Buccaneers’ Salary Cap Space Stands At $2 Million

March 9th, 2022

Yeah, if free agency began at 1 p.m. today, the Bucs could afford a bag of chips, a few cases of glorious Big Storm Beer, and maybe re-signing O.J. Howard.

It’s that bad when it comes to the Buccaneers’ salary cap situation after yesterday’s lockdown of Chris Godwin with the franchise tag for 2022 ($19 million and change).

Before inevitable contract restructures and teary goodbyes, the Bucs can’t even think of re-signing Ryan Jensen, Alex Cappa, Aaron Stinnie, Rob Gronkowski, Will Gholston, Carlton Davis and many more Super Bowl-team favorites. Tampa Bay has a shade over $2 million in cap room available.

But the accounting gurus are coming to save the day, and hopefully guys like Donovan Smith and Shaq Barrett will help the Bucs by re-configuring their fat deals.

Still, it won’t be enough to keep the whole band back together — and still maintain hope of landing a quality, proven quarterback that will come with a price.

Keep in mind the Bucs need to allocate cap room to sign their 2022 draft class.

Thankfully, the games are played in September.

Joe is convinced this season will be the greatest test for the Jason Licht front office. It’s time to put those eight years of experience to use. This can be a winning Bucs season if the cards are played well.


72 Responses to “Buccaneers’ Salary Cap Space Stands At $2 Million”

  1. Austin Says:

    Well yeah when your free agents are established pro bowlers, or up and coming young stars, your bound to be screwed. This stacked team is very expensive

  2. Austin Says:

    I absolutely HATED the contract we gave Donovan Smith, he didn’t deserve it then, and its screwing us now

  3. Casual Observer Says:

    You are right about Licht’s problems. Lots of tough choices have to be made. I trust him to make the right calls.

  4. Steven007 Says:

    With the Godwin headache off the table, temporarily at least since they really need to get a deal done eventually, I think restructuring becomes the current priority.

  5. Tackleblockwin Says:

    It’s ok to just say it. Time to rebuild. Nothing wrong with that. In fact we might even be competitive while we rebuild In our division.

  6. Leighroy Says:

    Add Vita Vea to the restructure candidate list. He and Shaq are the only ones with large contracts signed thru 2024, if you don’t count dead-cap years for guys like Smith, Evans and David.

    Also, Marpet’s 10 mil and Brady’s 1.2 base salary are both still factored into the numbers. I’m not smart enough to know what formality has to take place, but you could argue the Bucs are closer to 13.2 mil in cap room today.

  7. Austin Says:

    At least in 2023 salary cap should be huge lol a year too late!

  8. Marine Buc Says:

    My prediction FA list:

    Gabbert – QB
    Griffen – QB
    Bernard – RB
    Cappa – G
    Stinnie – C/G
    Wells – T
    Triner – LS
    Gholston – DL
    Delaney – CB
    Adams – S
    Whitehead – S

    We will probably add a FA CB, RB, TE and DL.

    Then add 6 draft picks (no 6th rnd pick)… CB, WR, TE, DL, RB, LB.

  9. HC Grover Says:

    Here comes the practice squad. Brady left because the Bucs are broke.

  10. Bucs since 76 Says:

    Last year we robbed Peter to pay Paul now Peter has come to collect.

  11. First Down Tampa Bay Says:

    Imagine hating on Donovan Smith 🙄. Smith has easily become a Top 5 LT over the past two seasons and has really stepped up his game. As reliable as he has been throughout his career, he has earned every penny of that contract. Left Tackles as good as Donovan don’t come around every day, and we are lucky to have him.

  12. Its a Bucs Life Says:

    Prior to Brady and the last two years Licht wasn’t highly thought of and this off season will just reinforce that.

    Cap Space and an inept front office will force the semi retired Arians to play Gabbert until he’s benched for Trask by week 5 or 6.

