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Bucs' Baker Mayfield To Play Season Under Old Contract, Become Free Agent in March

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Bucs' Baker Mayfield To Play Season Under Old Contract, Become Free Agent in March

The Buccaneers face a turbulent training camp as star nose tackle Vita Vea demands a trade and quarterback Baker Mayfield prepares to play under his existing contract after extension talks broke down. These developments follow Mike Evans’ departure to San Francisco for less money, signaling potential morale issues. While the team has locked up other key players, Vea and Mayfield remain unresolved. Vea, at 31, has posted 104 pressures and 11 sacks over two seasons, comparable to younger tackles who received extensions. Mayfield, beloved by teammates and coaches, will bet on himself in a contract year, potentially becoming a free agent next season. The uncertainty raises questions about the front office’s strategy, coaching stability, and the team’s ability to compete without its defensive anchor and offensive leader. Despite attempts to downplay the drama, the situation has become a national storyline, with speculation about Vea’s potential trade destinations, including the Raiders or 49ers. The locker room’s reaction will depend on how both players handle the pressure, with Mayfield expected to channel his frustration into performance. Ultimately, the Bucs’ offseason calm has shattered, leaving many to wonder if these moves signal a rebuild or a miscalculation by management.

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(upbeat music) - You know, when trading camp opened and you're thinking, all right, well, Rookie's report on Monday, veterans on Tuesday, kind of ease into it, first workout in until Wednesday, that's our first access, a nice little glide pat, no. Oh no. So just to recap the last 48 crazy hours, Vita Vea requests a trade on Monday, couldn't reach an agreement on an extension, and yes, a trade. I don't think that's happens just like what Keisha and Johnson or something. - Not probably. - Been a long, long time. And then not to be outdone. So right before I went on Pat McAfee, you wanna pick up that name for me? - Yeah, by the way, and go ahead and get your baker news that you broke. I did and Pat put the tweet up for me, just before I went on. So I'm texting around, and ESPN had said something like, "Oh, you know, they're not making much progress for something like they're texting around." And it came back to me that we're done. This is over. We're not talking anymore. He's playing under his 2026 contract. Whoa. So just to recap, you're starting, nose tackle, whom your credit coach says he can't replace. There's nobody like him. Not only does he not like his contract, he's in a contract for one more year, at 17 point, something million dollars. He wants out of here. He wants to go. He wants to be traded. Okay? And a lot of people are kind of taking that lightly. "Nah, he's just possibly. " No, he didn't say, "I'm not coming to camp." He didn't say I'm gonna hold in. He said, "I don't wanna be here, get rid of me." Trade me someplace. Then your quarterback, who is beloved, okay? Even by the owners and the general manager and the head coach who couldn't come to an agreement with him, he's laid his guts all over the place for the last three years. And he can't get a contract extension. So now he's gonna play out his final year of his contract, which will still pay him $40 million or thereabouts, which is good coin if you can get it. But then, at the end of the season, becomes a free agent. And we'll see what they do there. But once again, Baker Mayfield, backed into a corner, is a dangerous Baker Mayfield. And he's gonna play like his hairs on fire and they set it to us back in July. When he was at his camp and he said, he set this deadline and they were like, well, we're not worried if he didn't get anything done. We know he's gonna play his butt off. But we're about to see that. We're about to see Baker Mayfield at his most desperate, which is both entertaining and scary at the same time if you're a Bucks fan. But let's just recap. And I wanna kind of get this 30,000 foot view, okay? Mike Evans, your Hall of Fame wide receiver decides, I'm not coming back. I'm leaving as a free agent for less money, by the way, to go to San Francisco in the NFC. It's about as far as way from Tampa as you can get in this league other than Seattle. And you're not happy about it. You offer them more money. You want them to make them a buck for life. And he bolts, okay? And then you're really the player that makes the defense go inside, Vita Vaya. He's demanded a trade. And now your quarterback, whose beloved says, yeah, I'll play my last year, and then we'll see what happens after that. What does that do to a locker room? What's the morale, right? Some of these agents represent multiple people. XL Sports represents multiple Buccaneer players. They've been calling all day about like, what's going on with Vita Vaya? And what's the signal you're sending to the rest of that team? Because you're not the same team without Vita Vaya. And Baker Mayfield, okay, so let's say he plays one more year, does really well. Yeah, you could franchise, am I supposed? But what if he just doesn't want to be here and he says, I want to be a free agent? I don't want you to franchise me. And I'm gonna, you didn't believe in me. You didn't put your money where your mouth was. I bet on myself. And