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Buccaneers: Predicting the contracts of cornerstone stars

By Jerry Stalheim

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - NOVEMBER 29: Jameis Winston #3 and Mike Evans #13 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look on from the sideline in the fourth quarter of the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on November 29, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Colts defeated the Bucs 25-12. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - NOVEMBER 29: Jameis Winston #3 and Mike Evans #13 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look on from the sideline in the fourth quarter of the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on November 29, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Colts defeated the Bucs 25-12. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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INDIANAPOLIS, IN – NOVEMBER 29: Jameis Winston #3 and Mike Evans #13 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look on from the sideline in the fourth quarter of the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on November 29, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Colts defeated the Bucs 25-12. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN – NOVEMBER 29: Jameis Winston #3 and Mike Evans #13 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look on from the sideline in the fourth quarter of the game against the Indianapolis Colts at Lucas Oil Stadium on November 29, 2015 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Colts defeated the Bucs 25-12. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /

With several young Buccaneers stars coming up for new contracts soon, when will they sign these potential new contracts and how much will they be worth?

GM Jason Licht has done an outstanding job finding the Buccaneers cornerstone talent in the NFL draft. Granted he has had a few slip ups like Austin Seferian-Jenkins in 2014 and trading up for Roberto Aguayo in the second round in 2016. He has done a good job of realizing those mistakes and rectifying them by either cutting them loose or bringing in competition to push them.

With bringing in these cornerstone pieces (Mike Evans, Kevin Pamphile, Jameis Winston, Donovan Smith, Ali Marpet, and Kwon Alexander) the Bucs eventually will have to give all of them a second contract.

Leaving Licht and head salary capologist Director of Football Administration Mike Greenberg (not the guy from ESPN) to figure out “How long should the contract be, and for how much total money and guaranteed money?” In order to still have money left over to sign free agents.

He has done a great job in recent seasons by re-signing Gerald McCoy, Lavonte David, William Gholston, and Doug Martin while still staying in the top-tier of most cap space available the last few seasons. This has given them plenty of money to sign free agents like DeSean Jackson, Chris Baker, Robert Ayers, J.R. Sweezy, Clinton McDonald, and Brent Grimes.

With the Bucs having several young rising stars that will finally be getting national attention on HBO’s Hard Knocks, some of them will be looking for new contracts very soon, so I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what kind of money a few stars may receive in their next contracts and when they could receive those new contracts?

(Disclaimer: None of these players have received new contracts yet, and even though GM Jason Licht does follow me on Twitter, I have no inside knowledge into these negotiations (wink-wink), but just speculation through my own research … but it will happen … soon, so enjoy.)

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