Bruce Arians: “He’s Going To Get Paid The Most”
November 13th, 2019
Bucco Bruce Arians was talking player contracts yesterday and it highlights a likely organizational rethinking of the Bucs roster.
Joe has written several times about the Bucs paying Chris Godwin a fortune after this season, his third in the NFL. Doing it sooner, rather than later (after the 2020 season) seems to be the smart play. Godwin eventually will want No. 1 receiver cash so try to get him to take less now in exchange for the financial security and eliminating any fears he has of injury.
But if you pay Godwin the big bucks along with Mike Evans, and you slap a franchise tag (roughly $27 million) on Jameis Winston, then what?
Well, the quick answer is you should score a lot of points and you better draft better to find more Alex Cappa-type offensive linemen.
Arians was asked on Buccaneers Radio this week about the tremendous success of Godwin and Evans, and how that affects his view of the No. 3 pass catcher role (not receiver, pass catcher).
Arians’ reply let it slip that the Bucs plan to raid the Team Glazer vault for Godwin.
“As long as we keep spreading it around and the majority goes to the two guys that are gettin’ paid the most — not one of them, but he’s going to get paid the most. So that’s the way it’s going,” Arians said.
Godwin is in Year 3 of a four-year, $3.3 million rookie contract. Mike Evans earns $20 million this season, but the remaining four years on his deal average about $14.5 million per season.
Joe’s glad to hear the Bucs plan to lock down Godwin.
If the Bucs move to sign him right after this season — a year before his rookie deal expires — Joe suspects they could get Godwin for $15 million per season, assuming Godwin is healthy and has any kind of decent finish to 2019.
November 13th, 2019 at 5:12 am
har-grievances was cut because he’s a smoked out, cackling guy… with a very funny hairdo and equally funny dressing style…he kinda reminds me of a mini geraldini…
he couldn’t catch carson in the seattle game and devin white came streaking past him on the highlight real for the strip tackle…dude is uber slow and a waste of roster spot…that was really the final exposure leading to this move imho
#HerpesZosterHarHar #HarHarGotCutCut
arians and licht are very smart to cut him after the win…they have totally monkey-wrenched the fans with tricky deflection on this move…
November 13th, 2019 at 5:35 am
PAY THE MAN!
November 13th, 2019 at 5:35 am
Im sure glazers are pumped to have a coach who will not be around throw their dollars around like its monopoly money
November 13th, 2019 at 5:44 am
Lock him Up I would also like to see the Bucs Resign RoJo as well doing so this year would think you could get him for a great deal
November 13th, 2019 at 6:30 am
Welcome to salary-cap HELL……
November 13th, 2019 at 6:32 am
A 1st round QB is the BEST cap dollar deal in the NFL….
November 13th, 2019 at 6:34 am
Preach it Tom. Wait until we resign Winston. Where will the money come from to pay all other players?
November 13th, 2019 at 6:43 am
Easy math…don’t pay $27 mil (ish) for #3.
November 13th, 2019 at 6:52 am
If you don’t draft well then you over pay underperforming players that’s how you get a awful record and in salary cap hell
November 13th, 2019 at 7:04 am
Goodwin under performing player? Do you see any games from section 312? Goodwin is a great player. We should be loyaltotheend for him for sure.
Go Bucs!
November 13th, 2019 at 7:04 am
maybe they keep godwin and let winston walk? who knows maybe winston walks and licht drafts joe the plumber from south east baton rouge city college
November 13th, 2019 at 7:09 am
tsk ..27 mil for an average QB ..now we’re cooking with gas
another 4 years of sloppy football ..can’t wait
November 13th, 2019 at 7:14 am
Tom … BINGO! Gump has maneuvered us into the Twilight Zone & I still can’t see a way to escape. IF we re-sign Jameis & sign Godwin to a long-term contract our offense will cost probably at least $15 mil MORE than it does today, and we’re already the most expensive in terms of cost per player. That’d surely eat up any potential increase in the salary Cap for 2020, and leave us nothing to upgrade our defense with. Welcome to mediocrity IF we pursue that path.
Our defense today sits at $59 mil cost for only 23 players (9 Secondary). Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that re-signing JPP ($10.7 mil now), Barrett ($4.0 mil now), Suh ($9.2 now), Nassib ($2.0 now) & signing a veteran corner for our Secondary would cost us at least $20 mil more.
Bucs have some very hard choices to make, because we can’t have it all.
November 13th, 2019 at 7:18 am
This is where you pay 70% on the Offense, then complain about the Defense.
November 13th, 2019 at 7:22 am
Assuming Godwin wishes to play here. I’m not willing to bet on that.
November 13th, 2019 at 7:24 am
It helps we dumped VH3….(we were never going to pay him next year anyway) But we really don’t have the money to pay Winston $27 mil.
The question is why franchise him?….To take another 1-year look at him?….so, you pay a QB $27 mil that you are unsure of.
If you want to keep Winston, keep Winston.
Offer him an incentive laden 3 year contract at about 20 mil per year…..and force him to turn it down….I sincerely don’t believe he will get that on the open market.
