Buccaneers: When is the 2020 franchise tag deadline?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have an important decision to make when it comes to the franchise tag. Here’s a look at important offseason dates.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have several key decisions to make in the offseason before the NFL Draft in April.

The Buccaneers will offer several extensions to free-agents and choose to part ways with others. Tampa Bay will also likely test the waters on the trade block, as well.

One of the more important decisions for the Buccaneers is who they place the franchise tag on for 2020. The most obvious choice at this point is QB Jameis Winston.

Though Winston is reportedly look for more than $30 million a year, the organization is likely to place the tag on him, which would give them more time to evaluate and would give him right around $27 million per year (per the franchise tag rules).

The Buccaneers could also use the tag on a guy like Jason Pierre-Paul if the parties couldn’t come to an agreement or if Tampa Bay elects to move away from Winston.

For those wondering when the deadline is, here’s a look at a few of the key dates for the 2020 offseason:

• February 25: Period begins to designate franchise or transition players.
• March 10: The period for designating franchise or transition players ends.
• March 18: The 2020 league year begins, which means trades, options, etc. open up.
• July 15: The deadline to sign franchise-tagged players to a multi-year contract ends.

The Buccaneers have to make a decision on franchise-tagging a player by March 10.

As we said earlier, it’s expected that we’ll see the organization do that with Winston, but Tampa Bay could elect to go another way if it decided to pursue a quarterback in free-agency or the NFL Draft.

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