Donovan Smith Re-signs
March 5th, 2019
Signs pact.
UPDATED 1:20 p.m. – Expect Donovan Smith to be your Bucs left tackle for at least the next three seasons.
The Bucs today announced they avoided hitting Smith with a franchise tag and signed him to a three-year deal. Terms were not announced by the Bucs, though NFL Network reporter Mike Garofolo says it is a huge deal with $27 million guaranteed as part of a $41.25 million contract.
Smith has never missed a start in his four-year career with the Bucs, the only team he has ever played for. Only one other Bucs player has matched that feat, former left tackle Paul Gruber.
Overall it seems like a solid deal for the Bucs at $13.75 million per season. Starting left tackles at Smith’s level have signed for more in past seasons and there wasn’t much on the free agent market this year. Smith gets guaranteed money and should now be set for life. Not bad for a New York kid who has talked about growing up around a bowling alley and rarely having cash in his pocket.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:19 pm
At about 13.5 million a year is a bit of a rip off for us that doesn’t even leave us enough cap room to sign our draft picks I hope now that this is out of the way we see who’s going to get cut now.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:20 pm
Im good with this contract to show what he can do in arians’ offence but ‘at least three seasons’ is not accurate. Buccaneers have an out after 2 seasons just like the way they structured D-Jax’s contract. Think you’re missing the meaning of the word “expect.” –Joe
March 5th, 2019 at 1:21 pm
Hmm what’s the cap hit for 2019?
March 5th, 2019 at 1:21 pm
Bye D-Jax, and possibly bye GMC.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:22 pm
Fans may want to hate, but LTs are the same as QBs as far as number of starters in the league – 32.
Lots of talk about plenty of teams’ starting LTs being garbage (including the Bucs), but just like the Joes pose with the Winston situation – Who do you replace him with? Especially if the guy has never missed a start in his career.
Can you imagine if Smith continued to improve and start, and he ends up going down as one of the best OL in Bucs history?
Maybe. Maybe not. You all see what the last sentence of Joe’s article above states.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:26 pm
O good. More of the same from our O line.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:26 pm
Donavan Smith is one lucky guy….but I’m glad for the Bucs finally making the decision so we can move on to other position decisions that have to be done. Hope he has a “non occasional loafing” clause in his contract though.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:31 pm
Good deal. It was the right move. Congratulations to him.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:32 pm
So we can franchise Kwon now? lol. jk
March 5th, 2019 at 1:34 pm
Ummmh SMDFH
March 5th, 2019 at 1:39 pm
smells like a 2 year deal with the guaranteed $$$ running out after year 2…wondering if they draft his replacement?
March 5th, 2019 at 1:41 pm
Not great. Not terrible.
Nate soldier got 15.5 million per year
Plus it’s only 3 years and gauranteed only for 2 years.
Not huge deal for long term.
I’m ok with it. They can always move to right tackle or guard if he doesn’t get better at left tackle
March 5th, 2019 at 1:42 pm
Good deal for both parties. 27 million is essentially 2 years guaranteed with an option to keep him a 3rd year at that price.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:45 pm
Lucky guy
Just hope he and this over paid line play better in 2019
March 5th, 2019 at 1:47 pm
Yep!! Greenberg scored AGAIN!
$27 million FULLY guaranteed at signing (not just “guaranteed–because part of that ‘guarantee’ could be for injury only, thus FULLY guaranteed far more attractive to D Smith)…
However, after year 2, the guaranteed $$$ likely runs out, and I imagine that the structured the 2019 base salary super low with huge Roster bonuses in 2018, 2019, possibly even 2020, none of which would result in dead money.
Well Done Mike Greenberg, and seems like a very smart, shrewd pact for Bucs’ and player, once they decided to pay the man.
OHHH….and RE-SIGN Mike Greenberg! We don’t need that cat getting outta the building!
Go Bucs!
March 5th, 2019 at 1:47 pm
The “real” fans will wait to see the fine print of the deal, like if they are able to opt out after the 2020 season!!!!!!!!! Never trust the first reported deal structure !!!!!!!
2019 will reveal answers to the sheep, that the “real” fans already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
March 5th, 2019 at 1:49 pm
Lol…meant 2019, 2020, 2021..