now I'm going someplace else where they really want me. I could see that playing out. So it's, it look, each deal, we don't know the numbers. It could have been ridiculous requests on the part of Baker and the part of Vita Vaya. We don't know. So I'm not going to sit here and blame anybody over there at one-buck place. But just from a morale standpoint, from what players in that locker room are witnessing and thinking and everybody tries to stay out of everybody's business. But still, if I'm a young player, I've seen them reward Antoine Winfield, Jr. and Zion McCallum and many other players. But I'm going, wait a minute, Vita Vaya and Baker Mayfield can't get deals? I don't know. I just wonder how, what impact that will have as you start training camp? Well, I think a lot of it's gonna depend on Baker and Vita's attitude in camp. Yeah. And his Vita gonna participate in camp. Good questions. We don't, I mean, Baker has said he's playing under this deal and Baker will be back. There was a heroin fire. Yeah, Baker will be Baker. Yep. You know, I think it'll be the best Baker you've ever seen. But how this impacts the team, it's a couple things, I think. One will depend on how Baker and Vita handle it. Mm-hmm. And we don't know what Vita's gonna do. I expect Baker will handle it professionally and there won't be any issues there. Because that's the type of guy he is. Will he have a chip on his shoulder? Hell yeah, he will. Oh, the light is fire and he doesn't, doesn't dislike that. That's his fuel. You know, how will Vita Vay handle it? We're gonna find out more today and in the next coming days. Mm-hmm. And, you know, and if Vita's not gonna participate in some camp, is the team gonna let him sit in, so to speak, or, you know, or they gonna find him? If he decides not to participate. Right. And we don't know that answer yet. True. You know, but the other part is is, and the players know this, because they talk, why did Mike Evans leave? And why do they think Baker and Vita are getting so low contract offers for what they're expecting or wanting? Is this an indictment on Todd Boles? Jason Light, the Glazers, all the above? Or is it just business? You know, the bucks think that those players are valued here. I mean, Mike Evans, we know they offered more than San Francisco. They didn't want to lose them. That's the word they absolutely. Mike took a lesser deal to go San Francisco. Mike Choseleve, was it because of Glazer's light Boles? Was it because of third and 28? Or was it just, I want a new challenge? And it might be a combination of everything, right? Yeah. You know, some of it the bucks maybe could have controlled some they can. You know, hey, it's my last. Was it that you drafted his replacement a year earlier? Yeah, that could be part of it too. You know, or sometimes you just wanted a new challenge. Yeah, Tom Brady wanted out of the wing. Now or never, you know, he's at the end of his career. If he doesn't do it now, when's he going to do it? Exactly. You know, we don't, we're not, we may not know all the details. We definitely don't know him yet. But it's not a positive thing, right? Like it's not, you're not better without Mike Evans. No, but then again, it's not like the bucks were like, yeah, go ahead, leave Mike. No, they tried to keep him. They could. Yeah. Now next year if Baker leaves, then you know, they could have done something. They could have offered him more now. Is Baker looking for, you know, 65 million to top Dak Prescott 60 million year? I don't know. Yeah, we don't know. I would find that hard to believe. I would think the numbers somewhere in the 50s, but it could be way off their value that they have placed on him. You know, I mean, so you can't just sit there and say, this is Jason Light's fault. Because we don't know the offers, right? That's the whole puzzle here is that, you know, if you had the whole story, then you can make a pretty good judgment as to who's at fault, but we don't know. But what was expected to be a quiet training camp as far as, you know, this kind of stuff. Now a sudden is loud. It's funny because, you know, watching NFL live was on today and they went to ESPN went to the reporter and at Cowboys camp, Lindsey Theory, I think it's your name. And she's like, something I never thought I'd say at Cowboys camp, but it's all quiet here. (laughing) No contract issues, no holdouts. See if it's all camp or right now. That's crazy. And then meanwhile, it takes Baker Mayfield coming to camp without a contract and Vita Vaya demanding a trade. And also in the national shows, remember Tampa exists. Yeah, they did. Because you're on Pat McAfee, you're on Rich Eyes in today. I mean, all of a sudden after three years, they remember we're back. I'm hot again. I'm a hot, it's the hottest country. Yeah, it's weird the way it works, the cycle of the NFL. Somebody asked me this question. I didn't have a great answer for it, but like how much, there are people, they're like, you know, it's an easy name. Blame Todd Bowles. But the Todd Bowles one, the head coach, these guys wouldn't feel that way. I will say this about a couple of those players though. Like for getting Mike for a minute, 'cause he did what he did and how much of that was Bowles, I really don't know. It could be that he was tired of getting a new offense every year and that sort of thing. But regardless, Vita Vaya, you can't tell me. taking the buck side on this little bit. Vita Vega, if you're assigned a long-term deal at 31 or longer-term deal, are