How did the Bucs go from $57 million over the cap to under it?
Bucs' path from $57 million over salary cap to today's compliance:
cutting Donovan Smith ($9.95m savings)
restructure Chris Godwin ($15.14m)
restructure Carlton Davis ($10.74m)
restructure Vita Vea ($9.14m)
restructure Ryan Jensen ($9.07m)
rework Russell Gage (~$7.44m)— Greg Auman (@gregauman) March 12, 2023
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers began this offseason $57 million over the 2023 salary cap. And yet, just days away from the start of the league year, the Bucs are the cusp of cap compliance.
How exactly did they do it? Fox Sports’ Greg Auman summarized all the steps Tampa Bay took to get in under the tag just in time, including multiple contract restructures, another reworked deal, and a big release.
One might assume the Bucs would have to put on a fire sale of the roster, chopping contracts like debt-ridden lumberjacks. In fact, the Bucs only cut one player on the way to cap compliance: left tackle Donovan Smith.
“But what about Leonard Fournette and Cam Brate,” one might ask. While both players are reported to be on the chopping block, details in their contracts prevents the Bucs from cutting them before the start of the league year (via Auman):
We've covered the fact that Bucs must wait until after Wednesday at 4 to cut Leonard Fournette because he has $2 million in guaranteed 2023 salary in his deal — so they can't use his release as part of getting under the cap, but it can create space after they're under.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) March 11, 2023
Turns out that Bucs tight end Cameron Brate is in the same boat — his reworked deal from last year included a (previously unknown) guaranteed $1 million roster bonus, so Tampa Bay has to wait until after Wednesday at 4 to cut him, so they can't use his cut to get under the cap.
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) March 11, 2023
The majority of the Bucs’ cap savings came from restructures, namely from players who received extensions last offseason: wide receiver Chris Godwin, cornerback Carlton Davis and center Ryan Jensen. As the only veteran under contract beyond 2024, defensive tackle Vita Vea was an obvious candidate for a restructure.
Why did the Bucs opt to push money down the road instead of cutting or trading players? They didn’t have much choice.
Tampa’s efforts to keep their championship window open with Tom Brady over the past three years forced the Bucs to deploy a lot of bonus money and void years in their veteran contracts. As a result, the Bucs would not be able to cut or trade many of these players without incurring massive dead cap hits, all but invalidating the reason for cutting or trading the players in the first place.
There is no greater example of this than Tom Brady’s contract. To keep his cap number manageable, the Bucs tacked on four void years to his contract. The consequences of this decision is that all money in those void years hit the Bucs’ 2023 books, representing a whopping $35 million cap hit for a retired player.
Reworking WR Russell Gage’s contract was the last move the Bucs needed to get them to cap compliance. As with some of the restructures, Tampa added void years to Gage’s deal. The ever-increasing cap and the possibility of extending some of the players with void years makes similar cap issues in the future less likely.
