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Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Pre-Free Agency Battle Plan

By Kenneth Barrett

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 13: A detailed view of Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmets on the team bench ahead of the NFL game between Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 13, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 13: A detailed view of Tampa Bay Buccaneers helmets on the team bench ahead of the NFL game between Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on October 13, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Naomi Baker/Getty Images) /
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SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – NOVEMBER 03: Shaquil Barrett #58 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers works against Germain Ifedi #65 of the Seattle Seahawks in the third quarter during their game at CenturyLink Field on November 03, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – NOVEMBER 03: Shaquil Barrett #58 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers works against Germain Ifedi #65 of the Seattle Seahawks in the third quarter during their game at CenturyLink Field on November 03, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

With time ticking down for the Buccaneers to finalize which direction they decide to go in for the 2020 season for the overall roster, it is time for another battle plan.

You all know the drill… We are going to break down the different free agent and draft scenarios to help build and solidify a direction for their 53 man roster in 2020.

With the news of Teddy Bridgewater being a front-runner coming out this week, it will come down to him or Jameis at this point. Until Brady takes a flight to Tampa, I just don;t see it.

Some housekeeping before we begin: Spotrac has the Bucs with $84 million in cap space and OverTheCap has the Bucs with $79 million in cap space. For this battle plan we will split the middle and the Bucs will start with $81 million in cap space for this battle plan.

Also we’ll be using the average annual salary for cap hits to make life easier. And finally, we will be using $6 million for draft picks and $3 million for injured players. So the starting cap number will be $72 million.

Buccaneers Free Agents coming back

Shaq Barrett– 5 years $82.5 million ($16.5 mil annually). Slightly above the franchise tag so if he comes back on the tag, then the cap number is still around the same.
Jason Pierre-Paul– 2 years $18 million ($9 mil annually)
Blaine Gabbert– 1 year, $1.5 million
Rakeem Nunez- Roches- 1 year, $1 million
Kevin Minter– 1 year, $1.5 million
Earl Watford– 1 year, $1 million
Josh Wells– 1 year, $1 million
Ryan Smith– 3 years, $4.5 million ($1.5 mil annually)
Andrew Adams– 1 year, $1 million
Michael Liedkie- 1 year, 750K
Antony Auclair– 1 year 750K (not tender him, let him test and given his market he will come back)
Tanner Hudson (exclusive rights FA)- Estimated $750k

Cap Space remaining: $36.5 million

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