Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Antonio Brown needs to remain a Buccaneer

As the free agency period looms closer, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are still trying to piece the team back together. One player they cannot let walk is Antonio Brown.

It has been reported many times that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to need a miracle to re-sign all of their current players, which means that their hopes of keeping the team together are looking grim. There has also been analysis of which players should come first when deciding who to franchise tag, who should get the big payday, and who the Buccaneers should let walk.

One method of thinking calls for the Buccaneers to let players who signed one-year deals leave the team – Leonard Fournette, Rob Gronkowski, and Antonio Brown for example. The theory behind this is that they would free up some cap space to re-sign long-term Buccaneer players like Shaquil Barrett, Chris Godwin, and Lavonte David.

This all sounds good and on paper, it looks pretty good, but there’s more to the story. The way that the cap space is looking, it appears that Shaquil Barrett would take up most of the cap space by himself. This doesn’t include the likes of Lavonte David, Chris Godwin, and Ndamukong Suh.

There is no doubt that the Buccaneers are a better team with Godwin as the number two receiver, but if he either decides to leave or the Bucs don’t use the franchise tag on him, fans should find comfort knowing that Brown would more than likely fill the Godwin void. Remember, there was a time when he was considered the best wide receiver in the NFL.

It should be noted that Brown is in the middle of a legal battle right now, but according to reports, this shouldn’t affect him for the 2021 season. He is one of the most polarizing figures in American sports, and his antics have gotten Brown into a lot of trouble and kicked off several NFL squads. Many people say that he is a locker room cancer, but during his time in Tampa, that monster never reared its head.

Brown gelled well with Tom Brady and the rest of the offense. Even with all of his past antics, Brown is very intelligent and knows how to play the game of football very well. He just needed someone that he respected to believe in him, and that person was Brady. Brown eventually won over Bruce Arians, Jason Licht, and the entire Glazer family, but it was Brady who personally vouched for him, even going so far as to allow Brown to live with him. Brady made it his responsibility to make sure Brown was at every team function.

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Brown is good at reading defensive coverages and is a very good route runner. Where he lacks in height, he makes up in speed and great catching ability, and he is a valuable asset in the slot position. He is also considered a deep threat, and Brady loves taking advantage of it.

Before everything went awry, Brown was having one of the best wide receivers careers the league has ever seen. In his nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Brown had 11,207 receiving yards, 74 receiving touchdowns, he was selected to the Pro Bowl seven times, and had seven seasons where he had over 1,000 yards receiving. He was good and he knew it.

A lot has changed since then. Brown was released by the Steelers, he made a mockery of Jon Gruden and the entire Raiders organization, he went to jail, and through it all, he was humbled. Brown knows that when it comes to wide receivers in Tampa, Mike Evans is the guy. Brown is content with just playing football again, and he wants to do it with the greatest quarterback of all time.

It’s probable that Godwin comes back to Tampa, but if he does, it will be more than likely be on the franchise tag. This move by the Bucs may persuade Godwin to at least explore the free-agent market, and if he does leave, this could very well get Brown more playing time and back into the Pro Bowl conversation.

It is not yet known what Brown will seek in his next contract. He will likely seek big money, but there aren’t many suitors who would take the risk of signing him. Both the Buccaneers and Antonio Brown benefit from him returning. Brown gets to play with his favorite quarterback and contend for another Super Bowl, and the Buccaneers get a seven-time Pro Bowler. Sounds like a pretty good deal for both sides.