  13. Bobby M. Says:

    When do we start to recognize Licht has completely whiffed on roster management this year? I really believe the guy gets waaaaay too much credit. We had 5 yrs of losing with 3 different coaches, routinely finishing in the basement of the NFC South and never sniffing a playoff birth. Brady comes to town and suddenly Licht is a genius? Brady brought Gronk, AB and Fournette….no Brady….no Gronk, AB or Fournette. We are right back to square one with what Licht put together. You could add Brady, Gronk, AB and Fournette to nearly any team in the league and they would be an instant playoff team. That’s not due to Licht. He’s really whiffed on this Godwin deal which may force us to lose Davis, Jensen and Cappa. That’s awful.

  14. Niles Says:

    Joe is still in the denial phase of grieving. It’s over. The 2020 and 2021 teams are gone. They will never be again. Time to move on to the future. Play youth and build on it.

  15. 1buc4u Says:

    There are also 8 teams in the negative on cap right now. Including Green Bay -50,000,000 plus

  16. Marine Buc Says:

    @ first down

    I am pretty neutral on D Smith. I believe he is better than average but not “top five” as you stated.

    I believe D. Smith’s improvement over the past two seasons had more to do with Tom Brady playing QB. Playing left tackle for a QB who gets rid of the ball at @ 2.0 seconds (fastest average in the NFL) has helped not only D. Smith’s performance but has helped the entire offensive line look better than they really are…

    Let’s see how D. Smith does this next season with Gabbert at the helm.

  17. Its a Bucs Life Says:

    A lot of creative accounting is needed for this team to compete. This is why coaching matters in the NFL. Need creativity to out scheme and get guys open consistently. Can’t rely on having 2 top 15 wrs and a top 10 TE and a top 3 QB every year.

  18. HC Grover Says:

    Brady saw this coming. Maybe he will take a year off and sign up someplace for 55 million and bring Gronk with him.

  19. Dusthty Rhothdes Says:

    Bobby M right there with you on that

  20. adam from ny Says:

    okay so we have a pair of good receivers – one out half the upcoming season – and nothing else – lol – i’m disgusted…

    “gabbert hands it off to leveon for a loss of 2″…….said mean gene deckerhoff

  21. Rod Munch Says:

    6 people voted and said Gabbert was the most important person to keep in FA…

    So that’s Arains, Arians again from his wife’s computer, Gabbert himself, Gabbert’s mom, and I’m not sure about the other 2, but I’m sure their relatives.

  22. adam from ny Says:

    keep the line in tact if possible…

    pencil in stinnie at LG…

    or flip flop cappa and stinnie…

    but cappa and wirfs have become a pretty darn good tandem on the right side of law…

    and of course the law was tommy b

    #BruceFoughtTheLawAndTheLawWon 🙂

  23. Rod Munch Says:

    Out of that list, on who to keep, it’s clearly Whitehead.

    Literally ZERO reason to keep Jensen if you have a garbage QB like Trask or Gabbert or Bridgewater.

    Also, again, Licht knows a lot more about offensive lineman than you do (I’m talking to you reading this), so if he lets Jensen walk, he’s comfortable with the other options.

  24. adam from ny Says:

    Rod:

    blaine gabor is the well appointed son of zsa zsa gabor…

    her family votes too

  25. Buc king Says:

    Please make sense of how we only have 2million when we have godwim franchised what few million more then last year…
    We just lost the expense of gronk jpp suh brady market Jensen and so on and so on…this makes zero sense to me

  26. Rod Munch Says:

    Will people please get over Stennie. He’s a good backup, a believe average starter. The Bucs should not want to sign him to start since now you’re making your offensive line a lot worse, going from an ALL-PRO like Marpet to a career backup.

    Licht can draft someone in the 2nd round to be a pro-bowler in a year or two, that’s what we’d want to see there. Stennie, if he’s affordable, should be kept, but not as a starter. I can’t believe people don’t understand that.

  27. Tampabaybucfan Says:

    So, can we please stop with all the articles about high-priced Quarterbacks….and players like Chandler Jones, the Honey Badger & others?

    We were never, ever going to acquire any of them…..

    Maybe we can really squeeze and make some room for a Trubisky or Bridgewater….but even that will be difficult.

