As PewterReport.com reported in Friday’s SR’s Fab 5, the Buccaneers won’t be using the franchise tag on quarterback Jameis Winston, and instead will use it on outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett if a long-term deal can’t be worked out prior to March 12, which is the deadline for NFL teams to use the tag.

Bucs director of football administration Mike Greenberg – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The ongoing negotiations between the NFL owners and the NFL Players Association over a new Collective Bargaining Agreement has complicated negotiations between teams and pending free agents because of how the new CBA would affect how much teams would have to spend from a salary cap standpoint, in addition to knowing whether or not teams would have the use of both the franchise tag and the transition tag or just the franchise tag. If the Bucs have both at their disposal it is believed that Tampa Bay won’t use the transition tag on Winston either, which would make him an unrestricted free agent on March 16.

As of right now, the Bucs plan to allow Winston to test the free agent market, as the team believes there won’t be much of one for a quarterback that is coming off a 30-interception season in 2019. PewterReport.com’s Mark Cook signaled this may be coming in his weekly column “The Hook: Bucs-Winston Marriage Might Be Unraveling” back on February 13.

As was reported in the SR’s Fab 5 column on Friday, several prominent national writers reiterated that belief on Monday in their NFL Scouting Combine wrap-ups. Several of them shared the belief that head coach Bruce Arians, general manager Jason Licht and the Bucs could be moving on from Winston and targeting New Orleans quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

ProFootballTalk/NBC Sports’ Peter King

Here is what King had to say in his Football Morning In America column on Monday following the NFL Scouting Combine.

4. Anonymous quote of the combine. From an agent with vet quarterbacks in the mix, when I said I had no idea how this QB game of musical chairs will end up: “The problem is, there’s way more quarterbacks than chairs.” I can see that.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

My prediction: Five quarterbacks will be immensely pissed off a month from today, with a depressed market value for their services. Or no market value.

Reading between the lines, I believe King is suspecting that Winston will be one of those immensely pissed off quarterbacks that will have less market value than anticipated or no market value at all. King continues below.

5. Fruitless Endeavor of the Week. Where will everyone land? I kept asking people here about the fate of Jameis Winston, and I couldn’t find a landing spot for him. I doubt sincerely he’d be a starter on opening day 2020 if he leaves Tampa (which is likely), but where would/could he be a backup? Let’s guess at other outcomes.

If you put Burrow in Cincinnati, Tua Tagovailoa in Miami, and Justin Herbert or Jordan Love in a draft-and-develop situation with the Chargers—and I have no idea if that last one is true—where does that leave the vets? Brady in Las Vegas or Tennessee? Teddy Bridgewater in Tampa Bay? Philip Rivers or one of the rookies in Indianapolis? Andy Dalton as an insurance policy (that might have to be cashed in October) in Chicago? Cam Newton in Carolina? What of New England, if Brady goes—maybe wait till the market dries up and get a Derek Carr or Marcus Mariota cheap, while grooming favored son Jarrett Stidham? Ryan Tannehill in Tennessee? What about Washington’s backup plans (strangely, the team interviewed at least three QBs at the combine) for Dwayne Haskins, if club execs fear Alex Smith might not be ready to play in September? Without chairs, maybe: Carr, Winston, Marcus Mariota, Case Keenum. (I’d go hard after Keenum if I were Buffalo or Cleveland.)

King also said that the “Teddy Bridgewater market is warming up” in his Football Morning In America column.

MMQB.com’s Albert Breer

Breer said that Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians supposedly made it known that the Bucs were interested Tom Brady while in Indianapolis for the NFL Scouting Combine. Don Yee, Brady’s agent, happened to be in Indy last week, too. Here’s what Breer wrote:

Patriots QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Getty Images

Brady will have suitors. The Chargers are planning to look into landing Brady. The Raiders are too. The Titans’ situation is a little more complicated—the idea of bringing Ryan Tannehill back in 2020 really does appeal to them, and they need to make a decision on tagging him before March 12—but they’re fully investigating the possibility to reuniting Brady with his buddy Mike Vrabel. Bucs coach Bruce Arians threw his hat in the ring, too.

That jibes with what I what I wrote in Friday’s SR’s Fab 5: “Don’t rule out Brady coming to the Buccaneers, either. Arians and Licht are expected to put on a full-court press to persuade Brady to give Tampa Bay a look, especially with an enticing pair of Pro Bowl receivers to throw to in Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.”

Breer also noted that Barrett – not Winston – would likely get Tampa Bay’s franchise tag:

I’d be very surprised if the Buccaneers don’t tag LB Shaq Barrett. I also think they’d be comfortable going forward with him playing on his one-year tender, given the one-year explosion in his production.

Breer then speculated that Winston – likely on a lesser deal – could be signed by Las Vegas head coach Jon Gruden, who has always been fond of Tampa Bay’s QB, to compete with Derek Carr.

Assuming the Raiders don’t land Tom Brady, I wouldn’t rule out the idea that the team brings in a veteran to push Derek Carr, rather than just replace him from Day 1, a la Ryan Tannehill in Tennessee last year. Maybe that’s someone like Jameis Winston.

The Athletic’s Mike Sando

Sando linked Bridgewater to the Bucs. Bridgewater, 27, went 5-0 this year in relief of the injured Drew Brees in New Orleans, including a 31-24 win over Tampa Bay in which he threw for over 300 yards and four touchdowns. He signed a one-year, $6 million deal with the Saints in 2019.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston and Saints QB Teddy Bridgewater – Photo by: Getty Images

“I am hearing Tampa Bay is hot on Bridgewater,” a GM said.

Sando went on to suggest that Bridgewater, who has a record of 22-12 as a starter, might come to Tampa Bay to start while Winston could go to the Saints to be a backup for a year on a lesser deal and the heir apparent to Drew Brees in 2021. Given how much Sean Payton likes Taysom Hill, who will likely get the $5 million restricted free agent tender offer this year, paying Drew Brees likely in excess of $25 million plus the $5 million for Hill – exactly how much would the Saints pay for Winston? I’m not sure I’m buying that bit of speculation just yet.