The PR Bucs Monday Mailbag is where PewterReport.com’s Mark Cook answers your questions from our Twitter account. You can submit your question each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.

Below are the questions we chose for this week’s edition of the PR Bucs Monday Mailbag.

Question: A big praise for all of your content and best regards from Germany. My question is when will the Bucs start re-signing their own free agents or will they all test the market?

Answer: Danke, dass Sie meine Geschichte gelesen haben! Thank you for following us from Germany first of all. I was born there before coming to the Unites States in 1971. My mother was German and my father an American solider. I hope to return one day as I still have family there.

Bucs OLB Shaq Barrett – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

On to your question. The Buccaneers and the agents for their free agents have had dialogue and we can expect to see some re-signings occur prior to the official start of free agency on March 18. Outside linebacker Shaq Barrett could end up with the franchise tag designation, as rumors agent Drew Rosenhaus isn’t giving much, if any, hometown discount to Tampa Bay. Agents will always try and squeeze the most from a team, as their commission is based off the deal they get for their clients. So it makes sense for the agent – and player – to try and get a long-term deal done as opposed to a one-year tag contract. There will be more guaranteed money in a long-term deal, plus as an agent, player and organization, they won’t be going through this all over one year from now.

The Buccaneers know with players like outside linebacker Jason Pierre-Paul and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh that if they reach the free agent market anything is possible. So getting them re-signed is pretty high on the priority list this week I would imagine.

Then there are some players that the Buccaneers would like back, but will allow them to test free agency with hopes that if they do draw interest, they allow the Buccaneers the opportunity to match any offer given. Wide receiver Breshad Perriman is believed to be one of those players. The team has a set price it is willing to pay for most of its free agents, but in some cases they want to see what the market bears.

Is JPP a $12 million-per-year player on the open market, or an $8 million player? And quarterback Jameis Winston might be one of those players that the team allows to hit free agency to see what is available.

Question: What should Bucs fans really expect the first few days of free agency? 

Answer: As mentioned above, you can expect to see some current guys re-signed before next week. Who, and how many, is still up and the air, but teams know all it takes is one other team going all-in on a player and it could push a team’s budget out of whack. So determining the club’s “must haves” and getting them re-signed is important.

Bucs GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Fans naturally want their teams to go out and make splash signings, but sometimes re-signing its own players can be the most impactful moves a team can make. If defenders like Jason Pierre-Paul, Shaquil Barrett and Ndamukong Suh all played on other teams last season and the Bucs signed them as free agents next week, fans would be jumping up and down with joy. Well, that is exactly that the Bucs hope and plan to do.

Tampa Bay’s philosophy has changed somewhat in terms of how free agency is approached under general manager Jason Licht. For one thing, the current team is better and has more depth than it has in the last several years. Licht will occasionally do big free agent deals like he did for center Ryan Jensen, but the one-year, prove-it deals he did last year for players like Barrett and others will be more to Tampa Bay’s liking. Don’t expect to see the Jack Conklins of the world being signed by the Bucs.

Question: Could you see a scenario where Jameis Winston re-signs with Tampa Bay as a backup if there’s no market for him as a starter?

Answer: I am not sure if you mean as a backup plan or a backup player. But I will answer both scenarios.

First, as a backup plan – yes. We believe as of today, Jameis Winston is Plan B for the Buccaneers. We feel they are looking at all options and will make phone calls to the agents for Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Teddy Bridgewater and probably even Ryan Tannehill to gauge interest and talk contract amounts. If those players aren’t options for the Bucs then their interest may shift back to Winston in 2020. The gamble with that of course is, all it takes is one team to fall in love with Winston and then he could be gone in free agency. And if the other top QBs have found other homes, now the Buccaneers are looking at the scrap heap for someone to play under center in 2020 and would likely be forced to draft a QB this year.

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

As far as coming back to Tampa Bay as a backup player, that isn’t really an option. I don’t think that is what you were asking, but if the Buccaneers sign another big-name  quarterback to be their starter then they believe in the new guy and don’t want a potential QB controversy if the new starter were to have some early-season struggles.

Plus, I don’t believe that Winston would even entertain the notion of returning to Tampa Bay without the starting job. If he is going to have to be a backup somewhere I am sure he would prefer it to be somewhere other than Tampa Bay.

Question: During the season Bruce Arians said he didn’t care what Jameis Winston did the previous four years, he only cared about this year. With that said are the Bucs evaluating whether to keep him on what he did over the past five years, or just the first season with BA? 

Answer: I believe 90 percent of the evaluation is based on what they saw last season. The biggest negative working against Jameis Winston was his poor end to the year. Yes, we know Winston was playing with broken thumb, was down his top two receivers and had a knee injury. However, ending a game and the season with a pick-6 and 10 interceptions over his last four games has without question left a bad taste in the organization’s mouth.

Bucs QB Jameis Winston and head coach Bruce Arians – Photo by: Getty Image

Winston’s previous four seasons have some bearing on his future. If Winston only averaged 10 or so interceptions per season then his 30 INTs last year wouldn’t even be a question. He would already have been signed prior to the beginning of 2019 most likely with such a manageable number, but that’s not the case.

The Buccaneers have had over two months to evaluate and watch every throw – good and bad – that Winston made in 2019, and there was probably some watching of game tape from previous years. But most likely this decision will come down to the previous 16 games under Bruce Arians’ tutelage and if the Buccaneers believe his mistakes are correctable.