  28. Rod Munch Says:

    adam from ny – I’m still not sure why Zsa Zsa is famous. As a kid I thought she was on Green Acres, but that was the other one, I think. I could just google it and find out in 5 secs, but I’d rather live my life never quite knowing…

  29. michael davis Says:

    keep the oline.

  30. mike evans Says:

    keep the oline.

  31. adam from ny Says:

    Marine:

    if we actually keep griffin going on 10 years…lol

    and go into the season with trask, grif and the son a zsa zsa gabor…

    you know what, fugg it….start grif…

    if you’ve kept him for 10 years and have this type of qb mess, just play the dude because you’ve got nothing to lose at this point…

    i mean seriously, no disrespect to the 3 guys – they are all in the top 100-125 qbs in the whole wide world – and that’s something in itself to be proud of – but you can’t have a worse group trying to fill those big ole shoes of tommy b

  32. BucsFan81 Says:

    Time to Re build. We should be trading anyone over 30 that has value and creating cap space and getting draft picks. So we can re build and get back to playoffs in 2 to 3 years

  33. New England Patriots Fan Says:

    Dallas reworked contacts yesterday to save 22m via Dak, Martin no player lost any money in this just moved cap into the next year.

    Rodgers and Davante returning even though both signing major long term contracts, as they dropped their 2022 cap hits.

    Tampa Top Cap Hits
    Mike Evans WR $20,622,500 9.84
    Shaquil Barrett OLB $19,750,000 9.42
    Chris Godwin WR $19,179,600 9.15
    Donovan Smith LT $18,400,000 8.78
    Lavonte David OLB $14,785,000

    Evans Shaq, Chris Donavan Lavonte could be reworked temporially to drop cap till June 2

    Options:

    Trade Brady rights save all his contract is gone right away. Retire Brady June 2 save by doing so, the Bucs would save $12,270,588 in cap space because only the prorated $8 million would count in 2022.

    Ali Marpet the team could push some of that 7m cap to 2023 by processing Marpet’s retirement after June 1. According to Spotrac, doing so would leave the Bucs with $2.7 million in dead cap this year and a $4.3 million dead hit in 2023, freeing up $10 million of cap space to use this offseason.

    Yes you dont save today, but you could rework active players deals till June 2 and repay those players again the same contract money as those 20M+ will be available.

  34. SC Bucs Fan Says:

    Why can’t Licht have a Super Bowl winning team, sign all his players and have oodles of cap room every year? I mean is he just an idiot… like a lot of posters in here?

  35. adam from ny Says:

    Rod:

    as a child i’d watch her on hollywood squares with mom and wonder who is this strange lady sitting next to the wacky paul lynde

  36. Rod Munch Says:

    I don’t think you need a full rebuild, but I do think, if you can’t get a top QB, you should just use this year to clean up the cap, and get a bunch of compensation picks by letting guys walk.

    With so many FA’s, I mean it’s possible the Bucs could get like four 3rd rounders and some other picks. Yeah, 3rd round picks aren’t sexy, but Licht can build you an offensive line around that.

    But this year, you should absolutely play Trask – and I completely think he’ll be terrible to be sure, but if he’s terrible, then great, you go 3-14 and got a top 5 pick, maybe even the top pick in the draft. Now you’re going into 2023 with a clean up, a ton of draft picks and still a core of good players – and you’re a QB away from being a contender again.

    Conversely, if I’m wrong and you play Trask and he’s good, then you’re in even better shape, you now got a huge cap advantage over everyone else in football, plus a ton of comp picks.

    Obviously I’d still take a real franchise QB if we can get one, but I don’t know who is available other than Watson, and I don’t see the Bucs doing that deal. Winston is the other guy I’d pick up because he’s free, and he’d do really well – but the triggered idiots around here who suffer from Winston Derangement Syndrome would make his life miserable, and just try to destroy the fanbase, so the team isn’t bringing back, even though he’s easily the best option available.

    So, with that reality, just play Trask and see what happens. I do NOT want to see Gabbert or, even worse, Bridgewater. Get out of my face with those two garbage QBs.

