The 2020 off season promises to be one that will bring major change to the NFL. One of the teams likely to make the most of it is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who enter with nearly $ 85 million in the Capitals Room, the third most in league, and have a few high-profile free agents, including understood their strategic departure.
Jameis Winston has just started a season of 33 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in his first year under the guidance of head coach Bruce Arians. These figures show both his immense talent and his high potential, as well as the obvious disadvantages of having him as a starter. (And that’s before we get to his countless concerns off the field.) It’s not hard to see why a team would want to pay him a lot of money, and it’s not hard to see why a team would hesitate to give him a long term contract to deal with.
For these reasons, it was considered likely that Winston would be a candidate for the franchise label. But a report from PewterReport.com paints a different picture, with the hunter Shaquil Barrett, not Winston, the recipient of the Bucs tag.
Barrett signed a one-year, $ 4 million deal with the Buccaneers in the last off season, then broke out with the best season of his career. He had a 19.5-point sack in the league, as well as 37 quarterback hits and 19 tackles for the loss. He returned to free agency at 27, and should head for the prime of life.
With so many other quarterback options potentially available this offseason (Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Teddy Bridgewater, Andy Dalton, several first-round prospects in the repechage, etc.), it can be argued that Winston would not be the first choice for many teams and the Winston market could be lukewarm than imagined. This would mean that the Bucs have a chance to keep Winston at a lower cost even if they label Barrett, or they could let it work and replace it with one of these more desirable options.