The 2024 season is in full swing and the Buccaneers are making a strong case for the post season early. But following the first loss of the season cracks are showing. Though there are some key issues the team could address with free agents and trades I wouldn’t expect them to do so. In fact it will likely take a huge slew of season ending injuries for them to do so.
The Call For Trades
Since the onset of his holdout Haason Reddick keeps popping up on Buccaneer’s fans’ radars. Now the main stream media is on board with continued ties to how much he could boost this teams chances of winning. Add in a double digit sack record over the past four years and the expectation would be a dominant pass rush that would be formidable against any offensive line. Additionally, when all the injuries originally happened in the back field, calls from the fan base were load for the team to go out and get an additional member of the secondary to further keep the momentum moving after week one. In both cases I have been an advocate. I will however say they teams looks as though they don’t really need them in the secondary.
The Problem
For the Buccaneers to make a move like these above Jason Licht needs to create cap space. Currently the team sits at only $12 million in space available to play with. Hardly enough for Reddick and limiting in the way of picking up anyone else substantial. But this problem stems from one key area. Void contract years. Originally used to extend the Tom Brady Buccaneers Super Bowl window is now preventing the team from creating a new “Baker Mayfield” one. With $56 million in dead cap this season the Buccaneers posses little wiggle room to move to significantly bolster this team. $17.5 million of the total is represented by players still on this roster. A rare front office colossal blunder in my opinion with cap management and getting deals done to prevent dead money from sitting on the books. So for the Buccaneers to make room for any key trades or signings the first indication it will happen has to be further shifting money down the road.
Potential Indicators
There are a few moves that could be made to clear some space. Much like Tristian Wirf’s contract the front office could move some pay into a signing bonus and spread it across the life of the contract. Vita Vea’s base pay could be spread over the next three years. Dropping him to the league minimum this season would create around $9 million in space. Now could that be enough to persuade Reddick to agree to a contract a contingency that would be worked in to the trade. Would it be enough though? I couldn’t tell you. Another thing that would indicate a serious desire to acquire help would be a sighing of Chris Godwin to a new long term contract in season. Now the likelihood of this happening is slim to none. After three weeks Godwin has an upward trajectory in negotiating power. He could cash in now close to the yearly average of Mike Evans’ deal or more. But I doubt that’s an option for him and his camp right now.
The Problem Exasperated
Looking forward to the next season the Buccaneers are not in that great of a position again, but better shape next season in terms of cap issues. They currently hold on to second place in terms of cap dead money partially due to to spreading out the retirement pay owed to Shaq Barret and Ryan Jensen. Where the Buccaneers could possibly really hurt their chances of being competitive and acquiring talent needed is if they AGAIN do not sign a player to a new contract before dead money hits from void years. In this case Chris Godwin at $18.8 million. Given the Buccaneers only have $32 million in space in 2025 that will quickly dwindle down to $14 million not accounting for a jump in the cap. Chris Godwin, Lavonte David and a nine players who have already contributed this season will be free agents. Accounting for the monetary requirements to sign the draft class and suddenly this team is below $9 million in cap to resign anyone they want to bring back and go after free agents. not a good position for a team looking to compete.
Final Thought
Windows open and close rapidly in this league. Though a team may be competitive they may never be a true contender. Though I believe this team is very competitive right now I am unsure about weather or not they are a true contender for the Super Bowl. As I see it this is the beginning of a three year window. Looking past the 2026 season there is a lot of question marks and this season and next will be missed opportunities due to all the dead money and void years/retired players. Evans, Godwin, Baker, and David are getting old. If the team doesn’t resign Godwin in season then we need to stop hoping for a signature trade for Reddick or any other player. Also, if Baker goes down so does this team. Trask will not be able to take this team far and the team would have to trade for Joe Flacco, Jameis Winston, or someone else. The only viable free agent quarterback is Ryan Tannehill. So don’t hold your breath for any splash signing Buccaneers fans.