  37. iamrhenry Says:

    Personally, I don’t want the band back together. Been there done that, won a super bowl and division title. Nothing ever stays the same and if it did, it would be boring as heck. They should embrace the challenge by building through the draft with constant roster churning. Lets sprinkle in some new, youthful faces and get behind them with our support whether we win or lose.

  38. Rod Munch Says:

    adam from ny – yeah, same here, except watching tV with my mom since she left me and my dad to go join a circus… wait, that was The Jerk, or maybe not. I don’t really remember much from being a kid, except for Green Acres and the Beverly Hillbillies.

  39. New England Patriots Fan Says:

    If Tampa isn’t willing to rework deals, to able to pay players like Donovan Smith LT $18,400,000 8.78, Shaquil Barrett OLB $19,750,000, 9.42 and Lavonte David OLB $14,785,000 they should be traded to team with cap as your not winning games without a QB and top weapons by paying defensive players or even a LT what you have to pay QB or Chris or Mike.

    The only players whom should make over 12m/y on NFL team should be QBs and top 15 weapons, pass rushers dont even produce enough value to take up 10% of you cap on.

    It is why NE has to move on from JC Jackson as you cant pay any CB 20m/y long term.

    What you have to do is under pay year 1 and overpay in a rebuild in year 2.

    This is what Tampa is doing, they are paying for 2020-2021 production in 2022 because it kept cap slightly lower in those years.

  40. adam from ny Says:

    maybe dump donnie somehow and rebuild the left side of the line…

    keep jensen to wirfs in tact…

    you already lost ali, so dump donnie and rebuild it…especially if tommy b is nowhere to be found…

    then sign bridgewater, lol, and let d-linemen rip his scrawny legs off his body and toss them in the opposing team’s tent on the sidelines

    (a little bridgewater humor because he always seems so fragile – and with no left side protection, he’d get eaten alive out there)

  41. Rod Munch Says:

    New England Patriots Fan — The Bucs just won the SB, just over a year ago, they really don’t need advice from a has-been franchise like the Patriots on how to win.

    LOL!

    Just busting your tiny Patriots balls.

    I don’t disagree on everything you said, even if I don’t totally agree either, but just funning you.

    NOW GO EAT SOME BEANS

  42. adam from ny Says:

    i tell ya, bruce is gonna be outta here…

    this season doesn’t look like it’s gonna work…what is that strange concoction he has strapped over his body when he struts the sidelines on game day…his special metal box…

    its like an outside the body pace maker, a heart monitor…

    i tell ya, bruce is gonna be out of here by week 3 on a medical doctors note – saying he simply can’t take it any more

  43. adam from ny Says:

    ^^^^^

    the pats guy sometimes writes something meaningful…

    but how long can a pats fan last here in bucsville?

    tom is gone…gronky is following suit…

    the pats fan is literally one big news story or signing from jumping ship and settling his small balls in on say a frisco board…

    he’s definitely a here today gone tomorrow dude…

    so maybe we should bash him right on outta here…lol just kidding

  44. New England Patriots Fan Says:

    I am just waiting on Tom and Gronk. As long as Toms rights remain with Tampa im a Tampa guy. haha

  45. DBS Says:

    Rod the other 2 are Hodad and one of his relatives. Nobody in their right mind would think Gabbert should even be kept.

  46. uhmmm Says:

    Wr Mike Williams just signed for 20m/yr. Godwin’s price just went up too

  47. Oneilbuc Says:

    New England Patriots fan . That’s why I hope he don’t come back!! I hate fake Patriots fan just like I hate fake bucs fans. Forget Brady we don’t need him at all.

  48. Bucs Guy Says:

    Re-sign key O FAs, draft replacements for D FAs. Re-sign Whitehead.

    Hey Joe, give me the beer and chips. You can still get rid of OJ.