you sure Todd Bolzes here next year? Because guess what, if he's not, could Vita play in any defense? Yeah, but what's the one that's absolutely suited for him? This one, the three-four, where he can wreak havoc inside, have a couple of athletic linebackers on the outside and push the pocket and things work, right? If you bring in a coach that runs a four-three, he's not as good of a fit. Not saying he couldn't play in it, but he's just not as good of a fit. Baker Mayfield, you know, if they lose and something happens to Todd Bolzes, do we know the next head coach wants Baker as his quarterback? Now that you could find the next head coach that will take him on and say, yeah, I'm fine with Baker and then some, maybe that's the way you decide how to hire him. It could be Zach Robinson, right? But just the fact that he doesn't have a deal for next year and you're saying, well, they could franchise him, well, do you know who the coach is? Do you know that that coach wants Baker Mayfield? 'Cause I don't, you know, if this thing turns south and they don't play well and they end up with another losing season, I think there's a lot of people that could be at risk here. But what should have been a really smooth start to the off season, to the training camp has now become, you know, like you said, the subject of every NFL live show, you know, they're everywhere and not in a good way, right? No, this isn't Tom Brady coming to Tampa, but which was a great thing. Right, exactly. We do him every day and he's a goat and everybody loved him. But this one is, what the, this is a question I got. What the hell is going on down there? It's like, I don't know, man, no one wants to talk. And that's the other thing too, you know, when the times get tough, the tough don't answer the phone. So I can't tell you exactly what the reaction is at one buck place. We'll find out from Todd Bolster, tomorrow they'll push him out there and he's gonna say what? Go ahead, you know what he's gonna say, Steve? I'm sure you do. We're focused on those who are here in camp. Thank you very much, absolutely. And he may even follow it up with, I would say, Bakers under contract, Vita Vez under contract. I have no, yeah, I have no doubt that Bakers gonna play as hard as he can possibly play Vita the same one. And when Vita, you know, decides that, you know, we're not gonna trade him and he comes back, he'll be the same Vita Vez, he's always been like, that's, that's gonna be, I think that's gonna be what, all he has to say about it, you know, we're not worried about distractions. Well, that's all he can, I mean, 'cause this is Jason Light's department, it's not his department. No, it is, you're right. Yeah, he didn't, he didn't make this situation the way it is. Now, you know, does he have some input in, in, in communication with Jason about sure, but it's not ultimately, Jason's the one who offers the contracts. Jason's the one who makes the, the deals and decides, you know, what someone's worth. Yeah. To the organization. Yep. And, you know, a lot of this can be, is it flexibility in case it goes off the rails this year and you wanna clean slate next year with a lot of pieces? Possibly. I mean, that's part of long-term planning, right? Sure it is. Yeah, but here's the thing, like, they've signed a lot of guys, you know, of late. I mean, we, you know, Antoine Winnfield, Jr., Tristan Wurfs, Luke Gettikey, you know, you can go down the list, like they've, they've kind of locked up some of, or much of their core players, but then you get your quarterback and the guy you can't replace, according to Todd Bowles on deep, it's, I know he's 31 years old. I know that, and I know he's 300 and, what, 50 something pounds, okay? But he's watching guys who have signed new extensions, right? Who have been as just as productive or less than him. Okay, so in the last two years, Vita Vaya, here's a, here's a stat that was maybe provided to me. The last two years, Vita Vaya's had 104 pressures, 29 against double teams, 29 pressures against double team. So that's like a third of them and 11 sacks, okay? And of course, Vita is 31. Jeffrey Simmons has had 107 pressures in the last two years, three more. 26 double teams, three less, and 17 sacks, six more. He's 29, not 25, he's 29. Dexter Lawrence is 28. He's had only 70 pressures and 10 sacks. And yet, because Vita's two and three years older than these guys, they got extensions, they have big contracts now. Vita does not. Well, then he's not generally Carter today, become the highest baby. My God. Yeah, he deserves it. And he's in his sweet spot, age wise too. But there are older, maybe they're not 31, but 29, 28. Same production as Vita. And frankly, Vita has played, I'm gonna sound like his agent. Vita has played, I think the most snaps the last two years and he's played in his career. You know, and this is without an edge rusher, right? This is without good linebackers the last year or so. I mean, so he's kind of done it all on his own, but not going to be rewarded for it, not by these guys. And I thought it would, maybe it would just be as simple and maybe they offered this, but I thought it'd be as simple as I could look, we recognize that you're 17 point, whatever million dollars is, is not in the top 10. We're going to boost you up into the top 10 just for this year. Here's, here's $5 million. Here's $7 million, whatever. And they could have attempted that and maybe he rejected it, but even if you don't add years, add compensation, you know what