Where will Baker Mayfield land in free agency? Potential landing spots for QB

2023 was a "prove-it" year for former first overall pick Baker Mayfield. After stints with the Los Angeles Rams and Carolina Panthers, Mayfield earned himself a one-year contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers prior to last season.

Mayfield not only led the Bucs to an NFC South championship, but also won a playoff game over the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles. Mayfield set career-highs in touchdowns and yards as well.

Expectations were low for Tampa coming into the season, so given what ended up happening, you'd think the Bucs would be thrilled to bring Mayfield back for another season. Unfortunately for them, Mayfield is a free agent and should be a hot commodity given all he accomplished last year.

While Bucs head coach Todd Bowles has claimed that re-signing Baker is the team's top priority, there are still several other teams who could be interested in his services. Here are the most likely.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Not the most exciting first team, right? Clearly though, the Buccaneers have plenty of reason to be interested in re-signing Mayfield. Sure, if the Bucs bring Mayfield back, they might not have enough money to re-sign Mike Evans, but money is just a myth in the NFL anyways. With a few restructures and cuts, the Buccaneers could absolutely find a way to bring both players back to Florida if they wanted. They are No. 18 over $20 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap.

On the other side, given that Mayfield is the only quarterback in NFL history to endure eight different head coaches in a six-year span, he likely doesn't want to pack up shop and move somewhere else either. He wants to stay where he is wanted and will be given an opportunity to not only start, but compete for a playoff berth. He was able to do that just last season, and he knows he can do so again.

Atlanta Falcons

Although the Atlanta Falcons are the favorites to land Bears quarterback Justin Fields this offseason, they aren't the only team gunning for him. Fields could very well land somewhere else and if he does, we all know that the Falcons don't want to roll with another season of Desmond Ridder.

The fact is that Arthur Smith wasted the first three years of Kyle Pitts' career. He only has two years left of team control (one if they opt not to pick up his fifth-year option), and time is running out on maintaining each of their highly-drafted offensive weapons. The talent on offense is there for the Falcons to succeed sooner rather than later. All the team needs is a quarterback to deliver them the ball.

Kirk Cousins appears to be the veteran favorite for the Falcons. After all, Cousins' wife Julie grew up in Georgia. Reports have already emerged that Cousins is moving his family to Atlanta. That said, nothing is set in stone. Other reports claim the Falcons still have interest in Mayfield, who has already built a rapport with the team's new head coach Raheem Morris and offensive coordinator Zac Robinson during his time with the Rams.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Alongside the Falcons, the Steelers are the favorite to land Bears quarterback Justin Fields. Unless there is an unforeseen breakthrough in cloning science soon though, only one of them can secure him. While rumors hint at otherwise, a pairing here makes sense.

The Steelers just hired former Falcons head coach Arthur Smith as their offensive coordinator, who faced Mayfield twice last season. He knows what Mayfield can do, even with the worst run game in the NFL (Bucs recorded 88.8 rush yards per game last year; last in the NFL). Smith knows how to build a run game, and that alone should create interest from the Steelers. If Mayfield can throw for 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns without a consistent backfield, Mayfield could be in for a breakout with the combo of Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren backing him up.

Of course, the counterpoint would be that Mayfield had Nick Chubb in his backfield with the Browns in both 2019 and 2021, neither of which were great seasons for Mayfield. Regardless, the Steelers are not in a position to draft one of the 2024 draft class's elite quarterbacks at No. 20. Even if someone like J.J. McCarthy fell to them, it might serve the team well to sign Mayfield to a one-year deal while letting McCarthy develop underneath him.

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