Jan 1, 2023; Tampa, Florida, USA; Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs (78) celebrates after beating the Carolina Panthers at Raymond James Stadium.

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Tampa Bay Buccaneers News

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers didn’t go too wild on outside free agents, but they still made some significant moves this week in free agency.

Chris Godwin is back for three more years.  So is left guard Ben Bredeson.  Lavonte David is back for season number fourteen.  They inked edge rusher Haason Reddick from the New York Jets.

However, the cap space to accommodate those moves still had to be created, and on Friday at was.  Per FOX Sports’ Greg Auman, the Bucs restructured Tristan Wirfs’ contract to create over $19 million in salary cap space, which more than covers the moves they made this week.

Given Wirfs’ base structure was converted to a $1.17 million base salary with the rest as bonus, this is a max restructure deal.  That’s because they lowered his base salary to the lowest possible number – $1.17 million is the veteran league minimum for Wirfs based upon his number of seasons – and the rest was converted into signing bonus money that was prorated and spaced out evenly over five years.

But it’s a terrific decision and no-brainer of a move, as it doesn’t add on any void years to the contract.  Wirfs is signed through the next 5 seasons including 2025 (through 2029), so that means they can add $4,966,000 (the new bonus money of $24,830,000) and add that to his numbers for each year.

Let’s face it. Wirfs isn’t going anywhere and will surely be a member of the Bucs during that time, absent some terrible injury.  They’re not tying themselves moneywise beyond his contract, so they’re not mortgaging the future far down the road. Plus, the Bucs are set up to win now, and this gives them that space to try to make moves necessary to put them over the top now.

Per OverTheCap.com, Tampa Bay is last in the NFL in cap space ($2.08 million over) and effective cap space ($5.21 over).  However, that doesn’t account for Wirfs’ restructure, so those figures should change dramatically, setting the Bucs up to be able to add any additional pieces they need between now and when their 2025 season gets underway.