The Buccaneers didn’t make a lot of noise in free agency last year. This time around, they have a ridiculous amount of cap space and they plan to use it.
“We’ll be more active in free agency that we were last year,” Bucs G.M. Mark Dominik said Tuesday via the Tampa Tribune. “We purposely rolled every penny we could into this year’s cap. Clubs didn’t have to do that, but we wanted to. We have plans.”
Teams didn’t have to roll their money into this year’s cap, but why wouldn’t they? There is no downside. In Tampa’s case, it’s more salary cap room than they can spend. The number could be around $60 million.
The Bucs were building around their young talent until last year’s dramatic collapse. Now they have a lot of roster holes, a new coach, and money to burn.
“We’ll be involved in free agency,” Dominik said. “To what capacity, it depends on what the list looks like. We’re prepared, and that’s the most important thing.”
Translation: We’re ready to spend. A lot.