It was a dramatic start to the offseason for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but now that the dust has seemingly settled on the Liam Coen stuff the team is starting to chart a course forward. The Bucs still need to hire an offensive coordinator, but so far there are a handful of candidates the team seems to love as potential fits.
Next up after that is figuring out how to fortify a roster that seems on the cusp of truly competing for a Super Bowl next year. Tampa Bay enters the offseason with around $11 million in cap space, but that’s not accounting for the incoming rookie class or any returning deals that could be handed out to guys like Lavonte David or Chris Godwin.
There are a handful of intriguing free agents set to hit the market at key positions of need for the Bucs, which is what makes salary cap wizard Mike Greenberg returning is a such good thing. Tampa Bay has leaned on him to make the math work on a number of excellent deals, and it’s not just free agents he’ll have to work some of his magic on this offseason.
Luke Goedeke and Zyon McCollum named potential contract extension candidates this offseason
While breaking down each team’s offseason outlook, ESPN’s Benjamin Solak tossed out two interesting extension candidates for the Buccaneers. He believes offensive tackle Luke Goedeke is i line for a ‘big’ extension in the $70 million range, but that’s not totally surprising given how important he’s been to the offensive line’s revival over the last year.
Solak also named Zyon McCollum as an extension candidate who will need to be taken care of this offseason, which is another reminder of how much young under-the-radar talent there is on the roster.
“A big extension will come down the mountain for Goedeke, who has become a rock-solid right tackle opposite Tristan Wirfs and is approaching the final year of his rookie deal. Something in the range of the Spencer Brown deal (four years, $72 million) would be more than deserved. And after Goedeke's extension is signed, the conversations with cornerback Zyon McCollum will begin,” Solak wrote.
Goedeke stepped up as a clear No. 2 anchor behind Tristan Wirfs on the offensive line, which was a huge development for the Bucs last season. That’s an area the team has run into serious roadblocks with dating back to the final year of Tom Brady’s time in Tampa, so to have Goedeke locked in as a pillar up front is huge.
The same goes for McCollum, who was an unassuming choice to take over for Carlton Davis III as Tampa Bay’s top cornerback next to Jamel Dean, but he flourished in the role. He’s yet another in a seemingly long line of guys Todd Bowles has brought in and developed into not only meaningful players but important starters.
It’s unclear if deals with either of these guys will get done, as neither are free agents this season so there’s not a built-in sense of urgency. How important each of those guys is to the team’s future, though, is what might end up motivating Jason Licht and Mike Greenberg to get something down now.
Another reason the Bucs might want to take care of business this offseason is the money it might free up for other moves. We’ve seen Greenberg work his salary cap magic in the past to create space for the team to fill, and that could be a cherry on top of getting something done with Goedeke and McCollum now. That’s north the primary reason to get them under contract this offseason, but it would take some guesswork out of future moves.
If nothing else, the fact that we’re talking about both Goedeke and McCollum as key extension candidates is a testament to the talent Tampa Bay has been able to identify over the years.