Bucs Mailbag: Possible Salary Cap Casualties

Managing your family’s wealth means more to Amuni Financial than simply allocating your assets. It means legacy planning, brokerage & advisory services, retirement accounts, college savings accounts and insurance services. With 40 years of experience, let Amuni Financial help you plan ahead and stay ahead.

Call Amuni Financial at (800) 868-6864 or visit Amuni.com.

Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds answers your questions from the @PewterReport Twitter account each week in the Bucs Mailbag. Submit your question to the Bucs Mailbag each week via Twitter using the hashtag #PRMailbag.  Here are the Bucs questions we chose to answer for this week’s edition.

QUESTION: How much Bucs roster slashing might happen this offseason? Which players are vulnerable of being cut?

ANSWER: The Bucs are in the process of building their roster and adding to their team rather than tearing it down in a rebuild mode. Yet roster turnover is inevitable for every team in the league, as there will be some cap casualties, and some players won’t be re-signed in free agency. There could always be a surprise or two, such as the Bucs trading Shaq Mason, who started at right guard during the 2022 season, last offseason. But most of the anticipated moves shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Bucs ILB Devin White and OLB Shaq Barrett – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

There are a couple of Bucs players on the current roster who could be in danger of being released this offseason. The most obvious one is outside linebacker Shaq Barrett. The two-time Pro Bowler has a big cap hit of $14,190,882 this season and it will actually cost the team more to move on from him this year as opposed to next year from a cap standpoint.

Cutting Barrett prior to June 1 will actually result in a $26.668 million cap hit. So why would the Bucs want to take on even more of a cap hit this year? The reason is twofold.

First, the Bucs could save actual cash by cutting Barrett, who turns 32 this fall. Releasing Barrett will save the Glazers from paying out $16.25 million. Second, Barrett’s production dipped from 10 sacks in 2021 to three sacks in an injury-shortened 2022 season to just 4.5 sacks last year while playing in all 17 games following Achilles surgery.

Tampa Bay has several younger players who can pick up the slack on the roster in Anthony Nelson and Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, who is in a contract year, as well as Markees Watts and Jose Ramirez. The Bucs will likely add another edge rusher to replace Barrett either in the draft or in free agency to throw into that mix to compete for the right to start opposite YaYa Diaby, who led the team in sacks last year with 7.5.

The other obvious candidate for release is wide receiver Russell Gage, who missed all of last year due to a knee injury. He’s set to have a cap hit of $13,350,668 in 2024 and Tampa Bay can create $6.448 million in cap room by cutting him, which they appear to be leaning toward doing.

Cornerback Carlton Davis III could be also be a cap casualty candidate. Tampa Bay would prefer to trade Davis rather than release him, but either way the team would save $6,300,941 in cap room in 2024. The only problem is that Davis has a high base salary at $14 million and is entering a contract year. Davis is the 10th highest-paid cornerback in the NFL, but he’s missed 23 games due to injury in his Bucs career, including 16 over the past three seasons.

The oft-injured cornerback also recently turned 27. The fact that Davis has a high salary, is entering a contract year and has never started a full season in any of his six years in Tampa Bay could make trading him problematic.

QUESTION: The linebacker positions are extremely important to a successful defense. Do you think Lavonte David will be back next year? And if not, how would we fill the hole if we predictably pass on re-signing Devin White?

ANSWER: I believe Lavonte David wants to play another year in Tampa Bay at age 34. At least that’s what he was alluding to in his last press conference back in mid-January when he was talking about his love for the game.

Bucs ILBs Devin White and Lavonte David – Photo by: USA Today

“I think it all goes back to me and my love for the game.” David said. “[It’s] me understanding that 52 other guys are counting on me when I’m out there. I have to carry myself a certain way on the field and off the field. Just be a leader when I’m out there whenever somebody needs to make a play, or somebody needs a little motivation. I’m going to show them that no matter what I’m going to give it my all every time.

“It’s a fun game, man. I love the game. I love playing football. I just love the camaraderie that you build with guys and the relationships that you build with guys. Whenever it’s all said and done, that’s the thing I’m going to miss the most.”

David had another exceptional season in 2023, leading the Bucs in tackles with 134 stops. His 17 tackles for loss were also the most in Tampa Bay and the most David has had since the 2016 season. Bucs head coach Todd Bowles certainly wants David back, especially with the team expected to not re-sign free agent linebacker Devin White.

