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Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles knows he could face a big transition at quarterback again after a stellar season from Baker Mayfield, who could become a free agent in March.
Tom Brady retired last year on February 1 after Bowles’ first year as the head coach. Mayfield’s success this season makes him a priority for the Buccaneers to re-sign and a quarterback of interest among other teams in free agency.
“I’m pretty sure he’d be in demand,” Bowles told reporters on Monday. “I don’t know to what aspect he would be in demand. Obviously, money plays a lot of part of free agency and loyalty plays a lot of part in free agency, and who actually wants you and where you can go and what you can afford plays a lot, and how you see yourself in certain systems.”
“It’ll be a tricky thing. He was great here, we love him to death. Hopefully it works out for us,” Bowles added.
Tampa Bay signed Mayfield at little cost on a one-year, $4 million deal. His asking price could go exponentially higher in free agency as Spotrac projects him at $27.1 million annually or a four-year, $108.51 million deal.
The Buccaneers also have loads of other key players to re-sign with just a projected $48.7 million in salary cap space per Spotrac. One of those priorities, Mayfield considers a package deal with him — wide receiver Mike Evans.
“If I’m back, I want Mike back,” Mayfield told reporters on Sunday after a 31-23 loss to the Detroit Lions.
Evans’ five-year, $82.5 million deal expires in March, and he will cost around $23.8 million annually or a four-year, $95.34 deal per Spotrac. His 10-consecutive 1,000-yard seasons will catch other team’s interest in the open market.
“I don’t even think about it. I don’t like to be asked about it. I don’t want to know about it. I hope to [expletive] that does not happen,” Bowles said about Evans.
Dave Canales Interviews Could Raise More Questions for Buccaneers
It’s not just Evans and Mayfield. The architect of the Buccaneers offense, Dave Canales, could also head elsewhere for a head coaching job. The offensive coordinator already had an interview with the Carolina Panthers, and Canales has a second one ahead per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
“We would have to [have an interview process],” Bowles said. “We’ve got a lot of qualified guys here and there’s some qualified guys outside. We’ll see.”
Tampa Bay losing three major players in the offense’s progress could prove challenging for 2024. The Bucs averaged 20.5 points per game for the regular season, but the team scored 23 or more points in each playoff game and three-straight late regular season games.
Todd Bowles: ‘It’s Not a Gentleman’s Agreement’
The Buccaneers saw their chances end on Mayfield’s second interception of the game against the Lions, but criticism over Bowles not using the last timeout crept it anyway. Tampa Bay had 1:33 left in the game after the interception, and the Lions put away the game on three quarterback Jared Goff kneel downs.
“It’s not a gentleman’s agreement. They were in field goal range,” Bowles said. “We’d have had 12 seconds, calculated, after using that timeout to come back from it. Then we’d have been down 11 points, so it’s kind of pointless. You kind of know when the game is over. The game was over.”
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