Buccaneers news: Insider reveals how Baker Mayfield's extension came together

With the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Baker Mayfield agreeing on a $165 million contract extension, it resolves a long-standing affair that consisted of endless negotiations throughout the offseason. As the contract talks between the Buccaneers and Mayfield appeared to be dead at one point, this NFL insider gives insight into how everything unfolded.

While Mayfield and Tampa Bay agreed on a three-year extension worth $165 million, last Tuesday saw general manager Jason Richt implying that talks had halted and the focus was on the opener against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday. However, Mike Garafolo spoke on the NFL Network and expressed that he heard talks progressing back during the team's preseason finale against the New York Jets on Aug. 14.

"I'm on the field before the Buccaneers-Jets game, and I'm talking to a high-ranking Buccaneer source who says, 'We weren't that far away and, even the fact that you thought he didn't want a two-year deal, they countered to us with a two-year deal, so they were open to a shorter-term deal,' Wound up being a three-year deal," Garafolo said.

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"So I pick up the phone, and I call my friend Ian Rapaport," Garafolo continued. "And I go, 'Hey, just so you know, this is going to get done before the season. Let's not sleep on this one.' So we continued to check, and all of a sudden you start to get the feel that it was real…and it may happen, and then it wound up happening here, and the fact that it stayed quiet the whole way, even though it was really when it came down to the negotiations only a couple of days."

At any rate, with the contract situation out of the way, all eyes are on Sunday in the Week 1 opener against the Bengals.