“I’d love to have him back,” Bowles said of David. “He’s one of my favorite players I’ve ever coached. I don’t even look at his age – he plays timeless. He plays timeless football, he plays it the right way, he prepares the right way. He’s the ultimate professional.”

But what if both White and David do not return?

Carolina’s Frankie Luvu would be a great replacement, but at an expected $10 million per year, he’s likely out of the Bucs’ price range. The same could be said of Baltimore’s Patrick Queen, who could fetch as much as $18 million per year in free agency. Tennessee’s Azeez Al-Shaair and Houston’s Blake Cashman would be good free agent fits, and they would come cheaper. Of course, the Bucs could also turn to the draft, but it’s not a great crop of linebackers this year.

There are a couple of in-house candidates Tampa Bay could turn to, such as K.J. Britt, who is entering a contract year, at Mike linebacker replacing White, and SirVocea Dennis at Mo linebacker replacing David. J.J. Russell is another option, as he is capable of playing either linebacker spot.

Replacing one linebacker will be challenging enough since both White and David have started together for the past five years. The Bucs are counting on David wanting to play one more year because trying to find replacements for both in the same offseason could prove to be really tough.

QUESTION: Are the Bucs done filling the vacant spots on the offensive coaching staff? Any word on if Thad Lewis, Skip Peete and John Van Dam are staying on the staff? Also, I love the hire of Bryan McClendon. Any insight or thoughts on him?

Bucs WRs Coach Bryan McClendon – Photo by: USA Today

ANSWER: I have not heard any word about the Bucs looking to replace quarterbacks coach Thad Lewis, running backs coach Skip Peete or tight ends coach John Van Dam. I would think that if offensive coordinator Liam Coen wanted a new coach at any of those positions, it would have happened by now. I think keeping all three of those coaches is a good move considering the job that they did with each of their position groups last year.

I too love the hiring of new wide receivers coach Bryan McClendon. I think it’s an outstanding hire by Tampa Bay. In addition to coaching wide receivers at Georgia, Oregon and South Carolina, McClendon was also an interim head coach for brief stints at Georgia and Oregon, too, which is also impressive. McClendon, who is 40, has quite an impressive resume. I’ll have more on the Bucs’ new receivers coach in a separate story on PewterReport.com on Tuesday.

With the hiring of McClendon, new offensive line coach Kevin Carberry, assistant offensive line coach Brian Picucci and new special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey, most of the major hires have already taken place. The Bucs could still look to hire an assistant or two to help some of the position coaches, especially with offensive assistant David Raih moving on to Washington to coach tight ends.

STATEMENT: The Bucs can save a draft pick if they would just teach Sean Tucker the Warrick Dunn blitz pickup technique. Dunn would center in front of the rusher then lower his helmet to the rusher’s crotch to stone the guy. That keeps them from blitzing again and they would usually stop at the line.

REACTION: Tampa Bay does need to bolster the running back position this season. The Bucs were fortunate that Rachaad White was able to start all 17 games in his first season as a starter. But if disaster strikes and White were to go down with an injury, the only running backs on the roster right now are Sean Tucker and Patrick Laird. Chase Edmonds is a free agent and the team released Ke’Shawn Vaughn during the 2023 season.

Bucs RB Sean Tucker – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Tucker was a highly touted undrafted free agent signing last year, but hardly saw the field because of a lack of pass protection experience. Successful pass protection requires three things. The first is proper identification in terms of knowing which player to block. Is it the middle linebacker in the A gap or the blitzing nickel cornerback from the slot?

This is where rookies struggle in pass protection the most. If they are unsure about which player to block, that hesitancy will show up in the technique too, usually in lunging at a blitzer in the last second.

The second area of blitz pick-up is proper technique. It’s having a square base and not getting caught flat-footed where blitzers can bowl over or run around a back in pass protection. The third area of effective pass protection by backs is “want-to.” Without the “want-to” that little 5-foot-9, 187-pound Warrick Dunn had, he wouldn’t have been an elite pass blocker. Dunn was smart enough to know who to block and how to do it, but he also went low to attack oncoming blitzers, which was an effective strategy, as they often outweighed Dunn by as much as 40 pounds or so.

At 5-foot-10, 205 pounds, Tucker has enough size to get the job done. He just needs work on identifying the blitzer and then honing his technique. If he can do that, he could wind up as the Bucs’ backup running back. Yet just from a numbers standpoint, Tampa Bay will still need to add another running back in the draft (or after the draft) and/or in free agency.

The post Bucs Mailbag: Possible Salary Cap Casualties appeared first on Pewter Report.