Tristan Wirfs and Antoine Winfield, Jr. can help the Buccaneers make big moves in free agency

NFL Free Agency is just around the corner, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers currently aren't in the best position to take advantage of it.  At $7.77 million under the salary cap, they have the seventh-fewest amount of space in the league and the fewest of all teams currently under the cap, per OverTheCap.com. 

However, two current members of the Bucs could help change that - and two of their best at that: Tristan Wirfs and Antoine Winfield, Jr.  Both men received significant new contracts over the last year. Both could use those to help the Bucs create some salary cap space in 2025 with max contract restructures.

How would it work?  You would take the current 2025 base salary for each player and reduce it to the league minimum for each.  That calculation is easy, as both came in the league in 2020 as Bucs draft picks and both have five years of service time.  That puts their minimum league salary at $1,170,000. You then take the difference in salary, convert it into a signing bonus, and pro rate it over a maximum of five years, including 2025. 

Looking first at Wirfs, his 2025 base salary is $26,000,000.  If you reduce that to $1,170,000, that creates $24,830,000 that can be prorated over five years for an annual amount of $4,966,000.  Add $1,170,000 to that, and you get $6,136,000 for 2025.  That comes to a salary cap reduction/savings of $19,864,000 for 2025.  

Because Wirfs' contract runs through 2029, no additional years beyond his contract (aka void years) have to be added to account for the five prorated years.  They simply run over the five remaining years of the contract. 

Winfield, Jr. has a base salary of $21,000,000 for 2025.  Reduce that to $1,170,000 and you get $19,830,000.  Spread that out over five years, and you get $3,966,000 per year. Add $1,170,000 with that for 2025, and you get $5,136,000 for 2025.  That's a salary cap reduction/savings of $15,864,000.  

Because Winfield, Jr.'s contract goes through 2027, you would have to add a void year for 2029.  As Winfield, Jr. already has a void year in 2028 for his signing bonus proration of $4 million, the Bucs would need to add another void year in 2029 to max out the proration/2025 savings. 

It's worth mentioning that both players have monies that hit the cap that aren't base salary, notably prorated signing bonuses for each. Wirfs has a $25 million signing bonus broken down to $5 million per year through 2028. Winfield, Jr. has a $20 million signing bonus broken down to $4 million per year through 2028. Those figures are locked in and can't be reduced like base salary. 

Put the salary cap savings together from both players, and you've got a combined figure of $35,728,000.  The good news is the Bucs also wouldn't be taking on any additional cash requirements through the restructure, as they are simply taking existing big base salaries and converting them to prorated bonus money. 

Wirfs and Winfield, Jr. are undoubtedly in the team's plans for as long as both are playing the game at a high level, which will surely be for many years to come.  As such, using that expected long-term relationship for short term financial flexibility makes perfect sense and would be a win-win for both sides.