“We borrowed $100M” – Bucs GM gets candid about cost of Super Bowl-chasing years with Tom Brady
The Tom Brady era is over at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. While the memories created by the quarterback will last a lifetime, the 2023 season will see the team set out in the mould of a completely different leader, with Baker Mayfield set to take over after signing in free agency.
Brady's three years saw the Buccaneers win a Super Bowl in 2020 and the NFC South the other two seasons. But since he left, the situation has been dire for Tampa Bay, as not only do they not have a trustworthy starting quarterback, but have seen many players move elsewhere in free agency.
Do you think general manager Jason Licht is upset about being in that situation? Not at all! Afterall, that was the price for three years with Tom Brady.
“If I go back in time I would do it all again. We pushed, we borrowed about $100 million against this year's cap and future cap to do what we did. Came close the second time but, you know, if anybody wants to criticize what we did, they can come to any of our three homes and look at our ring. We're gonna pursue another one too"
Buccaneers' 2023 salary cap situation explained:
According to Spotrac, Tampa Bay are currently $-13,602 over the cap, meaning they must make some changes to the salary cap, and this does not include linebacker Lavonte David, who re-signed with the team on a one-year deal.
The team has not been active in free agency due to its financial limitations, which are a result of their moves in the years they had Brady on the roster.
A fine way to clean up their salary cap is through the NFL Draft and this could be a good year for the Buccaneers. They have nine picks for 2023, which they could use to build depth.
How did signing Tom Brady in 2020 affect the 2023 cap?
With $70 million off the salary cap, there wasn't much room for Licht to operate in the market. He must hope he can find some easy deals to build a competitive roster, but it's not going to be easy.
After all, he does not have Brady anymore, so no one is going to take a discount deal to play with him. They have had years of success, but nothing is going to come easy this time.