Huge Week For Team Glazer Kicks Off
March 8th, 2026
It all starts at the top.
Joe and legions of Bucs fans re-learned that lesson watching Raise The Flags: 50 Years of Buccaneers Football. The Amazon Prime documentary on almost all things Bucs sent a clear message: Ownership drives what happens with the team — on the field and off — whether that be the late Huge Culverhouse or Team Glazer.
Team Glazer produced and funded the 10-part documentary, so they wanted fans to know they are part of the critical decisions facing the franchise.
That brings Joe to pending free agent Mike Evans. The free agency dinner bell rings tomorrow at noon, when national reporters will begin announcing free agents agreeing to contracts with new teams. Last year, for example, by 12:08 p.m. on Day 1 of free agency, Adam Schefter announced the Bucs had a deal in place with edge rusher Haason Reddick.
Evans is the greatest receiver in team history, an iconic figure and one prominently featured in Raise The Flags.
Todd Bowles wants Evans back, so does Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht. Team Glazer? Joe assumes they want Evans to finish his career in Tampa.
Now it’s time to make it happen.
Evans was very public saying he wants to be a “Buc for Life.” He’s never publicly disparaged Tampa, teammates or the organization. If fact, Evans has shown nothing but love for all things Bucs.
Getting a deal done with Evans should be easy. Just meet his demands, which are bound to be reasonable.
If the Bucs whiff on Evans, fans will throw various degrees of blame on Todd Bowles, Licht and Team Glazer, and legions of fans will need years to forgive and recover.
Ownership should be eating a “W” on the Evans front in a matter of hours because losing Evans will not improve the team.
Joe expects good business to prevail over the chaos that will ensue if Evans leaves town.
March 8th, 2026 at 1:40 am
I bleed creamsicle and pewter.
Keep Mike Evans.
Go Bucs!
March 8th, 2026 at 3:21 am
I hope we’re considering going out in FA & actually considering doing SOMETHING.
March 8th, 2026 at 3:58 am
Evans in the tunnel after the Atlanta loss was mortifying to watch- none of us could, intensely frustrated as we are, for however long, pretend we understand the level of frustration that man has with the underperformance of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
If I’m Mike Evans I’m not worried about the Bucs giving me the most money and saying they had no more money to do anything for the defense. I want to be at One Buc Palace with a couple of boss FA defensive pieces and LVD excited to be doing press with Bowles and Licht about how 2026 is about not just redemption but the Super Bowl.
The Glazers part is fronting the cash to make this FA season bright. It’s their call. Turn your talented GM loose in FA, give him the checkbook and any and all other modes of support he may require. 2026 could be a season for the ages if the Glazers have the vision and courage to make it so.
March 8th, 2026 at 4:59 am
Bucs have surely been in talks with their top money-makers in looking for ways to free up salary CAP $$$. Right now the Bucs adjusted CAP for 2026 is $315.8 mil, but we’ve expensed $305.1 mil for the 52 players we have under contract ($304.5 mil for the Top-51), leaving us with $11.3 mil CAP space to play with.
The $11.3 mil of CAP space is kind of irrelevant right now for 2 reasons: (1) not all of the existing 52 players will make the final roster so that’ll free up some $$$ BUT create a space that has to be filled; and (2) we can restructure some high $$$ salaries to their lower their CAP hits considerably & free up salary CAP space. That’s where Mike Greenbeerg’s magic comes into play.
As I look at the 52 guys we have under contract, my gut feel is that only 32-33 of them will make our final 53-man roster. That’d leave roughly 20 roster spots to fill, but leave us with salary CAP space of roughly $43 mil … BEFORE restructuring any salaries.
Bucs have 7 players whose CAP hits are each over $10 mil. IF we restructure 5 of those (Mayfield, Wirfs, Godwin, Goedeke, Winfield) to just 2/3rds of their existing value we’d save another $57.5 mil (those 5 players have an existing CAP hit of $173.4 mil, so 2/3rds would take that down to $115.9 mil). Add that $57.5 mil CAP space freed up to the existing $43 mil and we COULD have $100 mil space to work with to:
(1) sign 13 free agents;
(2) sign 7 draft picks ($11.4 mil this year);
(3) meet our Dead CAP (down to $0.3 mil as of right now);
(4) pay for our Practice Squad (roughly $3.0 mil); and
(5) keep about $15 mil in reserve (for IR, etc).
