The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are in a situation similar to the New Orleans Saints’, but they’re going about things with an entirely different strategy. Instead of creatively moving money around to remain competitive and try to win football games, the Buccaneers are slashing and burning their way through their roster. The post-Tom Brady landscape is going to look much more barren in Tampa Bay than the post-Drew Brees picture has been in New Orleans.
It’s what everyone from talking heads on ESPN to analytically minded nerds on podcasts have said the Saints should have done once Brees hung it up. Tampa Bay has cut longtime starting left tackle Donovan Smith as well as veteran tight end Cameron Brate and fan-favorite running back Leonard Fournette as they look to reach salary cap compliance. More departures are coming.
Most important is how they’ve handled their contract with Brady. When Brees retired with the Saints, he was processed as a post-June 1 cut to spread out the remaining salary cap charges between the 2021 and 2022 fiscal years, costing the Saints a little over $11 million in each season.
That isn’t what the Buccaneers are doing with Brady. He’s still on their books with a $35 million cap hit while the team sits in the red by more than $49 million. And they have shown little inclination for stretching that out into 2024. If the Buccaneers wanted to, they could process Brady’s retirement as a post-June 1 release just like New Orleans did, which would cost them about $10.7 million in dead money for 2023 and put the remaining $24.3 million on the books for 2024. Instead of doing that, though, they’re taking their medicine right away in hopes of a healthier salary cap outlook this time next year.
We’ll see how torching the roster and tanking the season works out for them. Former second-round draft pick Kyle Trask is the only Buccaneers quarterback under contract for 2023, though it wouldn’t be a shock if they sign a mediocre free agent like Drew Lock, Baker Mayfield or Gardner Minshew to compete with him for the starting job. If the end result is Tampa Bay clinching a top-five draft pick in 2024 and giving fans hope for the future with a top quarterback prospect in their sights, team management will be left feeling happy with themselves. It’s a strategy that worked out so well with their former No. 1 pick Jameis Winston, after all.