March 5th, 2019 at 1:51 pm
waiting to hear about GMC restructuring his deal next.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:51 pm
good for him. I don’t know how good he is but he shows up every week, nothing to worry about off the field and works hard. That puts him in the top 10%.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:53 pm
Now transition Humphries.
March 5th, 2019 at 1:56 pm
Smith will make $12.5 million in 2019 saving the Buccaneers $1.5 million in cap space had they place a $14 million franchise tag on him.
March 5th, 2019 at 2:02 pm
Cobraboy Says:
March 5th, 2019 at 1:53 pm
Now transition Humphries.
only a bucfan would suggest tagging a low ceiling number 5 or 6 wr…. wow… popularity does not equal greatness and average players do not get tagged… especially on a team with such a weak roster and much bigger needs than a slow white guy who is beyond predictable.
March 5th, 2019 at 2:04 pm
Miketb19 Says
“At about 13.5 million a year is a bit of a rip off for us that doesn’t even leave us enough cap room to sign our draft picks…”
Your numbers are off. We had roughly $15m before cutting Curry. And we can free up a total of about $55m with some cuts.
March 5th, 2019 at 2:05 pm
I predicted this a month ago. Now we can tag Humphries…unless they can get a deal done with him too.
Kwon should not be a problem. He;ll re-sign without a tag.
March 5th, 2019 at 2:06 pm
Cut List
Demar Dotson
Will Gholston
Desean Jackson
Bryan Anger
Beau Allen
Mitch Unrein
Caleb Benonach
Evan Smith
That right there gives us enough cap room to bring in
Tyrann Mathieu
CJ Mosley
Mike Iupati
And we fill in the rest of our needs with the draft and un drafted signees after that
March 5th, 2019 at 2:07 pm
Oh, and by the way…is no one going to call out Rick Stroud for lying?
March 5th, 2019 at 2:13 pm
My Cut List from last month:
https://www.joebucsfan.com/2019/02/jackson-less-bucs-soon/#comment-4114101
Already Released on my List
• DE Vinny Curry. SAVED: $8,000,000
Release
• DE William Gholston. SAVED: $3,750,000
• DE Mitch Unrein. SAVED: $3,750,000
• DE Noah Spence. SAVED: $1,273,132
• DT Beau Allen. SAVED: $5,000,000
• DT Stevie Tu’ikolovatu. SAVED: $735,000
• RT Demar Dotson. SAVED: $4,803,125
Trade to worse team possible
• WR DeSean Jackson SAVED: $10,000,000
• Add in the $15m or so we already have
SubTotal Cap – $52,311,257
Trade, Restructure or Both (mid-season trades possible too)
• DT Gerald McCoy. SAVED: $13,000,000
• OLB Lavonte David. (Trade or Restructure) SAVED: $9,750,000
Total Cap – $75,061,257
Re-sign
• Adam Humphries – $8,000,000/year, 2 years guaranteed, 5-6 years total
• Donovan Smith – $8-10,000,000/year, 1 year guaranteed, 3-4 years total DONE
• Kwon Alexander – $9,000,000/year, 2 years guaranteed, 4-5 years total
• Gerald McCoy – $9,000,000/year, 1 year guaranteed, 3 years total
• Lavante David – $7,000,000/year, 2 years guaranteed, 4 years total
Total Cap Remaining – $34,061,257
New Deal for Humphries
March 5th, 2019 at 2:13 pm
My Cut List from last month:
Already Released on my List
• DE Vinny Curry. SAVED: $8,000,000
Release
• DE William Gholston. SAVED: $3,750,000
• DE Mitch Unrein. SAVED: $3,750,000
• DE Noah Spence. SAVED: $1,273,132
• DT Beau Allen. SAVED: $5,000,000
• DT Stevie Tu’ikolovatu. SAVED: $735,000
• RT Demar Dotson. SAVED: $4,803,125
Trade to worse team possible
• WR DeSean Jackson SAVED: $10,000,000
• Add in the $15m or so we already have
SubTotal Cap – $52,311,257
Trade, Restructure or Both (mid-season trades possible too)
• DT Gerald McCoy. SAVED: $13,000,000
• OLB Lavonte David. (Trade or Restructure) SAVED: $9,750,000
Total Cap – $75,061,257
Re-sign
• Adam Humphries – $8,000,000/year, 2 years guaranteed, 5-6 years total
• Donovan Smith – $8-10,000,000/year, 1 year guaranteed, 3-4 years total DONE
• Kwon Alexander – $9,000,000/year, 2 years guaranteed, 4-5 years total
• Gerald McCoy – $9,000,000/year, 1 year guaranteed, 3 years total
• Lavante David – $7,000,000/year, 2 years guaranteed, 4 years total
Total Cap Remaining – $34,061,257
New Deal for Humphries
March 5th, 2019 at 2:14 pm
As Joe pointed out to me, Stevie Tu’ikolovatu should be removed from the list.
