Another free agent domino has fallen in Tampa Bay, as the Buccaneers officially placed the franchise tag on Antoine Winfield Jr ahead of Tuesday's deadline.
It comes on the heels of the Bucs working out a new contract with Mike Evans which will keep him in Tampa Bay for at least two more years and buys the team some time to work out another extension. That seems to be the sentiment around the Bucs tagging Winfield, as it feels more like the beginning of something getting done than a final step.
What tagging Winfield does, in the short-term, is it keeps him off the open market. Teams can't come in and steal him out from under the Bucs and the front office has time to work out a deal. With free agency set to open in less than a week, it also means the final stages of the Bucs setting the table are underway.
Buccaneers franchise tag Antoine Winfield: 3 things that happen next
Work out a long-term deal with Antoine Winfield Jr.
Tagging Winfield was a safety valve, not a solution. The endgame for the Bucs is to get a long-term deal worked out that will keep Winfield in Tampa Bay as a key piece of the core for the foreseeable future.
By tagging him, the Bucs are merely extending the negotiating window and buying more time to work something out. There's almost no way that Winfield plays next season on the franchise tag, although it can't be ruled out until he actually has a new deal. That's a disastrous outcome on more levels than what it could mean for the long-term future of Winfield in Tampa Bay.
The Bucs need to work something out not only to ensure the best safety in football remains on the roster, but getting a deal done helps the front office know how to navigate the rest of the offseason. All signs point to something getting done, but tagging Winfield is just the start of the process rather than the end.
Focus will shift to getting a deal done with Baker Mayfield
Tampa Bay entered the offseason with three key players to re-sign, and the last loose thread is Baker Mayfield. Everything suggests a deal will get worked out, from the mutual respect between the two sides to Mike Evans agreeing to return (and tying future money to whoever the quarterback is).
While rumors have popped up suggesting Baker might leave to take a deal with Atlanta, Minnesota, or New England, it's all outside noise. The Bucs have built moves around the idea of bringing Baker back, from hiring an offensive coordinator specifically with him in mind to getting Evans' deal done first to further emphasize how great the situation in Tampa Bay is.
Baker has been the team's top priority all along, and the entire offseason so far seems to have been designed around bringing him back. With Winfield tag, the Bucs can essentially put a pin in contract talks with him and shift attention to getting something done with Baker before free agency opens.
Keep in mind that even if a deal isn't done before the legal tampering period starts on Monday, it doesn't mean Baker is going to leave. We all expected Evans to test the open market to establish a price for the Bucs to match and that could be what happens here.
Either way, Winfield getting tagged means Baker's contract moves onto the front burner.
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.