I mean? Well, but perhaps they did and he said, no, I want long term, I want long term security. And we don't know what he said. We don't know. No, and that's the thing. We don't know anything. We don't know. We're speculating central here because the bucks aren't talking and I don't expect them to necessarily. But it will be interesting to hear what they have to say when they, when they have to address this. You know, and Vita is one of those guys. I mean, you talk about taking up space for other players, Dexter Lawrence 246 double teams last two years. Eight sacks. Well, he's got a big deal. And was traded for a number one draft, but 10 overall. That's right. Vaya had 241 double teams. He's had 14 sacks over the last few years. Or that's sacks, I believe that's sacks. I'm not sure. Leonard Williams, 228. So he's one of those guys where you're tying up two players on that offensive line, two, every single play. And I look at this roster and it's like, yeah, you got A. Sean Robinson. You got New Nia's roaches back and, you know, other 30 year olds that you're going to plug and play, but you're not going to get the kind of production you got from Vaya. You have dudes. You have older guys, but they're supposed to be in backup mode for the most part. So this, this would take a huge bite out of their defense if it stays the way it is. And I, I just come back to like, when you say, I'm not just to satisfy with my contract. I don't want to play for you. I'm just satisfied with the organization. I want out. That seems to everybody's taking that lightly. Like everybody has talked to even people in our business like, ah, it's just, it's just a ploy. It's just leverage. That's always got that might be true. But you didn't say, have not come into camp, for example, or, you know, I'll come to camp, but I won't do much. Or, you know, I'm holding out. You said, I want to be traded. I'm through with a whole damn bunch of you. Why are people taking that so lightly? I don't take that lightly. You just get your one team, your whole career. Your whole career and your coach has called you, you know, the guy you can't replace. Yeah. Yeah. Which you also hear as that and says, I don't get a big contract. Right. We can't replace. We can't replace me. Then, you know, then trade me. Right. Right. And oh, by the way, they're already making book on where he might go. I saw some Raiders reporter saying, yep. Which, hmm. This is, why would he have been interested? Oh. Okay. Um, hmm. John Spytech. Yeah. Brady, Tom Brady. Mm-hmm. There's a few people over there. Yeah. Sure does. Sure does. He looked good in a Buffalo, Bill's uniform. He looked great in a Rams uniform. Well, I don't think you trade him to an NFC team necessarily. Um, and then there's others to say, well, he wants to get back to the West Coast. Maybe San Francisco because he's a California kid and went to Washington, but no, maybe Mike Evans is pulling some strings over there. You bet he is. You know, as soon as Kyle Shanahan can, you know, God bless him, patch up his fate. I just see who he's at practice today. He did a press conference. They're press conference and so called the blame said, hey, it was, you know, says fault. The report said otherwise, because this is my fault. I was reaching for my phone. Yeah. took his eyes off the road slamming to this to this woman and I guess she was injured too but not not as severely or critically as maybe he was. They're very lucky. The whole phone thing scares me and my son got an accident doing he dropped his phone the first I think the first day he drove to school in a truck but then anybody used Bluetooth when he got in there I always to connect the Bluetooth right away so I don't have to touch the phone just hear it through my speaker whatever. No it depends on what you're trying to do I mean. Well that's true. I guess that's true. If you're just making a phone call maybe he's reading maybe he's trying to read something or whatever yeah messages text messages what have you but yeah it's uh it's not been a slow roll to training camp well we haven't even started yet that's today be there to crack a dawn frying myself to death peace we got tight it we got we got position battles to watch you know we got new players everywhere. It's exciting. A lot to write about or so I hear hopefully I'll get to do that but um just get it done early get it done as early as possible as a matter of fact well the good news is practice starts at 8.20 in the morning but that's actually good. Bad news is it's already like 85 degrees at 8.20 in the morning about 100 degrees by by noon when you stop so. Well the good news is you don't have three days anymore that's two days. You know all that's true man I can't believe three days I did three days good lord how did one of those guys didn't win under Ray Perkins. Jesus it was like the the bear Bryant early 60s at Alabama or something like you deny the water while you're at it you know they came out I will say this when the bucks played the last the only year I covered Ray Perkins in the next year was Richard Williams and when they played the last year in the Ray Perkins that team was so far ahead of any other team in the league from a conditioning standpoint they they pummeled some people they went four and two before everybody caught up and started beating them but I was convinced it was just because he had beaten a crap out of him and they were at like full speed whenever else is trying to ease into the pre in ease in the regular season