The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will need general manager Jason Licht to do some serious wheeling and dealing over the coming weeks.
The extension of Chris Godwin is the first port of call, and while the Bucs have stated the desire to have Chris return, money will play a factor with reports of anything north of $20 million APY to be handed out to the Pro Bowler.
Can the Buccaneers stomach that? Right now, no, but as CBS Sports details, with a few contract restructures, it would create room to then improve the roster, which could mean Godwin gets signed.
"The Bucs do have around $5 million in cap room so they don't need to do anything to be cap compliant, but restructuring Tristan Wirfs would give them a whole lot more breathing room," CBS Sports writes. "If they can reach a new deal with Chris Godwin and avoid the $18.8 million dead-money charge, that would also help. Tampa Bay will need an interior offensive lineman, and it has basically its entire pass-rush depth chart hitting free agency except for Yaya Diaby, so that'll be a spot to watch on the free-agent market."
A Tristan Wirfs restructure, per atozsports.com will create $19.8 million in savings, and an Antoine Winfield, Jr. restructure will create $15.8 million in cap savings and suddenly the Buccaneers are in business.
Then work can be done to fix the pass rush situation, and while it is expected that Tampa Bay picks up a linebacker or defensive end in the draft, a cost-effective free agent could also come in.
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So there are ways for the Buccaneers to finesse the salary cap with a few restructures, and it could pave the way to re-sign Godwin, plus add to the roster at positions of need.
It seems simple enough, but as we know, nothing in the NFL is ever as straightforward as it seems.
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This story was originally published March 8, 2025 at 10:38 PM.