  49. adam from ny Says:

    @ New England Patriots Fan:

    i was just bustin’ chops…no ill will intended bro…we’ve got enough trolls and flappers on here already…

    if you can get tommy into camp, please do…

    – rodgers gone
    – wilson gone
    – wentz gone

    movement has begun

  50. Big pirate Says:

    The Bucs made Ryan Jensen the highest paid center 4 years ago. They can’t do that again. And that’s what he wants, supposedly. Carlton Davis is good but had 1 interception all year. For me it’s either gronk if he wants to come back. Or whitehead.

  51. Idahobucfan4life Says:

    No reason to be surprised by this. We knew it was coming when we sold out for a repeat Superbowl season. Everyone in this forum was so excited last year because we spent more than we had to hold on to everyone for another glorious run and kicked a whole bunch of debt into the future…which is now. Now it’s time to be accountable and work within the constraints we have. We knew this was coming. That probably means giving Trask his shot (after a year to study the greatest QB alive) and trying to keep our defense and O-line as solid as possible.

  52. steele Says:

    This team is broke. Brady saw it coming. The band, which was already problematic, will not be back together. It’s a mess.

    Far easier and more lucrative to film yourself “playing football” with Hanoi Jane and Sally Field than deal with it. Or painfully moving yourself and your now-comfortable family to a new team with some new coaching and personnel mess.

    (Speaking of “80 for Brady”, which takes place during the 2016-2017 season, how on earth do they deal with the whole Deflategate thing in the movie? Pretend it didn’t happen? Have Hanoi Jane cut a deal involving special workout favors with Roger Goodell to get Tom off the hook?)

  53. A real bucs fan Says:

    Idahobucfan,

    I agree 100 percent!! It’s the same 4 or 5 crybabies on here.
    Last year they praised every move that was made..when we win this year they will act like they never complained or said a bad word against Bruce or Jason..It’s a shame that our fan base forgets what it was like before Bruce got here..the 4 or 5 same guys are probably big fans of lovie,and Dirk

  54. JimmyJack Says:

    Its hard to really have a opinion how to work the roster without knowing what the plan is at QB.

    I cant imagine they make the same decisions if your QB is Blaine vs Carr or Watson or whoever.

    Looks like we are primed for monthes of speculation about our QB room…….unless they make a big trade real quick.

  55. JimmyJack Says:

    Steele that narritive is outplayed and absurd. Read the article. It details exctually how to free up tons of money if need be. And it only mentions a few ideas on how to squeeze the CAP.

    Its not even plausible that Licht was unwilling to push CAP money down the road to keep Brady surrounded by a SB team. And its not believable that the Glazers would even allow Licht to do such a thing………But in some bizarre scenario where that was the case Bruce would not have tolerated any of it……..Theres no way he would still be here coaching for an orginization that pulled the SB rug out from uder him.

    Enough with this narritive. It truely lacks any and all sense.

  56. JimmyJack Says:

    Apology it was not this article that I meant to refrence.

    Its a few pages back “football outsiders”

  57. Buc4evr Says:

    Without Brady this team is going to implode. Our free agents will leave for big paydays and it will be harder to sign quality free agents from other teams. This will be a forced rebuilding year as there won’t be a franchise QB available.

  58. Defense Rules Says:

    JimmyJack … Not getting Carr or Watson. They’re ‘owned’ by other teams & Bucs don’t have the $$$ or draft picks to acquire their rights. Heck with $2 mil we don’t even have the money to bring back any of our own FAs at this point.

    And for those talking about players restructuring contracts to give us more salary CAP room, you need to remember that it takes two-to-tango. Players like Donovan Smith & Mike Evans may not want to restructure at this point in their careers; same with Shaq. Can’t restructure Godwin without signing him to a long-term contract (personally don’t think he’ll be willing to do that).

    In some ways, we’re screwed, blued & tattooed. And not JUST for 2022; we’ll be paying for those last 2 years into 2023 & 2024 (maybe even beyond that). Sad part is that we MAY very well suck in all 3 phases; not enough $$$ to build a dominating defense, or offense, and our S/Ts could see a couple of rookies in there shortly.

    And for those talking about trading Donovan Smith, you might want to think again. He & Wirfs represent our total OLine experience right now. And in the meantime, we may not have the shekels to entice either Cappa OR Stinnie to remain in the flock. Good times ahead.

