The Tampa Bay Buccaneers entered the 2023 NFL season with low expectations after the retirement of Tom Brady, yet stunned nearly every analysts and prognosticator as they finished the season with a 9-8 record, which was good enough to win the NFC South. The Bucs surprising run of success continued into the Playoffs. Tampa Bay secured a dominant Wild Card win over the defending NFC champion Philadelphia Eagles, and nearly pulled off an upset of the Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round of the NFL Playoffs.

Now some of the Buccaneers success in 2023 was certainly a product of both the division and conference they played in. But that doesn’t negate the fact that quarterback Baker Mayfield was, by all statistical measures, a top-half-of-the-league QB in 2023. Mayfield, who arrived in Tampa with his career looking like it was on its last leg, had to beat out Kyle Trask for the starting job before the season began, threw for 4,044 yards, 28 touchdowns, and completed 64.3 percent of his passes, all of which were career highs.

Mayfield is now due to have multiple suitors when NFL Free Agency begins on March 13th, including one team that has been long-rumored to be in the quarterback business. It just wasn’t necessarily expected that they would be in the Baker Mayfield business.

"We've all assumed that Baker [Mayfield] just goes right back to Tampa. Don't sleep on the New England Patriots. If the New England Patriots are in the Baker business then the No. 3 pick is up for sale." pic.twitter.com/Yzgb3wnNSF

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) March 3, 2024

We’ve assumed that the Patriots, who own the #3 pick in the NFL Draft, would be selecting a quarterback with that pick. But if NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah is correct, and the Patriots are in the Baker business, then it would mean New England goes a different direction with the 3rd pick. Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., perhaps? Could they be a trade down candidate with a team like the Raiders, Vikings, Steelers or Falcons, all who may be looking for a quarterback on draft night? Fortunately for New England, since Free Agency begins nearly a month and a half before the NFL Draft, they’ll have their answer well before April 25th.

As for what this means for Tampa Bay, it remains to be seen. The fact that Mayfield won the starting job without much competition from Trask last season is not a ringing endorsement of where Kyle Trask is in his development. Would losing Mayfield prompt Tampa Bay to move up from the 26th pick to get their guy? Could they wait it out at #26 and end up with either Bo Nix or Michael Penix Jr.? And if Tampa Bay loses Mike Evans in free agency too, will 2024 be the year that most expected 2023 to be?