making $37.5 million per year, has announced his retirement due to a shoulder injury, and Cousins, who is making $45 million per year, has been supplanted as the Falcons starter by Michael Penix Jr. At $33.3 million per year, Mayfield remains an absolute bargain as he enters the second year of his three-year deal.

Bucs LG Ben Bredeson and QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: USA Today

When looking at the entire league, Mayfield is even more of a bargain, as he is currently the 20th-highest paid quarterback in the NFL. With each new contract extension, such as the one for San Francisco’s Brock Purdy, who is now making $53 million per year, Mayfield keeps getting pushed down the QB list. There are two schools of thought regarding the timing of Mayfield’s next extension.

First, if the Bucs were to want to extend Mayfield’s deal this offseason, the team could be saving money in the long term. Given his performance in Tampa Bay over the past two seasons in leading the team to back-to-back NFC South championships and a total of 19 regular season wins, Mayfield deserves to be making at least $50 million per season. Here is the list of all 11 QBs who make at least $50 million per year or more, and Mayfield is certainly as good – if not better – than some of the names on this list.

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott – $60 million
Bengals QB Joe Burrow – $55 million
Bills QB Josh Allen – $55 million
Packers QB Jordan Love – $55 million
Jaguars QB Trevor Lawrence – $55 million
Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa – $53.1 million
Lions QB Jared Goff – $53 million
49ers QB Brock Purdy – $53 million
Chargers QB Justin Herbert – $52.5 million
Ravens QB Lamar Jackson – $52 million
Eagles QB Jalen Hurts – $51 million

If the Bucs decide to wait until after the 2025 season to extend Mayfield, his price tag could go higher – to $55 million or perhaps even $60 million per season, especially if Tampa Bay advances further into the playoffs or perhaps even makes the Super Bowl. But the flip side of waiting is twofold.

First, the Bucs would still enjoy significant cap space on their 2025 cap without having to create a significant amount of room to absorb a potential extension this year. The team already has $26.6 million in cap space entering the year and should be able to roll over approximately $20 million in unused cap room to the 2026 offseason, which should help pay for a massive pay increase for Mayfield next spring.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Second, in case Mayfield suffers a career setback for some reason from a production standpoint – although unlikely – the team would avoid overpaying him. And of course if Mayfield were to suffer a significant injury that would perhaps shorten his career or limit his effectiveness going forward, the Bucs wouldn’t be on the hook for a massive contract extension and would only have to take a $42 million cap hit in 2026 – if it needed to move on from Mayfield. Think about what happened to former Bucs center Ryan Jensen.

I haven’t heard about the team possibly extending Mayfield’s contract this offseason with two years left on his deal. I think the earliest the team would address it would be next offseason as he’s entering a contract year. But keep in mind that Mayfield will be 31 next April, so there might even be a scenario where the team would let him play out his contract year before extending him. I don’t think that will happen, but the Bucs have done that recently to fellow stars like wide receiver Mike Evans, inside linebacker Lavonte David and safety Antoine Winfield Jr.

QUESTION: Do you think it’s more likely we get a breakout season from Calijah Kancey, Yaya Diaby or SirVocea Dennis? And if this happens is the No. 1 NFC seed on the table for this team?

ANSWER: It kind of depends on what you mean by breakout season. I think last year was a bit of a breakout season for both defensive tackle Calijah Kancey and outside linebacker Yaya Diaby. Despite missing the first five games of the season again due to an unfortunate calf injury, Kancey erupted for a career-high 7.5 sacks, which also edged fellow defensive tackle Vita Vea (seven sacks) for the team lead. If he stays healthy for all or most of the 2025 season, Kancey has already gone on record as saying that he believes he could lead the league in sacks.

I think the next step in a breakout season for Kancey is reaching double-digit sacks and becoming a Pro Bowler. The same could be said for Diaby, who leveled up his game in every statistical category except the sack column in 2024.

Bucs OLB Yaya Diaby and DT Calijah Kancey – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Diaby had 7.5 sacks as a rookie, but posted just 4.5 sacks last year, despite significantly increasing his pass rush win rate and being a more effective overall pass rusher and edge defender. If Diaby can hit double-digit sacks this year, I think that would be yet another breakout for him in his promising Bucs career. Both Kancey and Diaby are capable of that, and it wouldn’t surprise me if both do it this season, especially with the added pass rushing threat of outside linebacker Haason Reddick.

SirVocea Dennis only played in four games last year due to season-ending shoulder surgery, and obviously has the biggest room for growth due to his limited playing time in his first two seasons in Tampa Bay. I believe – and the team believes – that Dennis could absolutely be a 100-tackle linebacker in the NFL, as well as causing a handful of takeaways and notching a handful of sacks. I wrote about how great he looked during OTAs last week in Friday’s SR’s FAB 5 column.

