Bucs GM Jason Licht.

Yesterday when Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht spoke with Joe, Ira Kaufman and a few others in the Tampa Bay pen and mic club, he explained how the new salary cap helps in more ways than one.

First, of course, the Bucs have big-name, big-money free agents to sign. Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans, Antoine Winfield, Lavonte David. And yes, kicker Chase McLaughlin.

When it was mentioned to Licht that the Bucs’ history of kickers in his decade-long regime made McLaughlin a high priority, Licht didn’t say anything, but upon hearing McLaughlin’s name Licht did make the Sign of the Cross.

Yes, one could argue McLaughlin and his strong kicking was a divine gift.

Licht then explained how the new salary cap will help the Bucs in more ways than one way.

“Well, it definitely helps with [re-signing free agents],” Licht said at the combine at the Indiana Convention Center in the heart of downtown Indianapolis. “That’s a good thing because we definitely want to retain a lot of these guys.

“But it helps us as we are still paying the bills from a couple of years ago. So we took a big bite out of [the dead money] this last year but we still have some more.

“So [the new salary cap] helps us with that.”

Last year the Bucs were choked by the salary cap, caused in part by a record amount of dead money owed from players not even on the roster, for example, Tom Brady.

However, Joe is starting to wonder if that was a blessing in disguise. Let’s say the Bucs had a bunch of Team Glazer loot to play with last spring. Would they have settled on a quarterback who played on three teams in the previous two seasons and was woeful on the second of those three teams?

Remember, a big reason Mayfield came to town was he was so inexpensive. If the Bucs weren’t pinched by the cap, would Mayfield have even played for Tampa Bay? And therefore, would the Bucs have come within a timeout, a heartbeat and a burp of the NFC title game?

Todd Bowles Sits Down With The Sage And Joe At The NFL Scouting Combine