The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were able to re-sign wide receiver Mike Evans ahead of free agency, but thus far, they don’t appear to be having that same fortune with quarterback Baker Mayfield.

Free agency begins next Monday, and we heard recently that the Buccaneers and Mayfield were fairly far apart in contract negotiations.

Tampa Bay still seems optimistic that a deal will get done, but things can obviously change once other teams are allowed to get involved next week.

Many have felt that Evans electing to stay with the Bucs was a signal that he knew the team would ultimately be keeping Mayfield, and on Friday, Evans gave Mayfield his stamp of approval.

“Me and Baker have a really good relationship,” Evans said, via Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times. “I think he’s an elite quarterback.”

Mayfield revitalized his career in Tampa this past season, throwing for 4,044 yards, 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing 64.9 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 94.6 en route to his first Pro Bowl appearance.

Most importantly, the 28-year-old led the Buccaneers to an NFC South division title and guided them to a blowout win over the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs.

That came after a 2022 campaign in which Mayfield’s career seemed to be on life support, as he split that year between the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams and totaled 10 touchdowns and eight picks.

Mayfield, who played his collegiate football at the University of Oklahoma, was originally selected by the Cleveland Browns with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2018 NFL Draft.

He spent the first four years of his career with the Browns, producing mixed results.

We’ll see if Tampa Bay is able to reach an agreement with Baker Mayfield in the coming weeks, which would certainly appease Mike Evans.

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