Before the Bucs can go out and spend some cash on new free agents and potentially some re-signings, they need to know how much money they are working with. Tampa Bay found out that answer along with all of the other 32 NFL teams as a report from Dan Graziano from ESPN says that the NFL has informed every team of that number.

As Graziano states, the 2025 NFL salary cap will be in the range of between $277.5 million and $281.5 million. That is an increase of at least $22.1 million and potentially as high as $26.1 compared to last season. The league has seen the salary cap continue to grow, as it’s gone up by more than $53 million in over two years.

How Do The New Cap Numbers Impact The Bucs?

It’s always better to have more room to work with than less, so this is a positive for the Bucs as it is for every NFL team. Due to some of the dead cap numbers that are going to hit, which still includes outside linebacker Shaq Barrett at $17.4 million and former center Ryan Jensen at $11.8 million, the extra salary cap only gives them about anywhere from $4.1 million to $8.5 million depending on where the number lands.

Bucs WR Chris Godwin – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Then of course there is Chris Godwin, who’s dead cap number is the highest at $18.85. That was supposed to void on February 20, but the team and Godwin agreed to push that date back to March 14 with the hopes of coming up with a contract extension beforehand. This would benefit the Bucs big time as well, since they could take $11.3 million of the dead cap money into future years to lower it down.

Before any Bucs fans freak out about still having a low salary cap number, there will likely be many cap maneuverings on the way. As Pewter Report’s capologist Josh Queipo has pointed out, there are a variety of moves the Bucs can make to open up more cap space. Tampa Bay could sign receiver Mike Evans to an extension or give an extension to the likes of right tackle Luke Goedeke, tight end Cade Otton or cornerback Zyon McCollum.

The team could also restructure the contracts of quarterback Baker Mayfield, left tackle Tristan Wirfs or safety Antoine Winfield Jr. And with offseason cuts potentially coming, Tampa Bay might open more room if they let go of safety Jordan Whitehead or cornerback Jamel Dean.

Bucs assistant GM Mike Greenberg – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Don’t expect the Bucs to make each and every single one of these moves, but it’s possible they could get their cap space to between $25 million and $65 million and potentially even higher before they go and try to re-sign some of their own players and then sing new ones.

This opens the door to re-sign key starters such as Godwin, left guard Ben Bredeson and legendary inside linebacker Lavonte David. That would also give the Bucs an opportunity to make a splash signing or two while also filling out the rest of their roster with quality players.

Tampa Bay has one of the best salary cap people in the league with assistant general manager Mike Greenberg, who is back in Tampa for another season after choosing not to interview for the Jaguars’ job. Greenberg is the right hand man of Jason Licht and is considered a cap guru. He along with the rest of the staff have done wonders in creating cap room and getting reasonable contracts for each side through the years during the offseason.

Watch A Bucs Salary Cap Breakdown 

Josh Queipo made a great video breaking down how the Bucs’ 2025 salary cap will look before and after roster maneuvers are made. He goes into much further detail about which moves are more likely and how it impacts the salary cap for this seasons and following seasons with Tampa Bay’s plans.

Check out the video on PewterReportTV and subscribe to our YouTube channel.