The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have some serious accounting to do this offseason.
The Bucs massively surpassed preseason expectations in 2023, winning nine regular season games, the NFC South and one playoff game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Multiple Bucs players both old and new contributed, but now, quite a few of those contributors could be hitting the open market.
FOX Sports rounded up their top 50 free agents for the 2024 offseason, and four Bucs players appeared on the list — furthermore, three of them were in the top 15. Tampa Bay’s Antoine Winfield Jr. came in at No. 8, wideout Mike Evans at No. 10, quarterback Baker Mayfield at No. 13 and linebacker Lavonte David at No. 43.
The free agency class for the Bucs remains a question mark. David could possibly retire at his age and Mayfield’s contract desires (and whether or not he’ll take less money to stay in Tampa Bay) is relatively unknown to the general public. Evans, too, could demand a lot of money and might get it from another team — the most certain free agent to return to the Bucs from this list is likely Winfield Jr., who could be easily franchise-tagged until the next season.
Tampa Bay could save money on the salary cap by signing either Evans or Mayfield to a long-term extension before the beginning of free agency on a deadline of Feb. 19.
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