November 13th, 2019 at 7:25 am
This dude said resign ROJO hahahaaahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaahahahahah a guy that has a streak of games under 4ypc
November 13th, 2019 at 7:38 am
Winston 27 mil Godwin 15 mil Barrett let walk JPP let walk David 2020 last year of contract. And you want to complain about defense.
November 13th, 2019 at 7:48 am
Yup, lock him down….3 years 16 mill per year, put some of it in an immediate bonus to get him into the lifestyle!
November 13th, 2019 at 7:49 am
Pay him and timing is everything!!
November 13th, 2019 at 8:02 am
By the time Licht gets done paying everyone there will not be any money for any new free agents. Then we will draft 3 more dbs a punter and a partridge in a pear tree. Next year same deal 5 or 6 wins.
November 13th, 2019 at 8:26 am
i’d rather have JPP, Shaq, CG and ME
vs
JW,CG & ME
keeping JW would be a huge mistake….JW would cost too much for not enough wins….
GO BUCS!!!!!
November 13th, 2019 at 8:31 am
McGoo slips up again. I swear the man has Alzheimer’s
November 13th, 2019 at 8:32 am
Did he try to throw a challenge flag after he slipped up and made that comment?
November 13th, 2019 at 8:34 am
I am not sure why people keep saying the false narrative that the Bucs are in salary cap hell.
The Bucs have the least amount of dead money in the NFL at $88,238.
The Bucs are #3 in cap space for 2020 at $92,441,442(only behind the Dolphins and Colts).
Cap hell is the Atlanta Falcons. They are $1,451,316 over the cap.
November 13th, 2019 at 8:35 am
I absolutely love Chris Godwing….But we can´t pay everybody big time…..JPP, Barrett Godwin, Whatever QB you may choose,Free agents, 1 round pick, its imposible…..GM has to think strategy here….Its imposible to pay JW 27mm and pay Godwin like a 1 receiver…..We have holes everywhere!!!!
November 13th, 2019 at 9:02 am
@Rusty
Godwin is in year 3, this would be his first 1,000 yard season. Can’t pay him #1 WR money for one great season and two average seasons.
I like him and loved the pick
But you can’t pay him, Jameis, Barret, JPP, a vet CB, OL depth and replace most of the d line…
Can’t have a unbalanced salary cap where most of the money is on offense yet the team can’t stop anyone
Why resign Godwin when you have him for another year cheap?
November 13th, 2019 at 9:10 am
Need CG but they also need to resign JPP, Barrett & Nassib before signing JW. But have no fear Loser Licht will probably screw the whole thing up.
November 13th, 2019 at 9:43 am
Ocala … IF you JUST look at 2020 in terms of contracts that are now in existence, you’re exactly right … we have a lot of salary Cap room to play with. For instance, according to Spotrac, Bucs have $115 mil committed to 35 players under contract for 2020, but that includes several who probably won’t be with us next year (Beckwith for instance). Spotrac projects the 2020 Cap to be $199 mil (who really knows?), and we have $8.4 mil rollover from this year (about what it’d cost for a decent veteran OLineman or corner?). So that leaves us with a projected $92.4 mil to play with.
But there’s a snag in there: we have comparatively few high cost players under contract. IOW, we’ll be owing a LOT of money to 2020 FAs plus draft picks. Including re-signings, that combined number could total 18-20. So IF Jameis made $27 mil, Godwin made $15 mil ($12 mil more than this year), JPP makes $11 mil, Barrett makes say $10 mil, Suh makes $9 mil, Nassib makes say $7 mil and our rookie class takes $8 mil that comes up to $84 mil … to sign probably 12 players of the 18-20 we’ll need. That’d leave us only about $8 mil to sign say 6-8 more players. Bummer.
And BTW, you mentioned that 2020 dead money is $88K. That’s a huge blessing actually. Especially considering that right now our dead money for 2019 is sitting at $10.6 mil. Double bummer.
November 13th, 2019 at 9:54 am
The players are grossly overpaid. Get rid of all the high salaries in the NFL and start over with a realistic pay scale. I realize the dollar is near worthless but these endlessly escalating amounts paid to play a game are totally ridiculous. A much lower pay scale would still attract players and the league would even out as far as talent. Everything continuously costing more has no future in reality.
November 13th, 2019 at 10:11 am
Giving Winston 27 Million next year is just absolutely ludicrous.
That money could be much better spent filling up holes with much better players.
November 13th, 2019 at 10:42 am
Suh was a one year rental I doubt they bring back at that price and we will draft a DT next year.
November 13th, 2019 at 10:47 am
Ungodly is worth the dough. He’s a class act off the field, too.
November 13th, 2019 at 10:49 am
Goodwin’s no fool. If the Bucs won’t pay him, One of the other 31 teams will. PAY THE MAN TB!!