That’d mean that we COULD have about $70-$71 mil available to sign 13 free agents (either ours from last season or from other teams to fill holes). Even if Mike Evans took $20-$21 mil that’d still leave us $50 mil to fill the other 12 FA ‘holes’ … and that’s plenty to fix just about everything IF we do it smart. And there’s the rub …
March 8th, 2026 at 5:46 am
The time to do that would have been before free agency started……kinda late now
March 8th, 2026 at 6:06 am
15 mil max base for ME with 6-7 mil more for bonus incentives(Bonus incentives DO NOT count against the cap) will get the deal done.
March 8th, 2026 at 6:34 am
Buc 1987, you might want to get that checked.
March 8th, 2026 at 6:53 am
I have been a Tampa Bay Buc fan since the drafting of Doug Williams. I’ve watched Mike Evans since College also. Great hands,size and leadership to match. There should be No doubt about this player. Do whatever is needed to keep him a Buccaneer.
March 8th, 2026 at 6:56 am
Whether Mike comes back, or not, 8-9, 9-8, it doesn’t matter. Want to really shake up this roster, and free up cap space? Trade Wirfs, Winfield, Vea, let Mike, and David walk. Own this draft, and next, have money for free agents. All the players I’ve mentioned have played their best football. They’re all on the downside of their careers. Wirfs is a big man, on a bad knee. Mark my words, he’ll be missing more time going forward. I see him pulling a Marpet, and retiring early. Trade him now, is value will never be higher. Same with Winfield, and Vea. David is washed, and Mike’s hammies ain’t getting better with age. We’ve been paying these guys, and bringing as many back every year since Brady, and we’re 8-9. Bring them all back again, it won’t get better, 9-8, 8-9.
March 8th, 2026 at 7:13 am
the threat that mike brings to the field is worth the money hands down. his days of burning people on jump balls is far from over.
March 8th, 2026 at 7:47 am
Let’s leave emotions out of it. Does it make sense spending cap space to bolster our WR room or spend cap space to bolster or Edge and LBs?
March 8th, 2026 at 8:03 am
Defense Rules, excellent.
March 8th, 2026 at 8:10 am
@Hodad
What you suggest is a bad plan. It would essentially reduce the team to nothing, then start rebuilding from there. It would not work.
For one thing, teams are successfully built unit by unit, and it takes time to do so. You simply cannot build a great team from scratch in two years. It is 100% impossible.
For another thing, because the team would be losing so much, there would be a constant turnover at head coach, so the plan and vision would constantly be changing. It would be chaos.
March 8th, 2026 at 8:20 am
George R Says:
“Let’s leave emotions out of it. Does it make sense spending cap space to bolster our WR room or spend cap space to bolster or Edge and LBs?”
Leaving emotions out of it…there are several things to consider:
🏈 Could the money be used elswwhere? Yes. Money can always be used elsewhere.
🏈 Would bringing Mike back hinder our potential for success? No. In fact, it would bolster it.
🏈 Are we deep enough without him at WR? Yes, I think so. (Hard to keep out emotion here)
🏈 Would bringing him back help the team on-field? Obviously yes.
🏈 Would bringing him back help the team off-field? Yes. In several ways.
Mike Evans is highly respected among other players. A free agent is more likely to join a roster he is on.
March 8th, 2026 at 9:13 am
Agreed. Re-signing Evans is priority 1 this year and Licht will get it done!
Evans will retire a Buccaneer – just like Lavonte David.
March 8th, 2026 at 9:13 am
If meeting his demands is fixing the defense Mike Evans is gone. Ever since Shaq got injured and Licht replaced JPP the defense has gone downhill
March 8th, 2026 at 10:16 am
If the Glaziers were truly committed to winning, they would have done something to correct the serious problem with the D/C
March 8th, 2026 at 10:23 am
It’s poor roster management to have both Evans and Godwin making $20 million per year, we got to move on from one, my preference is Godwin. He’s made insane money considering all the games he’s missed. He’s not remotely on Evans level in value to the organization, fans, or community. Trade him and Winfield for picks….its time to reload with depth and young prospects. We need a DE and a TE. Every other position could use depth. We’re paying too many guys $20+ million per year to be a .500 club.
March 8th, 2026 at 11:12 am
DR
You should be in the Buc’s war room. Spot on again. Thank you for the research and insights on a daily basis.
Hodad
That’s bold thinking. I like it and agree. Never happen with our cowards. The old timers will be kept and paid because we’re sentimental and none of the drafted guys can be traded while they still have value because we’re narcissistic.
We could get some early picks, free up cash for younger FA and rebuild in a flash. This requires creativity and proactive forward thinking. Bucs have none of that. You would need a FO like the Rays or Lightning. Unless and until we clean out the current management and coaching, we’ll be in reactive mode, two steps behind.
