As the evening of April 17 approached, Tampa Bay executives were making big moves on behalf of the franchise, and not just for this upcoming season.
Famous Jameis Winston, the number 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft, had his 5th year option picked up by the Buccaneers for $20,922,000, which will be guaranteed for the 2019-2020 season.
The salary cap hit the Buccaneers face this coming season with Jameis as their starter is slightly over $8 million. Winston will account for just 4% of the salary cap for the upcoming season, which I’m sure excited Winston even more than that news excited us fans.
So far this off-season, Tampa Bay has acquired some very experienced talent at the cost of a slowly diminishing salary cap. Jason Pierre-Paul, Ryan Jensen, Beau Allen, Chandler Catanzaro, Vinny Curry and Mitch Unrein were all signed in the hopes of figuring out if Jameis is what the team needs for success and to get them to the top, before the question of a massive contract extension arises.
As team friendly as this contract is for the Bucs, let’s not forget Kirk Cousins and his 3 year $84 million fully guaranteed contract, with $28 million annually, the price for franchise quarterbacks is on a steep incline.
Next year, the Buccaneers will need to decide on extending Kwon Alexander, Ali Marpet and Donovan Smith. I imagine the first two are the most likely to be extended. Other notable contract arrangements are a slight raise, with JPP’s contract going from $12.5 million this season to $14.5 million next, and Mike Evans, whose new contract this offseason will be a $20 million cap hit.
Tampa Bay still has about $12 million in salary cap space as the draft approaches next week, but with the team needing to extend other key players, as well the free agent spending, that money will evaporate fast.
Now that you have the numbers, and with the draft quickly approaching next week, do you like where we stand? Do you think Jameis and his undeniable love of the game, even if he is eating his hand, is the right captain for this Buccaneer pirate ship? Personally if all goes well, I am fully supportive of Jameis. Yeah, he may have looked ridiculous on camera shoving his fingers in his mouth, and maybe he has been way too loose with the football, but the talent is there.
Jameis can sling it. His shoulder was an issue, but so were many other things. Our ground game. Our defense. Our effort. However, you can never question his effort. He plays for his teammates. He plays because he truly loves the competition and the grind. Id like to see our front office stand by him, at least through his rookie contract. If Jameis can just relax, remain calm, cool and collected, he is definitely a quarterback with a killer instinct, and without the unnecessary mistakes he is prone to making, we have the best quarterback this franchise has ever seen. His best years are ahead of him, hopefully while he is still in a Buccaneers jersey.
Edited by Harmeet Kapur