that was when you had four preseason games can't imagine what it was like when they had six you know when a good friend Tom Moore was uh with the Pittsburgh Steelers so by the way Tom Moore just a complete jump to know where um is in Iowa City because he's going to be a consultant to his former Alma monitor the Iowa Hawkeyes he went he left yesterday or he should be there today. Amazing. Yeah and that credible just incredible not a happy form because nobody wants to coach for Paul Mornin he does he just that's his that is his life he wants to go boots first and and uh Kurt Ferrance and others have enabled him to do that so good luck to Tom Moore and you know who's one of his favorite people in vice versa is Vita Bayer like they had the they had the coolest relationship this you know in six year old man and maybe it could be like Brandon Sorsby and see the NCAA and try to play there again back to Washington we go no I just go to Iowa go to Iowa yeah there you go yeah hop over to Iowa yeah reunited and it feels so good Hawkeye Nation would rejoice so anyway we'll uh we'll discuss more of what happens today when I get out there uh two training camp early this morning one of reminding guys get on down to Brightling boutique should have done that earlier they are at international plasm all they are our sponsors the Brightling companies have been making the best the best 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international plasm when you go please please let them know you heard about it here on sports day Tampa Bay so the race we're hosting the uh Texas Rangers and uh fell to them was it four to one I think the final yeah junior cam and arrow a triple yeah how about that scored the only run of the game yeah they're knocked in the only run I should say right right just the offense uh bats went quiet a little bit they don't lose at home very often it's it's really breaking news when they lose a game here and and the Rangers are you know there's not really good teams in the A.L. but they are leading their division so good yeah good team in that division anyway best team in that division yep I mean they were what two games above 500 now yeah last I saw Yankees were winning so the lead should be down to a game and a half of that didn't change it's getting tight man it's getting tight you know and it just also goes to show you that you know the race had to scrap for their one run and the triple but you go against a good pitching you can get this list this particular lineup can get shut down and that would be my concern if you don't trade for a bat I know they're looking at an arm I don't think there's any question about that I think they're looking at both but yeah you need both you definitely need both and the reason for the arm thing is like you'd be okay with your top three but like between the three of them it could be McLean a hand it could be any of somebody's likely to come up with a with a shoulder or an elbow problem at some point you know like you can't just count on getting through the entire season with those guys McLean a hand didn't pitch for almost two years so you're already trying to like you know manage his innings and things like that but I think you definitely need another big arm another big starting pitcher would be would be required here who say I mean I think they need both because I think if you go on with this line up in the postseason like it's going to be really tough to win shut down just like it didn't like last night yeah if you're expecting to hold the Yankees or you know I guess at this point you did shut the down the garden but the white socks you know if you're trying to hold them to one runner less every night in the postseason you know that's tough to do they had back to back shutouts but ain't going to happen in the playoffs I assure you you know so I mean the raise are a really good team but they need they need to add both pitching and defense or pitching in offense like real they spend money for the front line guys that's that and or give up prospects because that's the other thing they got a lot of really really good prospects and you know that any team trading these guys are going to want the cream of the crop right so it all depends on who you're getting and you know what term they have left etc like yeah yeah you know just like in every sport the more term they have left the more cost you value in the higher cost yeah absolutely you know Terrick Scoobles a free agent the end of the year he's going to cost a lot but it's not as much as if he had another year left if he was yeah he was under contract I've heard people say a good mic trout mic trout I think still is owed 90 million dollars or something something insane like that if amaheim's gonna give you a bunch of cash for it too exactly if they're gonna pay him not to play there sure yeah that can be worked out but it's gonna be really interesting next five days here trade deadlines Monday yep you know what what the new owners allow Ertnander to do and then what he's able to to pull off right and I don't think this is a small thing what if they're not in first place what if they start to lose and then the race titans up and you're you're probably gonna get a wild card but maybe not win the division does that change your calculus and you don't know obviously there's still too much baseball ahead of you but if you don't think you can win the division that's a much different road wither without help well if you lose the next five games and I'm