Carl Nassib deserves first Buccaneers contract extension

Among things Carl Nassib has earned already: a starting job, and a role as a team captain of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Is a contract extension next?

While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers experienced their first loss of the season against the San Francisco 49ers yesterday in a 31-17 defeat, there were positives that could be taken away from this game. Most of these positives could be found on the defensive side of the football, as they showed immense improvements under new defensive coordinator Todd Bowles.

Among the players who performed at a high level was outside linebacker Carl Nassib, and it is becoming clear that he deserves to be the first player on the Buccaneers’ roster to receive a new contract. Playing out the last year of his current deal after being claimed off of waivers from the Cleveland Browns a year ago, Nassib has been voted as a captain by his peers; yesterday, he proved why he has the respect of the locker room and the organization at One Buc.

While the box score shows only two tackles to Nassib’s name from yesterday’s game against the 49ers, he displayed the wits and smarts that won him a starting job in the first place. Doing his job from setting the edge to keep the offensive tackles from getting outside to the next level, to keeping contain to avoid any outside slips, Nassib was a consistent and dependable force for the Bucs.

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His best play came on an attempted screen to the running back out of the backfield, where Nassib was able to see it coming, and got outside of it to force the play back inside where ten other Buccaneers were waiting for the ball carrier. It is this type of savvy that has gotten Nassib to the level of recognition he is now getting in Tampa Bay.

While the Buccaneers have a ton of players in the last year of their contracts, including Jameis Winston, Peyton Barber, Ndamukong Suh, Nassib is most deserving of getting an extension from the team first. While a deal should have been done this offseason, the Buccaneers should work now to lock Nassib down long term before his price of retention continues to trend in an upward direction.

At this point, there is no telling how much it would cost to extend Nassib as players like Dee Ford of the 49ers and Frank Clark of the Kansas City Chiefs received over $20 million annually on their new deals. It will certainly take less to get an extension done with Nassib, but regardless, the deal will not be cheap for the Buccaneers.

Even if the Buccaneers could lock down Nassib at a rate of four years for $40 million, then it would remain a bargain for the team as his contribution to the team goes beyond the stat sheet. While Nassib is on the last year of his current contract, the Buccaneers must make sure it is not his last year in Tampa.