Trent McDuffie Overtakes Baker Mayfield With $124 Million Extension From the Rams

Less than one week after they had managed to acquire him in a trade from the Kansas City Chiefs, the Los Angeles Rams have officially come to terms on a contract extension with the All-Pro DB, Trent McDuffie. The 25-year-old’s four-year, $124-million contract extension, which will include $100 million in guarantees, now makes him the highest-paid CB in the history of professional football. 

While that’s certainly a cause for celebration for both McDuffie and his loved ones, the signing figures to be anything but welcomed news for Baker Mayfield, who is continuing to wait on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to increase his pay. It’s worth noting that McDuffie’s $100-million guarantee alone is equal to the total value of Mayfield’s current contract.

Despite the fact that he’s managed to guide them towards a pair of consecutive divisional titles while averaging more than 4,000 passing yards per season, the Buccaneers don’t appear to be in any hurry to offer Mayfield an extension. In fact, their unwillingness to do so has now seen him fall all the way down to the 17th overall spot in terms of overall contract value amongst active NFL quarterbacks.

With an average salary of $33.33 million, it seems safe to say that the 2027 free agency period can’t come soon enough for Mayfield, who has consistently proven that he’s at least deserving of a pay rate that’s more similar to that of Matthew Stafford rather than Geno Smith. He can at least find some solace in the fact that he’s still netting an average salary that’s higher than any of the top-paid CBs in the league, including McDuffie.

For as much as Mayfield has been able to do for Tampa Bay, it’s become readily apparent that the franchise doesn’t wish to pay him top-15 money. Whether that’s due to them thinking that he isn’t quite deserving of it, or simply a result of the limited cap space that they’ve been forced to work with throughout the past several years, is anyone’s guess.

Nevertheless, the two-time Super Bowl champion in McDuffie will now head into the fifth season of his career knowing that he’s being paid at a higher rate than the most established quarterback of the entire NFC South division. It’s not often that you see a cornerback eclipse a starting signal caller, but when you do, just know that it’s usually an indicator of a special type of talent.

The Chiefs may have ultimately received a total of four draft picks in exchange for McDuffie, with one of them being the 29th overall pick in the upcoming 2026 NFL Draft, but it figures to be a while, if ever, before they find another secondary defender who’s capable of replicating McDuffie’s level of production.

Although seeing as Kansas City was at least able to recoup their initial investment in him, it does seem as if the only loser here is Mayfield, who will just have to keep on waiting on the world to change.