assuming the Yankees I don't know if they play four or five in this time so let's just say it's five at worst case you're three and a half out yeah you're not done for sure no but I mean I don't anticipate the race to lose the next five oh yeah no no especially at home they may not be in first place come Monday but the trades may start today or tomorrow too like you don't have to wait till Monday to make the trades no that's true too you know some of it is just teams you know is terrif school like that's when you're gonna get their best deal well some of it is but some of it is you know the tigers have been trying to hold on hoping to get back in this race but now they're losing all of a sudden yeah so are they gonna sell are you a buyer they're trying to determine if they're a buyer or sell the marlins the marlins are apparently are open for business now but two weeks ago they were in a wildcard spot. not. None of them lost 12 in a row. And now they're selling. Like, you know, teams have, you know, part of the trades haven't happened a lot of them yet is because some teams haven't decided if we're buying or selling. Yeah, it's fair. You know, so I mean, that's part of it is, you know, especially in the American League where, you know, even if you're seven or eight games below 500, you're only like three games out of a wild card spot. Yeah, that's truly American League's terrible this year. Yeah. You know, you might have to climb over some people. Well, and that's the calculus you have to add. So what are you willing to do? You know, and then, you know, you look at the red socks and not that we feel sorry for the red socks, but they trade for Curtis Meade and his first game he breaks his hand. You know, they did x raise yesterday and they, or I think they examined it and they thought he was okay. And then come this morning was like, nope. That was terrible. Yeah, I mean, I feel bad for former Ray Curtis Meade. Yeah, maybe not the red socks so much, but I feel bad for him. Absolutely. That's tough, man. You know, which is part of the, okay, you've got your three pictures, you know, you've got McLean and you got Rasmussen, you got Martinez. What if one gets hurt? And I'm here to tell you, before the end of the season, one of them is going to. It's inevitable to me. Just the number of innings that some of them are pitching for the first time in a while. You know, they need some dead arms at some point. I don't know something. I guess I'm waiting for the shoot or drop or something. Now, you know, you want it to be the most Tampa thing ever, like, you know, quarterback not getting a contract and a nice thing. That's conferred trade. Cannot have nice things. Don't understand it. Don't understand it. But that's where we're at, man. It gives us something to write, something to do, something to live for. But we'll be talking to Baker tomorrow. We'll be talking to Todd Bowles. And raise Rangers again tonight. Legamina starting Seymour getting the ball. Gettings suddenly seem or he's actually been really good in that role. He has been, you know, got off the kind of a shake. I like him. He's been really good this year. Legamina's been good. Yeah. They've got, look, they're pitching isn't that's that's not the problem here, folks. Nope. If they score four runs or more, they win. But when they score none or one, they lose. But these, these pictures are good. I will tell you it's impossible to win if you score none. So there you go. Or it's going to be the longest game ever played. One of the other. Maybe that, but you can't win. Still can't win without a run. Yeah. There's no ties in baseball. So accepting all star games. Yeah. But there is the ghost runner at second base if you're getting the extra. So such a weird sport. That's the one thing I, but you got, you've got, you know, shootouts and hockey. No, I don't three over time. I mean, you know, it's all about. We just speed it up and not play 18 inning games in the middle of, you know, June. That's a good point. I don't want to do that. I don't want to watch a meter. All right. Well, listen, we'll be at training camp today. Raise container series against the Rangers. Make sure you get on down to Brightening, Boutique International Plaza Mall. Check out the NFL watches. Wasp supplies last. Also watches for your wife. A girlfriend. It is Brightening, Boutique. Get the best timepiece you've ever owned and let them know. You heard about it here on Sportsday Tampa Bay. Thanks for listening. Everybody's 4-Steev versus Gamerick's Child of the Tampa Bay Times. Have a great day.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Tampa Bay Buccaneers nose tackle Vita Vea has requested a trade after failing to reach an extension agreement, despite being considered irreplaceable by his coach.
  2. Quarterback Baker Mayfield will play out the final year of his contract after negotiations stalled, becoming a free agent in 202
  3. Wide receiver Mike Evans left for the San Francisco 49ers for less money, raising questions about team morale and management.
  4. The team has rewarded other core players (e.g., Antoine Winfield Jr., Tristan Wirfs) but not Vea or Mayfield, causing locker room uncertainty.
  5. Vea’s advanced age (31) and production comparable to younger defensive tackles like Jeffery Simmons and Dexter Lawrence complicate his contract demands.
  6. The situation has drawn national attention, contrasting with a typically quiet training camp, and may reflect long-term planning or potential coaching changes.

