The cap situation causes teams to have to pull the trigger on retaining players in different facets. The Buccaneers are one of those teams. Some teams look to extend players on a new contract early to prevent them from being able to even sniff free agency. Sometimes they wait till seasons end of the last year of their contract.
Antoine Winfield Jr.
Winfield Jr is currently set to play his in his last year of his rookie contract and he’s due $3.7 million dollars. This is a small price to pay for a player that is showing he can set the tone for this defense. PFF had Winfield ranked 9th out of 88 qualifying players at his position last season. He also had an overall grade of 78.7. With his performance thus far Spotrac has Winfield’s valuation earmarked at four years and $57 million dollars. This works out to a little over $14 million a year.
Given the current cap situation, and until further cuts happen I believe Winfield remains on contract as is. Now this puts the player in a contract year. This could be risky for the Buccaneers but they will have options next season. The team will have more cap space and can use the franchise tag on him to retain his talents. I fully believe he is a franchise tag candidate that we hear about at seasons end.
Signing Winfield to a new contract at presumably $14 million a year and converting it to a bonus would bring his cap hit to roughly what he’s getting paid now.
Devin White
White too is in the last year of his contract. Set to bring in $11.6 million dollars he accounts for 5.15% of the cap space. Unless he’s extended this money can not be spread out without a new contract.
If White is signed to what Spotrac deems his value at, it would be a four year $80 million dollar contract. At roughly $20 million a year this money could be spread out and the cap hit reduced. If they add another year to the contract and make it five years and $100 million the cap hit can be further reduced. By converting the base salary to a bonus and having it spread out over the five years.
Signing White to a new contract at presumably $20 million a year. Converting it to a bonus on a four year contract brings his cap hit down from $11.6 million to $5 million. A savings of $6.6 million. If it’s a five year contract that is a savings of $7.6 million.
Final Thought
Extending Winfield would not reduce the cap hit in any significant fashion for the 2023 season. Alternatively, extending White could have a large impact and help the team retain other players. For now we wait and see.
Follow, Like and Subscribe to Bucs Report
For more on this and everything Buccaneers check back here hourly at BucsReport.com
