Top Landing Spots for Baker Mayfield in 2024 NFL Free Agency If Bucs QB Tests Market

With news breaking that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers plan to utilize their franchise tag to retain safety Antoine Winfield Jr., quarterback Baker Mayfield is trending towards a trip to free agency for the second time in as many years.

Mayfield was a revelation for the Bucs in 2023, leading the squad to a 9-8 record, NFC South title and surprise Wild Card round upset over the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. He put together a career-best campaign in the process, connecting on 64.3 percent of his passes while racking up over 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns with only 10 interceptions—the fewest he's thrown in any of his six NFL seasons.

Although Mayfield intimated that he'd like to remain in Tampa Bay—the 28-year-old said it "would mean a lot" to return along with the club's other key impending free agents following a Divisional round defeat to the Detroit Lions—he could very well find himself suiting up for his fifth team in four years come the start of the 2024 season.

According to CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones, league sources believe a reasonable contract offer for Mayfield would be in range of $75 million over three years. It's an affordable price for a quarterback who has proven capable of leading a team to the playoffs and a player who could wind up being one of the most coveted free agents of the offseason.

With that in mind, here's a look at the top potential landing spots for Mayfield if he opts to test the market this spring.

Salary cap and contract data courtesy of Spotrac

The Denver Broncos' decision to trade for Russell Wilson and give him a blockbuster contract extension has been an unmitigated disaster. Denver has been starved of draft capital and cap space since acquiring the quarterback and hasn't found anything close to the same level of success the Seattle Seahawks had with the nine-time Pro Bowler running their offense.

With Wilson going just 11-19 over his first 30 starts and even getting benched near the end of last season, it's clearly past time that Denver admits this herculean mistake, cuts its losses and finds a new quarterback for 2024.

Although there's been whispers that Wilson could return to Denver on a restructured contract, the club's front office would be better served eating the painful amount of dead money that comes with cutting the signal-caller and move on. The team will be saddled with financial constraints for the upcoming season, but $75 million in dead money didn't stop the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from becoming one of the last eight teams standing in 2023.

The key reason for Tampa's success was Baker Mayfield. He provided immense value on a one-year deal that came with a meager $4 million in guaranteed dollars and had incentives worth up to just $8.5 million. While Mayfield is is set to earn magnitudes more on his next contract, he'll still be one of the cheaper experienced starting quarterbacks available on the open market this spring.

Denver's brass will have to pull off some cap wizardry to fit a market value deal for Mayfield on the books (the team is currently a concerning $26 million over the cap), but doing so would give the Broncos a real chance to end the lengthy eight-year playoff drought they are currently mired in.

Don't forget that head coach Sean Payton had historic success with the New Orleans Saints after he brought Drew Brees in as a free agent back in 2006. Payton could replicate that path by luring Mayfield to the Mile High City. Considering how his other free-agent options are either too unaffordable (Kirk Cousins), too old and injury-prone (Ryan Tannehill) or too flawed (Jameis Winston), Mayfield represents a great middle road for this cash-strapped franchise to take.

There has been talk that Payton is angling to move up from No. 12 overall in the upcoming draft to land a quarterback prospect, but doing so would almost certainly cost Denver a hefty amount of their already-limited capital. Simply signing Mayfield would allow the Broncos to utilize their meager six selections to shore up other areas of need and build out a more well-rounded lineup for the 2024 season.

The Minnesota Vikings are at a crossroads and have a tough decision to make regarding the future of their quarterback position. The Vikings have deployed Kirk Cousins under center for the last six years, and while they have gone a respectable 53-45-1 in that span, they have just one playoff victory in two trips to show for it.

With Cousins hitting the open market at the age of 35 after his 2023 campaign was cut short with a torn Achilles tendon, Minnesota's brass should think twice before offering the aging passer any sort of contract extension—especially one in the $40 million per year neighborhood. Rather than paying Cousins top dollar for flashy regular season numbers and inevitable playoff disappointments, the Vikings should instead consider Baker Mayfield for the job.

Mayfield is younger, cheaper option who has already shown he can thrive immediately after signing with a new team. His playoff victory in the Wild Card round was the second such win of his career, following his Cleveland Browns' 2020 defeat of the Pittsburgh Steelers—a result that brought Cleveland its first taste of postseason success since 1994.

Mayfield is also coming off his first trip to the Pro Bowl, an honor due in no small part to the strong chemistry he crafted with top-tier wideouts Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. The Vikings could look to replicate that same formula by pairing him with their own pair of elite pass-catchers in Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.

Jefferson struggled with injury last year and Addison was still finding his footing as a rookie, but both appear primed for big 2024 seasons as long as the Vikings put a quality passer in place to feed them. Mayfield's ceiling may not be as high as Cousins' when it comes to regular season stats, but he's a gritty, tough signal-caller who has displayed poise and command in every offense he's run. He'd be a popular teammate and leader in Minnesota who could help this team contend for several seasons if he opts to sign there as a free agent.

The New England Patriots are forging ahead into a new era. After parting ways with longtime head coach Bill Belichick and handing the reins to understudy Jerod Mayo earlier this year, the team appears ready to kick-start its rebuild by bringing in a fresh face at the quarterback position.