March 5th, 2019 at 2:20 pm
As much as I want to keep Humphries, I just don’t think we could afford to tag him. That is way too much money for a slot receiver.
March 5th, 2019 at 2:26 pm
@Bonzai….
Lord where do I start?! (Right gang out there?)
Instead I’ll just refer back to the very apt analogy I made previously, of the food court clerk re-arranging the ketchups bottles, salt shakers and perhaps re-filling the sugar packets holder on the tables there. 🙂
Who knows, maybe International Plaza has a couple openings, things might be looking up!
Go Bucs! Land Quinnen!
March 5th, 2019 at 2:28 pm
you freaking people are crazy tagging a no upside number 5 wr and keeping a loud mouth who can’t tackle and can’t stay healthy not to mention a key member of some of the most embarrassing defenses in nfl history…… you love some crappy players ladies…. glazers have trained you well….
bucs might as well put blocking dummies with the numbers of the has beens on them so you low standard fools will be happy… emotional attachments garbage players is a disease similar to liberalism and religion.
March 5th, 2019 at 2:32 pm
This was a essential move. Using free agency to get our LT was the smartest plan.
You can argue that a T.Brown or somebody else would be a better option but I like this better because I’m betting we get a 3rd year option here without dead money if we don’t sign.
Any other top Free Agent will likely be getting 3 guaranteed years. Keeping D. Smith and adding that option is actually quite valuable, whether you want to acknowledge it or not.
Now you freaks can shut up about drafting a T at #5. This would have been a while plan that would have been a downgrade offensively & defensively.
Some of y’all get so blinded with emotions towards singular players that you fail to realize that every off-season decision affects each position group & any plans we have to be them.
Now when Q drops to us in the draft we can take him without it ruining any LT plans.
March 5th, 2019 at 2:49 pm
Sounds good to me.
In terms of annual salary – if he gets all of this contract – that’d put him about 4th or 5th in terms of most expensive LTs per year, but the 16th paid LT gets like $11M still.
I see a good chunk of names in that $10M+ per year category that I’d rather have Smith over.
Also – we haven’t seen many premiere LTs sign recently. As younger better guys get due for new contracts I’m expecting over $15M a year to be the new standard.
Smith can loaf if he wants but I’m guessing he’ll miss out on tons of $$ and another big contract if so. Basically he’d be a moron. And it’s weird to think of a guy that plays through injuries and never misses starts as some loafing bum…
March 5th, 2019 at 2:53 pm
Lord. Right on man. Thanks for sharing that salary info.
You post proves that fans saying he is overpaid are stupid and they don’t understand the NFL payscale.
March 5th, 2019 at 3:15 pm
The mediocrity will continue. Three players on the worst OL imaginable will make over 10 million each. Lol. There is no wonder why they haven’t won in over a decade.
March 5th, 2019 at 3:17 pm
He’s worth about half that money. They were bidding against themselves. He wouldnt have sniffed those numbers on the open market.
March 5th, 2019 at 3:30 pm
What does the price go up to if they franchise humph rather than kwon
March 5th, 2019 at 3:31 pm
LOL…Licht schooled Smith and his laziness…it was a 2 page contact and Donovan only read and signed the 1st page…if he read and signed the 2nd page it was a 5 year 60 million dollar deal with 35 guaranteed
March 5th, 2019 at 3:34 pm
good deal for both sides….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
March 5th, 2019 at 3:35 pm
What if they don’t use a tag- do they gain any benefit?
March 5th, 2019 at 3:35 pm
I think we did OK with this deal….about what should have been expected…..anyone thinking we could have done better is quite incorrect…..only if we had let Smith go to FA….test the market….and not been picked up could we have done better. And, that is a gamble we didn’t want to take.
I am quite convinced that Djax is gone and GMC will restructure. This has to happen for us to sign our draft picks and for us to resign P. Barber and bring in a Backup QB…….we also need to sign a Kicker…..
