During a recent appearance on the Pewter Report Podcast, Bucs Assistant General Manager Mike Greenberg spoke about the Bucs improving salary cap position. After several years of pushing the cash and salary cap limits of the organization from 2020 to 2022, Greenberg and the Bucs brain trust used 2023 to try and shed as many dead cap charges as they could to get back into a flexible position.

Amazingly, they were able to do this while still making a playoff push.

2024 is another season of financial transition. Tampa Bay had enough cap space and cash to bring back several key pending free agents in Antoine Winfield Jr., Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans and Lavonte David. They also used the year to shed a couple more Tom Brady-era contracts. But looking to 2025 and beyond the team is looking to become one of the healthiest teams in the NFL in terms of salary cap accounting.

Bucs Have Few Guaranteed Cash Payments Owed in 2025

Looking at the Bucs 2025 financial outlook, the first thing that pops out is that the team has very few guaranteed cash payments owed in 2025. The team currently has 67 players under contract for 2025 for a total salary/bonus commitment of $120,226,810. Of those 67 only nine players are owed any guaranteed salaries/roster bonuses.

Bucs FS Antoine Winfield Jr. and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Scott Reynolds/Pewter Report

1. Antoine Winfield Jr. – $21,000,000
2. Baker Mayfield – $10,000,000
3. Mike Evans – $6,000,000
4. Chase McLaughlin – $3,500,000
5. Calijah Kancey – $2,067,588
6. Graham Barton – $1,432,612
7. Chris Braswell – $1,103,438
8. Cody Mauch – $329,015
9. Logan Hall – $225,000

Bucs Current Cap Liabilities For 2025

Looking at the top 51 cap hits for 2025 (the NFL/NFLPA collective bargaining agreement calls for teams to account for the top 51 cap hits in the offseason) the Bucs are looking at a total cap liability of $208,899,327. This doesn’t account for the dead cap charges related to Ryan Jensen ($11,801,000) and Shaq Barrett ($17,401,000) but does account for the charges related to Chris Godwin, Greg Gaines, Tristan Wirfs and Anthony Nelson’s expiring contracts. All-in the total comes to $238,101,327.

The 2025 NFL salary cap will not be made public officially until February/March of next year. Over The Cap currently has a very conservative projection of $260 million. Using a simple linear regression model looking at the salary cap change from year to year since the 2011 collective bargaining agreement and 2025’s salary cap could jump 9.2% to almost $278 million.

The lowest jump over that time, outside of the 2021 salary cap retraction in response to COVID, has been 5.3% which would still put the cap at $269 million. Realistically, we can assume a cap of $273.5 million. This would mean, without any adjustments for 2024 carryover or LTBE/NLTBE* bonus adjustments, the Bucs are looking at $35,398,673 in cap space. Assuming a rather standard season from an injury standpoint and no long-term extension for Tristan Wirfs, the team will probably carry over a very minimal $1-2.5 million in salary cap space from this year to next.

That conservatively puts the Bucs’ cap space at around $37 million.

‘Moveable’ Cap Charges

Looking forward to where the team may need to spend and there are a couple of key needs Tampa Bay will need to address.

Bucs LT Tristan Wirfs – Photo by: USA Today

Left tackle is the most glaring, as they would still need to secure a long-term extension for Tristan Wirfs. Other than Wirfs, the offensive line would be relatively set. Depending on the development of Zyon McCollum and Cade Otton, tight end and cornerback could be other potential areas that would need to be addressed. They would join left guard, wide receiver and linebacker as positions that the team could look to free agency to find starters.

Some of these positions would likely be addressed through the first two days of the 2025 NFL draft, but the bottom line is the team will have plenty of cap space to add to the roster in 2025 as is. But they could open up additional funds if needed. A lot of funds from a salary cap perspective.

If Greenberg really wanted to go hog-wild, he has up to $78.85 million in credit that he can defer to future seasons. The biggest opportunities are in the largest contracts. Here are the largest deferrable cap charges for 2025:

1. Baker Mayfield – $22,996,000
2. Antoine Winfield Jr. – $15,864,000
3. Mike Evans – $13,396,000
4. Vita Vea – $12,596,000
5. Jamel Dean – $9,464,000

Those five players could help open up to $74,316,000 in additional cap space. That gives the team plenty of space to find a premier free agent or two if they so want. Alternatively, they could also take care of home-grown players looking to get contract extensions.

Luke Goedeke – Contract Extension Candidate?

The Bucs boast a cavalcade of young, cheap talent occupying many of their key starting positions. Of those players, very few meet the unique cross-section of being extension-eligible while also providing play that would warrant a sizeable multi-year extension.

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

From the 2021 draft class, first-round pick Joe Tryon-Shoyinka just had his fifth-year option declined. He is the first Jason Licht first-round draft pick to receive that unfortunate distinction. The team has brought in five players in the last 15 months in an effort to find the unfulfilled promise Tryon-Shoyinka once teased.

Similarly, center Robert Hainsey will be fighting for a starter role in 2024. He is hardly someone the team seems to be preparing to bring back with a significant financial investment. Quarterback Kyle Trask has not seen a full game’s worth of action in three years. Inside linebacker KJ Britt is likely to start this season but has hardly performed to the level of a significant long-term pact.

The 2022 draft class will be eligible for extensions for the first time next year. Of that group, just one player stands out as a potential early extension candidate. Right tackle Luke Goedeke is coming off of a season where he provided impressive play at a premium position. As the Bucs are all too well aware, the offensive tackle market is exploding. Penei Sewell just reset the market at $28 million per year and Tristan Wirfs is likely to reset it sometime in the next year, possibly as soon as later this summer.

The Eagles have shown that teams can find some albatross on deals by extending players early, avoiding several contract re-sets that undoubtedly come and push the positional market even higher. If Goedeke were to put together another season similar to his 2022 campaign, he could cement himself as a top-10 right tackle in the NFL. That would put him in line for a Terence Steele ($16.5 million APY) to Mike McGlinchey ($17.5 million APY) deal.

Bucs RT Luke Goedeke – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Both of those deals were signed prior to the 2023 season when the NFL salary cap was $224.8 million. Adjust that for 2025’s projected $273.5 million cap and Goedeke could be looking at a payday somewhere in the range of four years and $82.75 million. And before you start clamoring that he is nowhere near worth that kind of money, the market says you may be wrong.

That is predicated upon him having a strong 2024, but he is already recognized as one of the top tackles in the NFL after just one strong season. And if the Bucs wait it out and let him get to free agency in 2026? Well, the franchise tag for offensive linemen that year could be over $27.5 million and a similar deal to the one projected earlier would adjust to $90 million assuming Goedeke doesn’t level up.

The NFL requires teams to spend a certain level of cash. Once the Wirfs deal is consummated the Bucs have very few players on the immediate horizon requiring sizeable deals. Goedeke is the best internal candidate at this moment to qualify for one. And both Greenberg and general manager Jason Licht have said consistently they like paying homegrown talent. Assuming Goedeke continues to play at the level he did last year, the stars are aligning for him to take advantage of the Bucs’ improving financial position.