Tampa Bay Buccaneers are keeping a close eye on teams who might be considered a fit for Baker Mayfield in free agency. The former first overall pick spent the 2023 season as the Bucs quarterback and had a comeback season after potentially having the bust label slapped on him.
Mayfield only signed a one-year deal last offseason so he's now a free agent. The Bucs won't use the franchise tag on the signal-caller so he'll be free to sign wherever he pleases. That being said, Mayfield has expressed interest in rejoining the team that helped him revamp his career.
The New England Patriots were a potential landing spot for Mayfield considering that the Mac Jones experiment didn't go according to plan. New Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo had said at one point that the Pats were going to "burn some cash" in free agency but then backtracked on those comments, stating "You know, I kind of misspoke when I said ‘burn some cash’ but I was excited when you see those numbers."
Are the Patriots out of the Baker Mayfield sweepstakes?
Mayo continued saying "So I don’t want people to think, ‘you got 60 million dollars, 70 million, whatever, so let’s get this guy, that guy, that guy’ . . . it may work for a couple games, or maybe a season, but it won’t work long term.” These comments make it sound as though while Mayo wants the Pats to be aggressive, they're not going to just throw money at whoever.
Mayfield joins the likes of Kirk Cousins and (likely soon) Russell Wilson as free agent quarterbacks teams with a need will be interested in adding. Justin Fields isn't a free agent but teams will surely be interested in trading for him if the Bears opt to hold onto the number one pick and go with Caleb Williams.
The Patriots have reportedly made it clear that they plan to sign a veteran quarterback in free agency while also spending the third overall pick on a quarterback. Whether this is Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye remains to be seen.
If the Patriots are out of the running, then that should hopefully make it even easier for the Bucs to bring back Baker Mayfield and continue what this team started in 2023.