March 5th, 2019 at 3:42 pm
Gotbucs. I call complete BS on your post.
If not you need to go apply at One Buc Place since you know more then the experts.
March 5th, 2019 at 3:51 pm
It was already clear from Indy that both Licht AND Arians decided there was no immediate replacement for DS.
Arians is on the record as not wanting to waste time developing a rookie OL…especially at left tackle.
Trying to franchise DS would have cost more than half of the guaranteed money. So if you accept that DS was going to be franchised, at minimum this is a good deal for the Bucs.
Jimmy Johnson has the apt saying for what is transpiring on this blog. He claimed when he was coach folks were always WHINING about replacing this guy or that guy…to which he would reply…great..so who are you going to get to replace him.
Forgive my lack of respect posters but I believe Licht/Arians have already been through that exercise. They have weighed EVERYTHING. If they have decided that a ready replacement was not available and decided to sign DS I’m sorry but I gotta trust them more than any blogger on any site. Just sayin’.
March 5th, 2019 at 4:07 pm
Not sure why people are suggesting the Bucs are going to cut Celeb B. Just because the guy can’t play G? He young cheap and a pretty good Tackle. I don’t think Jason would be telllng us he is moving his position back to T if they didn’t have him in their plans going forward. Theres always a chance he gets beat out in training camp and not make the roster but I don’t think he will be a March cost cutting casualty.
March 5th, 2019 at 4:50 pm
No, you’re cutting Dotson, that would be idiotic.
But here’s the cuts/trades you do make.
Trade Brate, $7m, can probably get a 4th or possibly even a 3rd out of him. I like him as a player, but $7m for a backup TE is way too much.
Beau Allen, save $3.5m, cost you $1.5. Another 3rd tier Licht signing, the guy was worthless last year, no reason to keep him around.
Mitch Unrein, another worthless 3rd tier Licht signing. Cut him, save $3.5m.
Bryan Anger, $3m – Too much money for a below average punter.
Ryan Smith, $2m – He sucks, has no business still being in the NFL.
Evan Smith, $2m – Been awful for years, completely worthless.
So while Brate hurts a bit, and you have to hope OJ can stay healthy for once, those cuts and trade save you $17.5 and really do nothing to hurt the team at all.
Also there’s no way I’m paying Hump $8m, you don’t pay that to your #4 WR who can’t get open versus starting corners. I don’t think the market is going to be all that strong for him compared to what his fanboys think – but perhaps I’m wrong. But if I’m wrong, then seeya. I’d like to keep him but not at anything close to $8m. I’d offer more in the $5m range.
For D-Jax, if Arians thinks he can change him into a guy who will practice hard when he’ practices, then great – keep him – you can always cut him or trade him later if need be. But if he is willing to get on the same page and play ball, he still brings a lot to the table in terms of opening stuff up underneath so guys like Hump can be productive. In any case we shall see if the D-Jax love is real, or just a trade tactic – I’m fine with letting it play out and seeing what happens.
Gholston at $3.75m I’d keep around – in particular if you’re moving to a 3-4, where he’s a natural DE. Again, you can cut him down the line if need be, but I’d take him into camp.
Noah Spence at $2m. I’d love for him to turn it around, but I’m not counting on it. We shall see, but again, risk/reward, I’m OK with seeing how he looks as a OLB in a 3-4.
But if they cut both of those guys you free up nearly $6m in space – but you still need to replace them with something.
Finally there is the restructure path. The Bucs really don’t do this, but they could easily create a ton of cap room by redoing the deals of McCoy and David and even JPP if they wanted to trade some long term flexibility for short term cash space. Also keep in mind that Licht has been structuring deals to create more space to sign Winston to a long term deal. For example Mike Evan’s contract this year is $20m, but then it goes down to $16m next year, then down to $12.5m the year after that – again it was done to pay him up front for flexibility down the road since Winston will get his big deal.
Anywho those worried about cap space… chill out.
For those saying signing Smith means we can’t sign our rookies, that would be fake news. The cap went up $11m last Friday, so you need to keep that in mind.
March 5th, 2019 at 4:51 pm
Jesus, that was a long post, I didn’t realize how long until I hit submit. Nevermind reading it, but know it’s A+ level stuff.
