Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston had his fifth year option picked up on Tuesday. How does it affect the Bucs moving forward?
From the department of everyone saw this coming, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston had his fifth year option picked up by the Bucs on Tuesday according to Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times;
#Bucs have picked up the fifth year option of $20.922-million for QB Jameis Winston. Guaranteed against injury.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) April 17, 2018
So what does this mean for the Buccaneers?
Well, for starters, their quarterback is getting a huge bump in pay. Winston is slotted to make $8.06 million in 2018 then his option jumps up $13 million to a total of $20.922 million. That salary is fully guaranteed and may just put the Bucs in a little bit of a bind.
The Bucs still have not extended Kwon Alexander, Ali Marpet, or Donovan Smith. On top of that, newly acquired Jason Pierre-Paul will see his salary rise from $12.5 million to $14.5 million – though the Bucs can release him prior to the new league year starting and incur no dead cap money, Mike Evans will get a bump from $18.258 million to an even $20 million, Lavonte David gets a $1 million dollar raise.
Bottom line is the wages are going up and cap space is dwindling.
That said, the Buccaneers were never going to pass on Winston’s option. He’s here for the long haul and very likely will make more than the $20.922 million per year when his extension is written up.
There’s a plan in place and if any combo in the NFL can get these extensions done without completely screwing the team over it’s Jason Licht and Mike Greenberg.
When you look at the money that can come off the books, it isn’t so scary. There still the possibility the Bucs move on from J.R. Sweezy this year. Then there’s DeSean Jackson. His guaranteed salary is up this season so the Bucs could release him after the 2018 season and save $10 million. Brent Grimes is on a one year deal so that’s $10 million the Bucs are spending this season that will be available next season. Cameron Brate signed a big extension, but his guaranteed money is all this season so there is another way to free up money.
And don’t forget the cap raise before free agency next year. We don’t know how much it will be, but there will be a bump in available cap space league wide.
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There’s no need to worry or panic about Winston’s pay day. Even with only $12 million in cap space now, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are magical at structuring these deals to either get out from under them because the player under performed or to free up money when necessary. Winston’s extension will not affect the inevitable extensions for Alexander or Marpet. Smith is likely to get his, but if he has another poor season Licht and Co. may decide to pursue left tackle in the 2019 draft rather and get one under the rookie wage scale rather than fork over a truck load to retain Smith.