Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Donovan Smith have reached an agreement on a multi-year extension.
Bucs’ and OT Donovan Smith reached agreement on a two-year, $31.8 million contract extension through 2023 that now includes $30 million guaranteed over the next two seasons, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 24, 2021
With this deal, Donovan Smith now will collect on four consecutive years – 2019-2022 – of guaranteed money totaling an unprecedented $57 million, via @SPORTSTARSNYC
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 24, 2021
Of all the ways the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can free up more cap space, extending Donovan Smith made the most sense.
First off, his position is one of the most important in football and Tom Brady is your quarterback. Smith improved drastically as the 2020 season wore on. Per Pro Football Focus, Smith was the only tackle to allow zero pressures out of true pass sets among all tackles with at least 154 pass blocking snaps through weeks 12-17. He allowed three throughout the entirety of the playoffs.
Per The Athletic’s Greg Auman, the move frees up around $10.6 million in cap space, which will give the Bucs the freedom to re-sign guys like Ndamukong Suh, Leonard Fournette, Antonio Brown, and whomever else they deem necessary in 2021.
I can confirm that Bucs have signed left tackle Donovan Smith to a two-year extension, freeing up about $10.6 million in cap space. His $14.2 million base salary is mostly converted to a bonus, dropping his cap number to $3.6 million with two voidable years.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) March 24, 2021
The Bucs were a little more than $1.2 million over the salary cap, but they should now have around $9.3-$9.4 million, per Over The Cap.