Mac Jones once appeared to be a proper heir to Tom Brady in Foxboro, even earning a Pro Bowl nod as a rookie and leading the team back to the playoffs following a down season, before significantly regressing in each of the last two seasons. Jones may have played his final snap for the club following a dismal 4-13 campaign, as he is reportedly a top candidate to be traded in the near future.

While the Patriots hold the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 draft—a selection that Mayo has already hinted at expending on a quarterback—they shouldn't be counted out of the running for Baker Mayfield. New England has nearly $74 million available in cap space, the second-most in the league right now, and shouldn't shy away from utilizing a portion of that to bring in the veteran passer who can lead the offense for the next few years.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler noted that several of the Patriots' new personnel decision-makers have strong ties to the Cleveland Browns front office that selected Mayfield at the top of the 2018 draft. The insider noted that Mayfield could bridge the gap while New England's impending first-round pick gets brought up to speed or even work as a long-term solution under center. The latter choice would free up the club to draft a can't-miss wideout in Marvin Harrison Jr., the No. 1 overall prospect on the Bleacher Report Scouting Department's latest big board.

If Mayfield can stay healthy and prove his 2023 performance wasn't a fluke, the Patriots could be set for the foreseeable future with an offense led Harrison and the 28-year-old signal-caller.

Although they opted not to franchise tag him, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should be doing whatever it takes to retain Baker Mayfield this offseason.

While injuries and inconsistency submarined Mayfield's once-promising tenure with the Cleveland Browns, the quarterback's unforeseen return to prominence was one of the best storylines of the 2023 campaign. Mayfield and the Bucs now must work together to add another chapter to their story in 2024 and potentially continue writing that tale well beyond next season.

Tampa should be thrilled to retain Mayfield after the quarterback rose from the ashes of a spiraling career and greatly exceeded expectations. Despite playing on a one-year "prove-it" style contract, Mayfield flashed the type of elite talent that led to him being picked atop the 2018 draft following a standout collegiate career.

Mayfield's combination of skill and leadership earned praise from coaches, staff and teammates alike. Head coach Todd Bowles bluntly stated the signal-caller "most definitely has" earned the right to continue starting, while general manager Jason Licht said that "[Mayfield is] that guy, he's the man" and wideout Chris Godwin said "we all love Baker and we have a lot of respect for him".

Although there is already a "mutual interest" in hammering out a Mayfield contract extension this offseason, there should be even more urgency on Tampa's side to get a deal done after reports surfaced that star wideout Mike Evans is waiting to see how the franchise handles his quarterback's contract before making a free agency decision of his own.

It seems that letting Mayfield walk could result in the Bucs losing both their starting quarterback and future Hall of Fame receiver at the same time. It's a nightmare scenario that would almost certainly result in the Bucs plummeting from a fringe Super Bowl contender to bottom-dweller almost instantaneously.

To avoid that situation, the Buccaneers should cut Mayfield checks commensurate with how well he played last year and then work to lock up Evans on a long-term deal to keep the battery together for several more years. Once this is accomplished, Tampa Bay will have solidified itself as the team to beat in the NFC South with a chance of winning it all as early as next season.

Less than a year after an ownership group helmed by Josh Harris finalized a record $6.05 billion purchase of the Washington Commanders, the team has already made some big changes and looks poised to make plenty more this offseason—including a potential move to revitalize the quarterback position.

With head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters replacing Ron Rivera and Martin Mayhew, respectively, following an ugly 4-13 season, the Commanders are well-positioned to continue their sweeping overhaul once free agency begins. Quinn said that Washington is planning to "recalibrate" rather than rebuild, stating that he plans to field a competitive team right away.

Due to this desire to start winning in short order, the Commanders may want to bring in a veteran signal-caller to run new offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury's system in 2024.

Baker Mayfield would be an ideal fit if Quinn is serious about his side being a factor next season. Mayfield would give Washington a great shot at becoming the latest team to go from worst to first in their division—something that has occurred in all but two of the last 21 seasons. The quarterback immediately gelled with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, establishing a quick rapport with star wideouts Mike Evans and Chris Godwin and keeping the offense competitive in a year little was expected from it following the retirement of NFL legend Tom Brady.

Mayfield and Kingsbury even have a history together, stemming from their shared time at Texas Tech nearly 10 years ago. While that situation ended poorly when the quarterback transferred to Oklahoma following his 2013 freshman season, the pair publicly mended fences a half-decade ago and could partner up again to make this Commanders offense—featuring a trio of skilled wideouts in Terry McLaurin, Jahan Dotson and Curtis Samuel—one of the league's most dangerous.

Considering the Commanders are working with an NFL-leading $83.5 million in salary cap space going into the offseason, there will be no trouble fitting in a market value contract for Mayfield. Even if he's not in the team's long-term plans, Mayfield could be the perfect bridge option while the team gets a blue-chip prospect like Caleb Williams—Washington's choice in the Bleacher Report Scouting Department's post-Super Bowl mock draft—ready to take over for the long haul.