If all three players live up to their potential – or even two out of the three hit those goals that I’ve outlined – I think there is a chance that the Bucs can advance further this year in the playoffs than ever under head coach Todd Bowles. Is Tampa Bay the favorite to be the No. 1 seed in the NFL? I don’t think so, but that’s not to suggest that the Bucs couldn’t be if they stay healthy and make significant strides in 2025, especially on the defensive side of the ball. That’s not out of the equation.

QUESTION: Who, if anyone, might a surprise cut prior to training camp?

ANSWER: This is a tough question because I don’t think there will necessarily be a surprise training camp cut. Would wide receivers Sterling Shepard or Trey Palmer be surprise cuts? I don’t think so given how loaded the wide receiver position is in Tampa Bay. The top five receivers on the depth chart already seems set to me with Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan and Tez Johnson, who I believe will win the punt return duties. That leaves maybe one more spot on the depth chart for a receiver.

Another position that seems rather deep is outside linebacker where the team added veteran Haason Reddick in free agency and drafted David Walker in the fourth round. I don’t think Anthony Nelson would get cut because both head coach Todd Bowles and general manager Jason Licht value him too much as a veteran reserve. Nelson is on his third multi-year contract in Tampa Bay as a result.

Bucs OLBs Chris Braswell and Anthony Nelson – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

But with Reddick, Yaya Diaby, Chris Braswell and Walker, who has looked incredible so far, that’s four really promising pass rushers in Tampa Bay’s stable. Nelson would be the fifth. Yet what if Markees Watts or Jose Ramirez explodes in the preseason under Larry Foote’s tutelage and finishes with four or five sacks? Nelson is 28, whereas Ramirez is 26 and Watts is 25. Wouldn’t it benefit the Bucs for the long term to keep the younger pass rushers?

I’m not suggesting this happens or that Nelson would be potentially on the chopping block. But that would qualify as a surprise, right? Outside of the ones I mentioned, I’m not sure there is a surprise cut on this year’s roster in Tampa Bay, which is full of established stars and quality backups.

QUESTION: Why hasn’t Simeon Rice’s No. 97 jersey been retired? I get he wasn’t with the Bucs for long, but like Brady, he was the final piece of the 2002 Super Bowl and a member of a Hall of Fame defense. To me it’s disrespectful. We keep having non-star players wear his jersey.

ANSWER: I certainly understand that sentiment. I was surprised when five-time Pro Bowl linebacker Hardy Nickerson left Tampa Bay in free agency after the 1999 season and his number wasn’t retired. Nickerson had been the middle linebacker and team captain of a pair of playoff appearances in 1997 and 1999, and helped turn the franchise around under Tony Dungy. When Nickerson left for Jacksonville at age 34 – it was a mutual decision as Nickerson wanted one last big payday and Tampa Bay wanted to get younger – but he was the franchise’s leading tackler, too.

So it happens sometimes – even for a decorated seven-year veteran like Nickerson, who deserves to be in the Bucs Ring of Honor. Simeon Rice was only with the Bucs for six seasons and made two Pro Bowl teams. But he was a key member of the Super Bowl XXXVII championship team in 2002 after he arrived a year earlier in 2001. At least he’s getting his due recognition by being inducted into the Bucs Ring of Honor, which should have happened years ago.

Former Bucs DE Simeon Rice – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Rice finished as the team’s third-leading sacker with 69.5 – just behind Hall of Famers Warren Sapp (77) and Lee Roy Selmon (78.5). He added seven career postseason sacks in red and pewter, including two in Super Bowl XXXVII and a forced fumble that put him into consideration for the Super Bowl MVP honors that ultimately went to safety Dexter Jackson.

When I’ve seen No. 97 worn by other Bucs players throughout the years I’ve always thought of Rice, just as I have thought of Nickerson when another player wears No. 56. Tampa Bay has only made a few numbers off limits. They include No. 63 for Selmon, No. 99 for Sapp, No. 55 for Derrick Brooks, No. 47 for John Lynch, No. 20 for Ronde Barber, No. 40 for Mike Alstott and No. 12 for Tom Brady.

I suspect we’ll see No. 54 and No. 13 being eventually retired or taken out of usage by the team for linebacker Lavonte David and wide receiver Mike Evans, respectively, after their playing days are over. They are shoo-ins for the Bucs Ring of Honor and Evans is a lock for the Hall of Fame. David certainly deserves consideration too, despite years of being snubbed for the Pro Bowl.