Tampa Bay Buccaneers Salary Cap Update After Mike Evans Deal
There were rumors swirling all offseason about a potential market for Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans, but general manager Jason Licht and his team worked with the franchise legend to ensure he wasn't going anywhere.
Evans and Tampa Bay agreed to a deal before he hit free agency, coming to terms on a two-year contract worth up to $52 million with max incentives. The contract would see Evans make top-five receiver money with all those incentives, but the base deal is far kinder — the incentives make up $11 million of the contract with the base salary coming in at $41 million.
A good chunk of Evans' cap hit is dependent on the incentives he makes, given the nature of the deal. That being said, the star wideout's cap hit for 2024 is set to be quite low to allow Tampa Bay the opportunity to bring back more of its star players during free agency.
Tampa Bay's Current Salary Cap Projection
Spotrac has their salary cap projections for every NFL team in the league, and the Bucs' standing has obviously taken a hit since the extension for Evans. The new Evans deal and the franchise tag on Antoine Winfield Jr. have put the Bucs at 18th in the league in salary cap space.
As it stands, Spotrac has Tampa Bay with $22,457,158 in cap space. Mike Evans' new deal is a hefty one, but the base salary doesn't cost too much on the salary cap — the first year of his deal has a base salary of just $1,210,000 for a cap hit of $5,568,000 for 2024. This comes in conjunction with his dead cap number from his previous deal, though, which currently stands at $12,198,000.
Antoine Winfield Jr. was given the franchise tag, and the entirety of that tag is guaranteed. The two sides are still reportedly trying to hammer out a deal, but if they don't, Winfield Jr. will be counted his full tag of $17,123,000. Additionally, Winfield Jr. does have $1,585,600 in dead cap, according to Spotrac.
The Evans deal is structured in a way that could help the Bucs retain some more pieces in 2024, but the team could use up quite a bit more of the salary cap in trying to bring back players like quarterback Baker Mayfield and linebacker Lavonte David.
You can follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells.
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