The Buccaneers have made a habit of letting their top free agents test the market in recent years. Jamel Dean, Carlton Davis and Shaquil Barrett each re-signed with the Bucs but did so after being unattached going into the legal tampering period.

It does not appear Tampa Bay wants to take that chance with Baker Mayfield. Mutual interest exists between the Bucs and their 2023 starting quarterback. While no known talks have transpired, the team wants to have Mayfield re-signed before free agency begins, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo.

Dean spent nearly five hours unattached to start the 2023 legal tampering period. The Bucs, who had made several maneuvers to create cap space following the Tom Brady retirement bill ($35.1M), reached a four-year, $52M deal to re-sign the cornerback that afternoon. Operating on a near-identical timetable, the Bucs reached an agreement to re-sign Davis (three years, $45M) just more than five hours into the 2022 tampering period. Barrett did not make it through to the afternoon unattached, with a Bucs team determined to keep its Super Bowl LV-winning core together authorizing a four-year, $72M deal. The veteran edge rusher committed to re-signing less than an hour into the 2021 legal tampering period.

The club’s ability to convince its top in-house free agents to stay even after speaking with other teams has made for an interesting trend. It might apply to the situation surrounding Mike Evans, who is weeks away from his first free agency bid. The Bucs have shown an interest in re-signing Evans, but after the sides could not reach an agreement before the start of last season, the accomplished wide receiver vowed to test the market. Antoine Winfield Jr. profiles as a more likely candidate for the franchise tag, though the Bucs’ past locking down Davis and Dean could pertain to the standout safety.

A Winfield tag would cost the Bucs approximately $17.22M. That would be preferable to the team having a quarterback tag ($35.95M) on its books going into free agency. It remains to be seen if the Bucs value Mayfield that highly, but just about everything to surface since December indicates the team wants to keep its quarterback. The Bucs giving Mayfield input into their OC search, which ended with ex-Rams OC Liam Coen replacing Dave Canales, furthers the notion the Bucs are operating as if Mayfield will be back in 2024. But it will cost far more than $4M — eventually bumped to $7M via incentives — for Tampa Bay to retain Mayfield this year.

Teams without a clear path to land one of this draft’s top QB prospects could loom as Mayfield suitors. The Falcons, Broncos and Raiders would make sense as potential buyers. The Bucs’ exclusive negotiating rights with Mayfield expire at 11 a.m. CT on March 11, when this year’s legal tampering period begins. If the team determines the franchise tag as necessary here, it has until 3 p.m. CT on March 5.

Representing a major value spike from his low-key 2023 free agency foray, Mayfield joins Kirk Cousins as the top UFA option at quarterback this year. Teams without top-three draft choices will undoubtedly be monitoring these two options, and interest and price points often circulate at the Combine. It will be interesting to see if the Bucs can re-sign Mayfield before that point, but they certainly want to prevent their Brady successor from having the chance to shop around come March 11.