The Buccaneers are trying to figure out ways to open up salary cap space. Looking to resign their list of free agents, GM Jason Licht was recently a guest on the Rich Eisen Show. Licht opened up a possibility that we’ve previously reported.
Keeping The GOAT
Back in early February I tweeted out that the Buccaneers and Tom Brady had already begun discussions on a possible extension and restructure. Licht was asked by Eisen if there were talks of a possible contract extension for Brady he responded with,.
“It’s a possibility, He certainly didn’t look like he slowed down any this year. So that’s a possibility and we’ll have to see how that goes.”
Brady signed a 2 year $50 million contract with the Buccaneers last March. He is set to make $28.75 million this year due to incentives he hit during the season. Brady has frequently said he would like to play until the age 45. Any sort of extension would bring him into that 45th year. When asked if potential talks have already begun Jason Licht said
“I’ll probably keep that under wraps right now, but like I said … it appears that he had a really good time this year winning the Super Bowl and likes our organization and likes our coaches, likes our head coach and ownership. And we certainly love him – usually when you have those two things going for each other it’s a match made in heaven. So we’d like to keep this going.”
Team Player
Brady has a history in his career of taking less money, extending and restructuring to help the team keep the best players around him. A trait he carried through his years in New England looks to be coming with him to Tampa Bay. Spotrac, a well known site for keeping track of contracts and cap space, recently tweeted out a scenario in which Brady would extend, restructure and open up about $10 million in cap space.
A potential simple contract restructure for Tom Brady that would clear $10M of cap space for the #Buccaneers in 2021.
2 yrs, $60M, $30M guaranteed, locking him in thru age 45, with a large roster bonus to restructure next March as needed. pic.twitter.com/rcAzTRIFQh
— Spotrac (@spotrac) February 24, 2021
As Licht continues to look for ways to open up more salary cap space and cash to resign some of the free agents on this team, a Brady restructure and extension would go a long way to accomplish those goals.