Tampa Bay Buccaneers have choices to make in offseason ahead

After winning Super Bowl LV, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and general manager Jason Licht have tough decisions ahead.

The Buccaneers won their first Super Bowl since 2002 over the weekend. Now the next phase of work begins.

For general manager Jason Licht, he’s looking to have two fantastic offseasons in a row. Last year, it was landing quarterback Tom Brady on a two-year deal, before adding tight end Rob Gronkowski via trade and wide receiver Antonio Brown as a midseason signing.

Now, it’s about keeping the team together for a run at a second straight title.

Licht has approximately $28.4 million to work with under the projected salary cap. The main free agents facing him are receiver Chris Godwin, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, linebacker Lavonte David, edge rusher Shaq Barrett, running back Leonard Fournette, and then Brown and Gronkowski.

Earlier this week, Barrett told Adam Schein his intentions for free agency on Sirius XM Mad Dog Radio:

“I’m most definitely looking forward to getting a long-term deal done. I feel like it’s time for me to break the bank now, and I most definitely want to do that to be able to set my family up better and most definitely going to keep producing, so it’s not like anything is going to fall off. I still think I got a lot left in the tank. I’m still getting better, actually. I’m still learning, like just still learning, like week in, week out. And there’s like, as you can see as the season progressed like … I ended the season playing the way that I wanted to play. And you can see that I did progress throughout the season, and I’m still progressing.”

Licht likely will use the franchise tag on either Godwin or Barrett, leaving little room to keep David, Fournette, Gronkowski, Sth and Brown. Gronkowski is probably the easiest to retain considering his age and fondness for Brady, while Brown also doesn’t stand to make a huge sum.

However, Fournette should get a decent deal, while Suh remains a big name and a valuable piece. David, although 31 years old, is a Hall of Fame talent playing at his peak. He’s going to get paid somewhere, whether it’s Tampa Bay or elsewhere.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be trying to defend their title in the 2021 season. It’ll be fascinating to see how many will remain from the championship squad after the coming weeks and months.