Buccaneers: How the Chris Godwin franchise tag impacts free agency
By Rob Leeds
How the Buccaneers can lose
If the Bucs can’t reach a deal with Godwin for down the road, keeping Lavonte David almost becomes an impossibility. David will cost somewhere near 10 million dollars, Barrett will cost close to 20 in 2021 alone, and the franchise tag helps with none of this.
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Wide receiver is an important position to address, especially with a team that is built around Tom Brady, but this could realistically be the end of Lavonte David in Tampa.
At best, the Bucs will have to free up 15-20 million dollars in addition to what they need for the rookies and new signings to keep David and Barrett for down the road, and that would mean a mountain of money on the back end. Tampa Bay certainly wants to win now, but backloading contracts too heavily with the uncertainty surrounding the league seems a bit premature.
While none of us want to see David go, this deal has certainly made that prospect much more difficult. We should all keep faith in a front office that has been great over the past few years, but short of David taking a massive pay cut, this deal has the means to end his time in Tampa Bay.
The expectations for Godwin with the Buccaneers have increased dramatically, and now the pressure is on to get him locked in for a long time before the money becomes too difficult to navigate.
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