Summary:

The Buccaneers face a turbulent training camp as star nose tackle Vita Vea demands a trade and quarterback Baker Mayfield prepares to play under his existing contract after extension talks broke down. These developments follow Mike Evans’ departure to San Francisco for less money, signaling potential morale issues. While the team has locked up other key players, Vea and Mayfield remain unresolved.

Vea, at 31, has posted 104 pressures and 11 sacks over two seasons, comparable to younger tackles who received extensions. Mayfield, beloved by teammates and coaches, will bet on himself in a contract year, potentially becoming a free agent next season. The uncertainty raises questions about the front office’s strategy, coaching stability, and the team’s ability to compete without its defensive anchor and offensive leader.

Despite attempts to downplay the drama, the situation has become a national storyline, with speculation about Vea’s potential trade destinations, including the Raiders or 49ers. The locker room’s reaction will depend on how both players handle the pressure, with Mayfield expected to channel his frustration into performance. Ultimately, the Bucs’ offseason calm has shattered, leaving many to wonder if these moves signal a rebuild or a miscalculation by management.

FAQs

Vita Vea requested a trade due to contract issues, and Baker Mayfield will play out his final year under his 2026 contract without an extension.

Vita Vea couldn't reach an agreement on a contract extension, as he wants long-term security despite being 31 and productive, while younger peers got big deals.

Baker Mayfield will play his final year under contract for about $40 million, becoming a free agent after, which is expected to make him play desperately and at his best.

Mike Evans left as a free agent for less money to join the San Francisco 49ers, despite the Buccaneers offering him more to stay.

The departures and contract issues could lower morale, as key players like Vita Vea and Baker Mayfield are affected, and agents are calling about the team's direction.

Coach Todd Bowles called him irreplaceable, as he has 104 pressures and 11 sacks over two years, often double-teamed, making him a unique defensive force.

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