Bill Belichick linked with NFC South team other than Falcons

Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will soon have a second interview with the Atlanta Falcons, but certain whispers continue to hint that he could potentially join a different NFC South franchise this offseason. 

During an interview with Michael Grant of Awful Announcing, Patriots insider Seth Wickersham suggested that Belichick could follow in the footsteps of former New England quarterback Tom Brady and head to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers if the Buccaneers become willing to part ways with current head coach Todd Bowles.

"I think an ideal spot for Bill would be similar to what Brady found in Tampa Bay," Wickersham explained, "where you have a team that’s talented and needs that presence of authority, greatness and work ethic to help get them over the hump." 

Interestingly, Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio mentioned last week that the Buccaneers "likely" would have been at least interested in Belichick had Tampa Bay lost this past Monday's home wild-card playoff game to the Philadelphia Eagles. While the Buccaneers earned a 32-9 victory over Philadelphia, Bowles holds a lackluster overall record of 18-18 as Tampa Bay's head coach heading into this coming Sunday's divisional postseason matchup at the Detroit Lions. 

"He has the greatest résumé of any free-agent coach in modern NFL history," Wickersham said about Belichick.

Quarterback Baker Mayfield signed a one-year contract with the Buccaneers last offseason but seemingly has earned the right to run it back with Tampa Bay for at least another campaign. For what it's worth, Belichick praised Mayfield on multiple occasions while serving as New England's coach, and the JoeBucsFan website noted on Thursday that Atlanta "has a lot to offer when it comes to weapons and a running game" and "could use" an upgrade at quarterback such as Mayfield. 

Perhaps Belichick wouldn't need to recruit Mayfield to the Falcons to work with the first pick of the 2018 NFL Draft later this year.