There's a long list of things the Tampa Bay Buccaneers need to find a way to address this offseason, and for the first time in years they'll have money to spend in order to help. The Bucs aren't flush with cash, but the team has almost fully emerged from the salary cap shack it was holed up in while taking its medicine for the Tom Brady years.
After Brady retired the Bucs incurred a wicked amount of dead money while needed to untangle a financial snag that wiped out almost all of the cap space the team had. Despite this, Mike Greenberg led an effort in Jason Licht's front office to masterfully navigate out of those choppy water and make key additions like signing Baker Mayfield and adding below-the-line free agents who ended up having a big impact.
Most of the success was found in mining the NFL Draft for gold, something John Spytek did so well that it earned him the top front office job with the Raiders. Now that the Bucs have some breathing room with the salary cap, and given how well the team has played over the last two years, they're already being pegged as an ideal landing spot for some top free agents this offseason.
Buccaneers listed as 'best team fit' for Chris Godwin and Rasual Douglas
ESPN listed the best fits for the Top 50 free agents set to hit the market and two of them are predicted to land in Tampa Bay. Chris Godwin is the No. 5 overall free agent in the ranking, and to the relief of Bucs fans his best fit is right where he's at right now.
As for the other free agent, Tampa Bay was listed as the best team fit for former Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers cornerback Rasual Douglas, who is ranked No. 24 on their list.
Both of these make a ton of sense, with the Douglas connection being a little less obvious than Godwin. Despite some noise starting to build about what the future holds, all signs have continued to point toward the Bucs finding a way to re-sign Godwin. Just as ESPN connected him to Tampa Bay as a best fit, Jenna Laine reported that Tampa Bay is going to do all it can to bring him back this offseason.
If they do, it won't be on the franchise tag. That's been the only real development so far but it hardly means anything negative as far as the Bucs finding a way to get him a new contract.
As for Douglas, he solves a problem on the other side of the ball that Tampa Bay needs to address this offseason. Fixing the pass rush is easily the top priority on defense, but adding to the secondary isn't very far behind. In back-to-back years the Bucs' secondary depth was tested and it's hard to say that it passed. Zyon McCollum emerged as a potential CB1 of the future but that's about all that went well; Jamel Dean is likely going to be a cap casualty this offseason and there's no proven depth behind him to pair with McCollum.
Bringing in Douglas not only adds that but brings in a veteran presence to help keep things on track. He fits the zone scheme that Todd Bowles can't help but always run, and is an upgrade over guys like Josh Hayes and Tyrek Funderburk who would be the ony other true corners on the roster still under contract if Dean is moved.
That's not a knock on those guys either, but they both have just three years of combined experience in the NFL and the Bucs can't rely on them to fill the gap without some help. Tampa Bay's secondary ranked 29th in the league last year in yards allowed; rebuilding the cornerback room in both the draft and free agency is a no-brainer.
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