The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were in a bind, even after Tom Brady un-retired. Bruce Arians’ team came into the week with negative cap space on its books and several pressing free agents to re-sign. Even with Chris Godwin under the franchise tag, the Bucs still had to make key decisions on sought-after veterans like Ryan Jensen, Carlton Davis, Jordan Whitehead, and Leonard Fournette.
But it turns out Brady’s return helped loosen those knots as well. Through the early stages of free agency, it appears as though Tampa’s homegrown stars are happy to take a little less cash in order to remain in Touchdown Tom’s orbit. Though starting guard Alex Cappa left for a $40 million deal with the Cincinnati Bengals, both Jensen and Davis will reportedly remain with the Buccaneers. And they’re taking less money than expected to do so.
Jensen was coming off his best season as a pro and, at age 30, in position to cash in on what could be his final big money contract in the NFL. He was in place to challenge Jason Kelce’s $14 million salary as the league’s highest-paid center. Instead, he signed for three years and $39 million in Tampa — a contract that makes him the league’s third-highest salaried center and gives him the seventh-richest overall contract at his position.
Davis re-signed with the Bucs soon after. Spotrac estimated his annual value at $19.6 million per year. In a market where J.C Jackson got $82.5 million over five years, the cornerback who reduced Michael Thomas to “Slant Boy” instead settled for a three-year, $45 million deal to stay home.
While general manager Jason Licht will have to perform some contract gymnastics to fit those deals under the 2022 salary cap, he’s got three seasons in which to spread out those salaries and bonuses to make it work. Suddenly, the Buccaneers don’t just have their quarterback back; they’ve also got two key Pro Bowl-caliber starters under contract at sub-MSRP prices.
They may not be the only ones to leave potential earnings on the table to play alongside an all-time great. The only member of the 2021 Bucs to reportedly sign elsewhere on Monday was Cappa. Other pending free agents like Fournette, Whitehead, Rob Gronkowski, Jason Pierre-Paul, and Ndamukong Suh could each still have lifelines with the team where they won Super Bowl rings just 14 months ago.
There are reasons beyond Brady’s return for these seemingly below-market contracts. Jensen and Davis both got raises — in Davis’s case a considerable one — in a state with no income tax. They get to play for Bruce Arians, arguably the most likable players’ coach in the game. They have the chance to waltz through what may be the weakest division in the NFL next fall.
But Brady’s return is the ultimate stabilizing presence; a quarterback who hasn’t missed the postseason, when healthy, since 2002. He was a reason to sign cheap, incentive-laden deals with the Patriots during his time with Bill Belichick and even took those discounts himself. Now he’s doing the same in Tampa Bay — and the Buccaneers look like Super Bowl contenders once more because of it.
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