March 5th, 2019 at 5:02 pm
Naww @Munch it was good. Long, yes, but good.
And you’re right on the Bucs not restructuring contracts, they haven’t since Greenberg arrived, and they almost totally won’t, maybe a very rare exception coming up perhaps, but 99% of the time, they won’t. Why? Well sounds like you know, but for sooooo many who don’t it would make their whole contract structuring, clean-books practice…moot. Roster bonuses, no dead money, large clean guarantees…and YEARS of that….would be rendered moot. By now starting the Eagles/Saints/Rams/Cowboys (and 95% of other NFL teams) lazy over-borrowed, kick the can down the road…will later pay the piper…mentality.
Nuh-uh, ain’t gonna happen here. And another reason, now that it has been perfected here, I’m pretty effing sure that Team Glazer loves it that way, in case they need to make coaching/GM/personnel changes, and profit forecasting on the P & L of the Buccaneers.
Go Bucs! Land Quinnen!
March 5th, 2019 at 5:37 pm
I bet Licht didn’t tell BA that in 2017 when Smith didn’t play to the whistle as usual he let a DE around him who then hit Jameis so hard he injured Jameis’ shoulder and there went our season. His production last year in his contract year was not as good as his rookie year. You have to know spoiling him with 27 million guaranteed money isn’t going to motivate Smith to play any better and he isn’t going to fear BA holding him accountable now! We could have picked up a better LT hiring one of the LTs from the Alliance of American Football so BA wouldn’t have to hire a college LT and develop him. It would have been much cheaper and we would have the cap money to hire other veterans in free agency to supplement this draft and build solid lines and a winning team this year. BA doesn’t want Fritz or any QB that makes Jameis look over his shoulder, which means we can’t risk losing Jameis because our season will go with him kind of like what happened in Arizona. We have to have a solid OL to protect Jameis and make our running game go. Signing Smith to a three year contract was a bad risk!
March 5th, 2019 at 5:56 pm
Can still draft a LT. Bet we do just that.
March 5th, 2019 at 6:00 pm
3 year contract… moving to right tackle. Nothing to say.
March 5th, 2019 at 6:03 pm
What a waste of cap
March 5th, 2019 at 6:55 pm
He ain’t moving anywhere for that money.
Tag Hump? Might as well Tag the waterboy!!!
Williams will be available at 5, 6 and 7 so pass.
Is nobody watching this Combine?
People still posting the same stuff.
I’d take Montez Sweat now over Williams.
Devin White would be our Field General for a decade.
March 5th, 2019 at 6:59 pm
StoutGospel – Well the reason you’d want those clean books is so when you’re ready to make a move you have the space to do so. It’s hard to fault the Eagles for example, they won a SB, I don’t care if we’re in cap hell for the next decade if we win a SB. With the Saints, they’re obviously trying to win now because Brees is almost done, so again, it’s worthwhile to go all in and deal with it later. Also pushing things down the road is what the Bucs did in their playoff run, even if Gruden falsely exaggerated the cap hell the team was in so he could get rid of Sapp and Lynch to sign his boys, like Charlie Garner, every injured mid-30 something OL and Tim Brown.
The big thing is do we think we are actually at that win now point? I’d say obviously no.
March 5th, 2019 at 7:47 pm
” it seems like a solid deal for the Bucs at $13.75 million per season”
Um – OK – if you say so Joe…… SMH
March 5th, 2019 at 9:21 pm
Devin White–the field general–I like it!
March 5th, 2019 at 10:05 pm
I was hoping you accidentally put a hyphen in the title, dammit!!
March 5th, 2019 at 10:24 pm
Draft C/G Bradbury in the 2nd and start him at RG, then move him to C in a year or 2 and save a lot from Jensen’s overinflated pay.
March 5th, 2019 at 10:28 pm
Yep, D.White at #5 please….he wont last past that…but if something happened and we got a trade you cant turn down, and we land Sweat around 12, im good with that too.
But D. White would look great on our squad! I feel its going to happen.
March 6th, 2019 at 6:50 am
I thought this was a fair and smart move. Smith would have commanded 17 mil next year if he was franchised again. Three year deal with only the first two guaranteed was a no brainer. For those who thought this was a terrible deal, tell me a better solution to replace Smith with a limited salary cap. Drafting a left tackle rarely pans out the first year. It takes several years to develop one.