  59. Alvin Scissors Harper Says:

    Rod, let me help you out on “Green Acres.” That was Eva Gabor. “I get allergic smelling hay. I just adore a penthouse view. Darling I love you but give me back Park Avenue.”

  60. HC Grover Says:

    Forget Green Acres we need Jethro Bodine.

  61. JimmyJack Says:

    Defense Rules. I think you will be right and we dont trade for a QB. But it certainly is in the realm of possibilities.

    Not sure what you mean by we dont have the draft picks. I thought we had six of em this year. And you can package together whatever future ones needed if you were motivated enough.

    And to say we dont got the money is really wierd to me because theres several options you could use……….for example, you include a high priced player in the trade and its not nearly as difficult to get them under the CAP………….And if you get that QB that averages 40M a year you can restructure his deal however you need. There is no hard line x amount of dollars you need. The Bucs can manupilate the CAP however they need to.

    But all of that does damage you in the longterm so it does come with a price. Im not endorsing the idea just pointing out that it is pissible if the Bucs were really motivated.

    Ill leave you with one last scenario just for fun. Lers suppose Watson gets suspended for a year by the league. That means he wont get paid, no CAP space needed. Does that scenario maybe peak the Bucs intrest to trade for his rights, stash him for a year while retooling with some youngens?…………….Since this scenario is pure fantasy we can also assume Brady comes back, wins a title and league MVP before riding out……..Then Watson slides right in for 2023 to lead the Bucs to a decade of dominance……..Also if your a nuggler you add Jamies to this scenario as backup QB.

  62. Defense Rules Says:

    JimmyJack … Yes we do have 6 draft picks, but teams in a ‘rebuilding mode’ generally try to stockpile more than that (look at Jacksonville & several others). If we get 3 starters/rotational players our of our 6 picks this year we’ll have done very very well IMO.

    And folks keep talking about restructuring contracts to make more salary CAP money available, but I question whether (1) whether that’s in these higher paid players best interests AT THIS POINT IN THEIR CAREERS, and (2) if it’s in the Bucs best interest to do that (ie, kicking the can down the street AGAIN). I’m tending to think that we backed ourselves into a corner when we franchise-tagged Godwin (it very much limits what we can do for guys like Whitehead, Cappa, Stinnie & some of our other FAs UNLESS some others go along with restructuring their contracts).

    Your last scenario is interesting, but I can’t in any way see Watson coming to the Bucs AND then signing a long-term contract with us in 2023. No way that’d be in HIS best interests.

  63. Mikebuc40 Says:

    Where’s the Marpet money, didn’t the NFL up the cap by 25 million.

  64. Todd Says:

    They needed to get Godwin signed long term then they could have tagged Jensen ☝️😀

  65. Rod Munch Says:

    Last thing the Bucs should do is resign guys only to go 8-9, maybe win the awful NFC South, and get blown out like the Eagles in the 1st round of the playoffs, and then in 2023 you still have tons of cap issues, no clear QB, and now you’re just a middling team on the decline.

    Licht’s greatest test will be willing to lose this year in order to start winning in 2023 and build another SB roster, not the Jon Gruden mill where, without Tony Dungy handing you a SB team, you’re just Jeff Fisher and go 7-9, or now 7-10, maybe 8-9, maybe 9-8, but that’s it, and you’re never winning a title.

  66. Rod Munch Says:

    Alvin – Thank you, now I’m sort of remembering, which still makes me wonder why Zsa Zsa was famous, the only thing I recall is she slapped a cop or something.

    Speaking of those old TV shows, it’s really amazing how they used the opening theme to explain the entire backstory. TV shows don’t do that anymore – which is shame, it really should make a comeback.

  67. SOEbuc Says:

    Glazers knew what the cap and Brady situation was going to be before they extended Licht. Try to resign Stinnie and Whitehead and draft an inside OL/RB (BPA) second or third. Trask is Burrow year two except with a Super Bowl win!!!

