Could NFC South team force Buccaneers into Baker Mayfield decision?

Quarterback Baker Mayfield is going to get paid this offseason in one way or another after he guided a Tampa Bay Buccaneers team — thought by some to be in the middle of a rebuild — to the playoffs and a home postseason victory. 

NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated explained during a Tuesday appearance on "The Rich Eisen Show" that the Buccaneers may need to prevent Mayfield from reaching free agency to keep the Atlanta Falcons from signing the 28-year-old in March. 

Per JoeBucsFan, Breer presented a scenario that included former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Josh McDaniels, Belichick's longtime offensive coordinator in New England, linking up with Mayfield in Atlanta. It's no secret Belichick has been fond of Mayfield since before the Cleveland Browns made the signal-caller the first pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. 

"Bill Belichick put Josh McDaniels on a plane the week of the draft to go work out Baker Mayfield in Norman, OK," Breer said. "If the Falcons land Belichick, does Tampa have to franchise Baker to keep him away from Atlanta?" 

JoeBucsFan noted how Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk mentioned that Mayfield likely wouldn't complain about having his rights for 2024 retained by the Buccaneers via the franchise tag worth around $35M after he earned only a $4M base salary plus incentives for this season. Meanwhile, ESPN's Jenna Laine shared that Mayfield and Tampa Bay head coach Todd Bowles both said shortly after the team's divisional playoff loss to the Detroit Lions this past Sunday that they'd like to continue working together. 

Interestingly, some in the NFL community believe Belichick could coach Mayfield with the Buccaneers later this year if the team's ownership decided the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach was an upgrade over Bowles. Bowles went 18-19 (playoffs included) across the past two seasons with Tampa Bay. 

However the Buccaneers handle their head-coaching position this winter, it's difficult to imagine general manager Jason Licht would let Mayfield walk out the door for nothing when the team has the franchise tag stashed away for such a scenario.