Buccaneers: 2021 Free agents that need to return ranked
By Rob Leeds
Free agency will be challenging for the Buccaneers.
The Buccaneers are about to embark on one of the most difficult achievements in professional sports; winning the Super Bowl multiple times in a row. The NFL has much more parity than most major leagues and a salary cap system that focuses on teams rotating in and out of the “in” group, but the Bucs still have a chance to maintain their dominance.
Tampa Bay has to play this upcoming offseason carefully, and all of that starts with bringing back their most important free agents while making difficult decisions on the others. Here are the rankings for the free agents, with number one being the most important.
Player #1
Shaquil Barrett is an elite pass-rusher. Mock draft simulators may believe that the Bucs need an edge rusher in one of the early rounds, but Shaquil Barrett and Jason Pierre-Paul dominated in the playoffs. Letting Barrett walk based on money would be a massive mistake.
A great pass rush is the most important thing for a defense to succeed, and the Buccaneer pass rush was so great this post-season that it was one of the biggest driving forces behind the Super Bowl win. Tampa Bay can’t afford to lose Barrett and rely on a rookie to replicate that production next season, so Jason Licht should already have Barrett on the phone to keep him locked in for as long as possible.