The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had a surprisingly strong season following the departure of Tom Brady as new quarterback Baker Mayfield led the team to a playoff berth and a postseason win over the Philadelphia Eagles. But as the team heads into the offseason, they are facing a pretty brutal situation regarding their salary cap.
As Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk points out, even if wide receiver Mike Evans and quarterback Baker Mayfield do not return to the team next year – as both are set to become free agents this offseason – both of them will still provide a substantial hit to the team’s salary cap this year.
“The contracts of both players void on Monday and the team will take on around $14.5 million in dead money as a result. That money was spread over multiple voidable years in order to lower the cap hit in earlier seasons,” Alper wrote for Pro Football Talk.
As Alper points out, the Buccaneers could have avoided nearly half of this dead money had they signed the players to new contracts before the previous contracts were voided, but they were unable to make that happen in time.
Obviously, this is going to make things pretty difficult for the Buccaneers as they try to assemble their roster this offseason, and the NFL world had a lot to say about this brutal news on social media as a result.
Some teams are just so bad at the financials it’s insane
— Sean (@SeanG8319) February 19, 2024
Woah 😳
— Ọ̀gbẹ́ni Afọlábí Ọláyíwọlá Ayọ̀bámi G.✨💯 (@realWOLATO) February 19, 2024
Let them walk https://t.co/SnkNRsK0zQ
— Xray tha god (Minifan Jarrod) (@JarrodFleeger88) February 19, 2024
The hell are the Bucs doing?
— Idk (@xDMrBrightside) February 19, 2024
I have a bad feeling Evans will not be signed, and will end up in the division, most likely Carolina….
— John Wright (@JohnWright) February 19, 2024
And before you all freak out per usual, the Bucs can still create that same type of "space" or "savings" in multiple other ways. No artificial deadline was gonna dictate the Bucs plans this offseason. Mike (and Baker) still remain high priorities on their list. https://t.co/IoGZ5SCLCx
— 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗶™ 🏴☠️ (@TheSamerAli) February 19, 2024
We’ll have to see how the Buccaneers manage this situation this offseason
