Buccaneers franchise tag Antoine Winfield: 3 things that happen next

Turn attention to re-signing other key free agents

Figuring out a long-term deal with Winfield remains a priority, but tagging him does allow the team to think about some of the other pending free agents set to his the market. Lavonte David and Chase Edmonds were two players Jason Licht mentioned while at the NFL Combine and now that there's some breathing room with Winfield the team can focus on working out deals with them.

David is the big one, although there's not nearly as much anxiety about him leaving. He didn't rule it out, saying that anything can happen and he's not naive enough to assume he'll be back in Tampa Bay, but that feels more like corporate speak than anything else.

The reality is, David is going to be getting as many one-year deals with the Bucs as he wants. He's stated a desire to retire after having spent his whole career in Tampa Bay and now the team can turn some of its attention to checking that box this offseason.

Doing so would allow the team to have a better idea of its cap space situation heading into free agency, which could be one where they spend big. The way Mike Evans' contract is structured suggests there could be some big moves on the horizon, so getting things shored up with non-Big 3 free agents like David, Edmonds, and William Gholston makes sense.

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