NFL Insider Believes AFC Team Could Be in the Hunt for Buccaneers' Baker Mayfield
The 2023 NFL season has been completed with the Kansas City Chiefs taking home another Lombardi Trophy and that sparks the beginning of the NFL offseason as we head into 2024.
One of the biggest question marks in the league is whether the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and quarterback Baker Mayfield will decide to tie the knot with one another for the foreseeable future. While many believe that Bake and the Bucs will indeed decide to run things back for at least a few more seasons, there are those on the outside looking in that believe he could end up elsewhere in 2024.
One of those folks is ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler who thinks that Baker and the New England Patriots would for a great pairing as it seems likely that the latter are looking to move on from Mac Jones as their signal caller.
"While Tampa is the clear-cut favorite to re-sign Mayfield, now a coveted free agent after a banner year with the Bucs, anything can happen in free agency," Fowler noted. "And the Patriots' new brain trust -- including lead personnel man Eliot Wolf and personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith -- were part of the (Cleveland Browns) regime that took Mayfield No. 1 in the 2018 draft. They believed in him."
Baker has a ton of connections throughout the league after being passed around from the Browns, Panthers, and Rams, but the ability to resurrect his career in Tampa Bay last season along with the recent hiring of Liam Coen to carry over what former OC Dave Canales left behind, should warrant his attention over everything.
If the Patriots were to come calling I would expect Baker to at least hear them out on what their plan is to try and build a successful offense around him, but entering an unknown situation in New England should push Mayfield right back to Tampa Bay - a place that he seemingly wants to call home.
Stick with BucsGameday for more coverage of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers throughout the offseason.