November 13th, 2019 at 11:03 am
Offer JW 2 year 30 mil with 15 gaurenteed. If he won’t accept see yah. Offer CG 5 year 65 mil with 5 this year and 15 each of the following four. Offer SB 3 year 38 mil 12.6 a year. Sign a free agent DB for 14 mil a year. No DBs in the draft just OTs,DTs,EDGE,RB, WR and of course QB. Not necessarily in that order that’s your 6 draft picks. That leaves about 25 mil to fill out the rest of your team.
November 13th, 2019 at 11:06 am
Can’t franchise or sign Jameis to that much money per year. It just won’t work unless you start cutting tons of important players at other positions.
If they want to sign Godwin long term and keep Jameis, then Jameis will need to agree to something under 20m/ year for 2 years or something like that. A 2-year “you need to prove more” kind of deal.
Then we’d still need to reduce the money that’s invested in our inconsistent o-line, and pour more money into the defense.
You guys realize that neither JPP, Suh or Sack Barrett are under contract for 2020, right? Who the fk is gonna be our d-line?
We already have the majority of our money invested in the offense, we can’t tilt the scales even further in that direction and then expect to have any defensive improvement. And I don’t care how good the offense is, the defense needs to at least be average if you wanna play games in January.
November 13th, 2019 at 11:15 am
Winston will get paid around 20-21, Brate will be traded, restructured or cut, Gholston will be waived or restructured. They may try something with Jensen salary as well but once its all said and done tampa will have about 100 mil and need to figure out how to spread it around.
Between Winston 20-21, Godwin 14-16 mil, JPP 9m with incentives, Shaq around 15-18 mi land possibly Suh 7-8mil w/ incentives.
November 13th, 2019 at 11:17 am
Godwin has 1 year left and has yet to gain 1,000 yards…
Why pay a guy who is under team control for 3 more years and who is having 1 great year out of 3…
Stop rewarding players for 1 good year
November 13th, 2019 at 11:24 am
@loyal- he has 1 year left on his contract, not 3
November 13th, 2019 at 11:32 am
Unbelievable they sign Barrett for a one year prove it deal and look what he’s done. Same should be done with Winston.
November 13th, 2019 at 11:39 am
Not sure where you guys are getting your numbers.
We have roughly 90 mil next season.
Sign Jameis to a multi year deal with $20 mil in 2020
Shaq for $12 mil
JPP for $12 mil
Nassib for $7
Godwin for $15
Rookie class $8
Let suh walk
That’s 16 mil left and we will probably cut a few more to get to about $20.
Buy a baller CB and we’re looking good.
November 13th, 2019 at 11:58 am
Allbuccedup I’d be fine with that too, but Jameis’ camp would have to agree to the terms (unless they franchise him, which would cost even more $$$). That’s why I suggested a 2-year deal, there’d be more incentives from both sides.
But who tf knows what this franchise will do. They don’t ever make anything seem easy.
November 13th, 2019 at 12:09 pm
Buccernutter easier said than done.
November 13th, 2019 at 12:21 pm
true. but solid plan, right?
November 13th, 2019 at 12:31 pm
Godwin is a must sign and Jameis certainly is not. Draft a cheap rookie qb and buy some decent defensive backs in free agency. Of course if Licht is calling the shots (most likely will be unfortunately) then the point is moot since he can’t evaluate db’s. Give me a call when the draft that Licht has no part in begins. 😉
November 13th, 2019 at 12:31 pm
Interesting BA is guaranteed to pay Godwin, but states that JW
has a good chance on getting a contract – why not state the same
for JW ?.
Reading between the lines Godwin is ahead of JW in the cash line and if we don’t have JW that equates to $110 million with the chance to draft a young QB, we should be looking to trade up for that and not keep dropping down, we get more draft picks but we don’t get the quality we need due to bad picks.
Better quality and less quantity ! Cut JW and plan for a high
draft pick QB. 2 guarantees – Less cash and less turnovers !
Build the trenches around a new QB.
November 13th, 2019 at 1:09 pm
I’m pretty sure Evans reminded Brucie Poo who the highest paid receiver on the roster was during the bye week, cause Godwin has seen a fraction of the targets that Evans has seen since the bye.
They dont have an offensive coordinator good enough to maximize the money that they want to spend on this offense. Right now Winston is locked onto Evans. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he started forcing the ball to Howard to finish the season.
November 13th, 2019 at 1:25 pm
Why would you keep Winston?
November 13th, 2019 at 1:41 pm
With Jason Gump drafting O-linemen from mighty James Madison and Hobart we should have a Superbowl run by 2025
November 13th, 2019 at 2:28 pm
“GhostofSchiano – With Jason Gump drafting O-linemen from mighty James Madison and Hobart we should have a Superbowl run by 2025”
Actually Ali stepped in right away and Cappa took one year and he looks promising. Our weakest links are Demar due to Age and Donovan and he came from a Power 5 school. You couldve picked a better example than that.
November 13th, 2019 at 4:13 pm
Loyaltotheend Section 312 Says — are you kidding me? Godwin was the #4 receiver with DeSean and Humhreys on the team for the past two years. Talent was there but one ball to go around to Evans, OJ, Brate and all others. Heck yes Godwin deserves #1 receiver money with Evans. Now, let’s go draft an offensive line.