Wirfs, AWJ and Vea will be on the roster until they have no recoverable value – just like Mike and Chris. And shame on you for thinking out of the box. 😆
March 8th, 2026 at 11:37 am
Big week ahead is putting it mildly Joe. Licht and his staff better have been burning the midnight oil since before the superbowl. They need to find a minimum of 10 new quality FA with 6 starters from outside. They better be ready to pounce from minute 1 with an attack plan and alternatives. Evans is a distraction. They should already have the line in the sand ready to move on one way or the other. The other decisions still stand. Evans is simply a money issue on whether you need to drum up more cap space. Worrying about eating a W is ludicrous. Clearly they don’t care about what the fans think or TB would be long gone.
Management has a lot of work to do and fast. Otherwise, 8 and 9 or worse here we come
March 8th, 2026 at 11:45 am
Hodad … ‘Trade Wirfs, Winfield, Vea, let Mike, and David walk’.
Even IF we wanted to Hodad, I don’t think we’d find any takers on Wirfs, Winfield & Vea at their existing salaries. We’d end up eating a ton of $$$ to get them off our roster.
Mike Evans & Lavonte David are 2 very different issues to me, but I’d have no problem keeping them both on the roster IF the price is right. I’d much prefer that older players be offered a lower salary but with nice incentives IF they perform well.
And how we use them (older players) needs to change also. When they’re younger, it’s customary for high-salaried stars to get a LOT of field time. That’s counter-productive when they age IMO. I’d much rather pay them less (plus incentives) AND play them less.
Mike doesn’t need to be out there every single play. He averaged 875 offensive snaps per year for his first 10 years. For these past 2 years he’s averaged just 514 off snaps per year … over 40% less. That needs to be taken into account in terms of how often he’s used AND how much he’s paid.
Same thing with LVD. He’s averaged 997 def snaps per year over his 14 year career. Ironically he averaged MORE than that (1,050 def snaps per year) over these past 2 years. And as we’ve all seen, it’s taken a big toll on him. IF we’re gonna re-sign LVD, let’s make it in a part-time roll only, at a lower salary (with incentives). I’d prefer to use him in 3 LB sets, but that’s just me I’m sure (he’s a very effective blitzer).
March 8th, 2026 at 11:57 am
Hodad … BTW if we don’t re-sign Mike Evans, we’ll still owe $13.1 mil CAP hit, payable in 2026. That’d eat up our $11.3 mil CAP space, and then some. But if we do re-sign him, Bucs can manipulate that $13 mil in a number of different ways.
Personally I’d offer ME13 a 2-year contract for about $26 or $27 mil total, plus some nice performance incentives. I’m not in favor though of looking for anything over about 500-600 offensive snaps per year out of him. Keep him fresh, and hopefully healthy.
March 8th, 2026 at 12:31 pm
Hey Dr if our offensive line stays healthy and we have 3 blocking TE’s we can go back to using the 3 TE offense we had been trying in 2024 occasionally and run that 97/98 F-counter with an easy release until teams figure out how to stop it. That would allow Mike to sit occasionally and break Bucky or hopefully Sean Tucker free for long plays/TDs like 2024. We need Kieft back as the FB for that to work optimally…everyone watch the Gruden video on that play. It’s a riot.
March 8th, 2026 at 12:55 pm
Sorry, it’s 96/97 f-counter with an easy release Gruden video (that’s what you search to see it)
March 8th, 2026 at 12:57 pm
“Wed end up eating a lot of $$$ to get them off our roster.”
Another indictment of JL cap management. We can’t even sell our assets because JL has us trapped by them being so overpaid. And then we have to eat 13 mil for Evans not to play too. Geniuses at work again.
Time to bite the bullet with this front office crew. Perpetual mediocrity by mismanagement. We worked ourselves out of dead cap just to drown ourselves in overpaid contract extensions to JL’s precious picks. Next week have to mortgage the future again by renegotiate these contracts to be able to field a competitive team due to bad drafting. Future ROH GM? Please!!!
March 8th, 2026 at 1:47 pm
If it’s gonna cost us 13 million for Evans not to play for us, we should absolutely slap a franchise tag on him! It’s crazy not to do that…
March 8th, 2026 at 1:53 pm
The fact that it will mess up the team pretty badly if he left is probably the very reason why we will be able to re-sign him come to think about it. He loves this franchise too much to want to negatively affect it to that extent. I bet he re-signs and at a decent salary too. He wants to WIN, and pummeling the salary cap is not a good way to do that!