As far as division winners go, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have their work cut out next year.
Heading into this offseason, Tampa Bay lost its offensive coordinator to a division rival, may lose the best wide receiver in franchise history, and will have to decide if they want to pay Baker Mayfield like a franchise quarterback. On top of all that, more than a couple of their core defensive guys will be heading into free agency when the new league year begins in early March.
Guys like Lavonte David, Devin White, and Antoine Winfield Jr., may all be on new teams next year – and at the very least, the Bucs will probably end up losing one. After expertly navigating the first post-Tom Brady season in Tampa, GM Jason Licht has his work cut out for him again, especially in a division that's historically proven to be a crapshoot for the last couple decades or so.
So if the Bucs want to repeat as NFC South champions for the 4th year in a row, these are three massive questions they'll need to answer.
How will the Mike Evans situation play out?
This day was always going to come eventually. Evans, who's been quietly putting up Hall of Fame worthy numbers for the last decade, is an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
He's also 30 years old, and reasonably on the last big contract of his career.
Evans has talked some about wanting to come back and finish his career in Tampa – especially if the team plans to run back their current core – but as anyone who follows the NFL knows, money talks. There will be more than a couple of teams that throw the bag at him, some of which are probably better suited to make a run at a Super Bowl over the next 2-3 years than the Bucs are.
Especially considering how many big contracts the Bucs are going to have to draw up over the next six weeks, the idea that an Evans return is guaranteed has never felt less sure.