  68. Rod Munch Says:

    Defense Rules Says:
    And for those talking about players restructuring contracts to give us more salary CAP room, you need to remember that it takes two-to-tango. Players like Donovan Smith & Mike Evans may not want to restructure at this point

    ————–

    When players restructure their deals, they’re pretty much always getting more money up front unless they’re taking a cut. But the yearly cap number has pretty much nothing to do with the cash number. For example Brady last year restructured his deal which vastly dropped his cap number, in exchange he got to pocket $40m in actual cash. Evans, just a couple of years ago, did some restructure where it dropped his year number, in exchange he got a huge cash advance.

    Now go look at the Packers, going into the offseason they’re $50-million over and still have to resigned their top corner, who might be the best in the NFL, and their WR, who some (wrongly) say is the best in the NFL, and they have to figure out what will happen with Rodgers. So what happens? They resign Rodgers, make him the highest paid QB, and franchise their WR – how can they afford to do that?

    Or the Saints, over $100-million over the cap, and basically they’re going to bring back everyone they wanted to keep, somehow.

    The cap is very much a soft cap and there’s a lot of ways to get around it. The Bucs are in a tight spot, but if they wanted to, there’s a ton of options. But it’s also best, sometimes, to just say we’re not going to win anything this year, so lets use it wisely and set ourselves up for 2023.

  69. Defense Rules Says:

    Rod Munch … ‘When players restructure their deals, they’re pretty much always getting more money up front unless they’re taking a cut’.

    With free agency about to start, no way any of our heavy-hitters are taking a cut in pay. And yes we can pay them more money up front in terms of bonuses or whatever, but that just aggravates our situation down the road.

    My belief is that we’ve painted ourselves into a corner. We can spread the pain out further, but that just means we’ll be irrelevant longer IMO.

    Regarding the Packers, it’s only March. Wait to see what actions they’ve got to take before Game 1 before making any judgments that they’ve ‘done the right thing’. Personally I think they just screwed themselves signing Rodgers to the deal that he got.

    And the Saints have already become irrelevant. They have a formidable defense, but even that will start to fall apart soon enough. Cuts they are a’ coming for them.

    THIS is the year for the Bucs to figure out who they really want to be & to see who they’ve got to help them get where they want to go. I could care less what they call it, but to me when half of your starting roster is HOLES, you’re rebuilding.

  70. JimmyJack Says:

    DefenseRules. Im no CAP guru but I think Rod Munch is right. It doesnt hurt the players at all. They get briefcases full of cash(signing bonus)when they restructure……..most people are pretty happy when they recieve cash.

    But I think we are in the same boat that the Bucs should start getting younger and getting into a better CAP spot………That would be my plan but we got a coaching staff thats pretty danged confident and very well might be thinking they can win another title with the right QB………We do not know right now if thats what theyre thinking so I wouldnt close the book on that pissibility.

    The way I see it they can go for another SB this year but its going to be a major challege to give a new QB more then a 1-2 year window. I dont like that option. I think if the Bucs play their cards right(including drafting well like you mentioned) they can set us up next year to bring in a big league QB and start a franchise run where we are contending year in and year out………..We did just see 2 QBs win titles with new teams. Im not betting on that being the new norm. …….If you bring in a top QB Id rather be in position where you can sustain a good team around him.

  71. JimmyJack Says:

    If Im the Bucs I get rid of all the old guys. Im only looking at guys who you can count on being here in 3-4 years still playing at a high level. Davis, Whitehead, Cappa, Godwin.

    Love JPP but time to move on. Suh gone. Gronk gone. Jensen gone. Get younger at all of them positions and get yourself more CAP space. Then bring in a elite QB…….at that time if guys like JTS and Hainsey(for example) stink then you bring in the next free agent Jensen and the next JPP.

    The one guy I really might think about keeping is Suh, on a one year deal. And thats only if you wanna draft other positions and can push off the need to draft a DT til later………Could say the same about Jensen but sounds like he is looking for a big longterm deal.

  72. Buc1987 Says:

    We’re fuked…

    That doesn’t include Listnfrmafar or New England Patriots Fan.