Buccaneers' shift in priorities likely to lead to Carlton Davis III's departure
Any smart NFL franchise has a never-ending supply of backup plans when entering the offseason. Teams never know what dominoes are going to fall as they deal with rosters of 53-90 players throughout the majority of the year. Therefore, they need to be ready for all things possible. The temperature really gets turned up once […]
Any smart NFL franchise has a never-ending supply of backup plans when entering the offseason. Teams never know what dominoes are going to fall as they deal with rosters of 53-90 players throughout the majority of the year. Therefore, they need to be ready for all things possible.
The temperature really gets turned up once the Super Bowl ends and the offseason essentially begins. The Buccaneers have already experienced two big changes in Tom Brady's and Ali Marpet's retirements. While Brady's retirement wasn't completely surprising, Marpet's was from an outsider's standpoint. And it won't stop there. As free agency is set to begin in a couple of days, the Buccaneers will see more shifts in regard to player movement. And the Bucs will have to resort to Plan B, C, D, or whatever backup plan they have left.
But Marpet's retirement not only caused the Buccaneers to resort to a backup plan, it caused a shift in priorities. Bruce Arians talked about it at the NFL Scouting Combine.
"Obviously, Ali [Marpet’s] retirement threw a little wrench into it," Arians told reporters. "But we’ll work through that and see how much continuity we can keep in our offensive line – that’s always key."
Before Marpet's retirement, Tampa Bay could've gotten away with losing Alex Cappa, Ryan Jensen, Aaron Stinnie, or even a combination of the two. But losing Marpet -who was a top-3 guard- makes it paramount to return at least two of the three. The Bucs just re-signed Stinnie to a $1.4 million contract before incentives, which helps Jason Licht allocate more money toward the effort of retaining Jensen and Cappa. Both players are projected to cost $8 million per year, at minimum.
The problem is, the Buccaneers don't have a lot of money to spend. They're actually a little more than $2 million over the cap, currently. They're going to make moves to get under the cap and create space, but they're not going to have enough to pay everyone.
And the main guy that's going to feel this shift is the Buccaneers' No. 1 cornerback, Carlton Davis III. The Buccaneers are likely to pay Jensen and Cappa, which won't leave enough for Davis, who is likely to receive at least $14 million per year.
It's a shame for both parties. The Buccaneers drafted Davis in the second round of the 2018 draft and he's been the Bucs' best corner in probably a decade.
Sometimes things just don't work out when it comes to timing. And that will likely be the case with the Buccaneers and Davis.
Featured image via Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
