CBS: Looks Like Antoine Winfield Will Get Franchised
February 17th, 2024
Tag team?
This seems odd to Joe, but Joe doesn’t have the sources Jonathan Jones does.
The top NFL insider for CBS seems to believe Baker Mayfield will not get slapped with the franchise tag. Neither will Mike Evans. Instead, it appears Antoine Winfield will be the member of the Bucs’ Big Four free agents who gets the tag.
You can read between the lines of what Jones types and conclude the Bucs and Winfield’s hired help are not close (yet) to a deal.
According to sources … Winfield Jr. appears destined for the franchise tag at around $18.2 million next month unless the two sides can reach an agreement on a long-term contract that would pay the first-team All-Pro safety top-of-the-market money.
Well, teams generally don’t franchise a player unless they aren’t close to a deal — and the team doesn’t want to run the risk of the player bolting.
Joe figured it might be Mayfield who got tagged, only because the Bucs want to make sure last season wasn’t a fluke as Mayfield has been up and down through his career. And the Bucs don’t want to roll with an unknown at quarterback.
February 17th, 2024 at 12:28 am
I’m on with Winfield getting tagged. “Let baker walk” we can use that money to build a team fir the next QB.
February 17th, 2024 at 12:55 am
If they are going to franchise Winfield it’s probably because franchising a Safety is significantly less money than QB or WR. I know the occult of Trask doesn’t want to hear it but Baker will get extended to be the quarterback of the Bucs for the next season or two. The salary cap is not real, it’s nothing more than accounting principles and the Bucs have shown/proven many times that they know how to work it.
February 17th, 2024 at 1:17 am
Trolling.
This is not a Joe worthy question.
Safety IS the tag. It’s affordable, Winfield wouldn’t feel disrespected, and is easier to match an offer sheet for a Safety. A runaway process on a pro-bowl Safety doesn’t have as many zeroes attached to it as Baker of Mike.
February 17th, 2024 at 1:23 am
Or just maybe, the Bucs came to terms with baker and Mike weeks ago? That’s my occums razor take.
February 17th, 2024 at 1:30 am
I don’t agree with the why babysitter has as his reason BUT Winfield is generational just like Wirfs. For instance have you ever met anyone who can jump out of a pool at all (water or not) much less from waist deep in the water? An O lineman that can switch to either tackle position and play at a minimum of pro bowl and just about all pro at both tackles? “Generational”
It’s too bad we need to use it on Winfield but letting him get away with the lousy play of the secondary (with the exception of Winfield) of late would be foolish of the highest order.
W obviously don’t need a tag for David. He’ll either play asba Buc or not at all, Mike is worth it,.but we don’t have the funny money to pay the very top dollar for him. I believe he’s willing to work with his cost IF we have a legitimate QB.
And as far as Baker goes, he would be Foolish to split over a couple of Million dollars more to somewhere, where he may not be respected and accommodated to as much as the Bucs are willing to do for him. It would simply be foolish and the likelihood of him maintaining his current level of play (much less hopefully even better) ANYWHERE ELSE is unlikely. And his gamble on himself may blow up in his face without what Tampa is willing to give him for years of success versus maybe just a season or two and back on the kick rocks pool again without the admiration and support he WILL receive here in Tampa. Simple as that.
Winfield makes sense. To bad we’d have to use the tag at all……
February 17th, 2024 at 1:34 am
Good point.
February 17th, 2024 at 1:34 am
Enough of the Bucs want to make sure last year “wasn’t a fluke” already! What a joke. Do your homework Joe and look closely at the numbers Baker put up during his first three years in Cleveland amidst the utter instability of that franchise. Not exactly an ideal environment to develop a young QB.
Yet during his first three years in Cleveland, Baker threw more TD’s and had less INT’s than the GOAT did in his first full three seasons. And the Patriots had a MUCH BETTER team surrounding Brady.
And NO, I’m not comparing Baker to Brady in overall talent. So everybody calm down.
Babysitter: I think Baker should stay and hater’s like you should take a walk.
February 17th, 2024 at 2:55 am
Right choice. And draft that kid Cooper Dejean to put back there with him!
I truly believe Baker and Mike are going to help work through it but still be satisfied with a payday….money aint everything. We have something here I know they believe in and a dam good chance to be back in the playoffs next year and push further this time.
February 17th, 2024 at 2:56 am
IDK, Wyoming.
Cleveland had A LOT of high priced and high powered FA and drafts surrounding Baker during those years didn’t they? OBJ comes to mind. Chubb comes to mind. A few others including one of the best O lines money could buy. Plus they have been drafting in the top 5 FOR YEARS before Baker came along so YES, they had a better team than the pats “on paper” anyways.
It’s not like Baker had nothing to work with. That’s For Sure!
With that said, he didn’t have much to work with once Baker got dealt until he got here. And there’s Nothing wrong with that. In fact THAT’S the whole debate going on right now. Having enough money to surround our QB with elite players so that he and the entire team can shine as brightly as possible. We give all the money to a few guys instead of spreading it around, well then it’s a useless cause. It’s ALL ABOUT the TEAM and affording to be able to have one that can compete for a run at the Super Bowl… EVERY YEAR!
Can’t expect to accomplish that with scrubs and even Cleveland understood that when they drafted Baker 1st overall. They moved All In and had a good run at it. They didn’t have the coach but they did have all the other pieces that “money could buy”….. They were just too foolish to maintain it. They SHOULD HAVE kept Baker and drafted their way into legend.
Of course they decided to give a Billion dollars to the qb they replaced Baker with and now they can’t afford to put anybody around to do a thing with it. BIGGEST FOOLS in football.
February 17th, 2024 at 3:52 am
Obvious Says:
February 17th, 2024 at 2:56 am
IDK, Wyoming.
Cleveland had A LOT of high priced and high powered FA and drafts surrounding Baker during those years didn’t they? OBJ comes to mind. Chubb comes to mind
———
common misconception. Yes browns developed a team while Baker was there but the team was on a NINETEEN game losing streak before he entered his first game and erased a 14 point lead by the jets.
The idea Baker can only win on a good team is mythical. A team that lost 19 straight and dropped 3 games into that season without a win was a skunk of a team.
February 17th, 2024 at 3:54 am
Obvious … Excellent analysis. JL’s issue right now is that he’s dealing with 3 players (Winfield, Evans & Mayfield) who all did great in 2023, who we obviously want to keep, who are UFAs, and who will all make significantly more in 2024 than they made in 2023. JL currently has very limited salary CAP space available, only has 1 franchise tag to work with, and many mouths to feed. Solvable problem, but it all depends on a lot of folks negotiating in good faith. I don’t envy him.
Winfield has been the most likely choice all along IMO. The franchise tag for Safety ($17.2 mil) and his Market Value ($18.5 mil per Spotrac) are relatively close, so Winfield wouldn’t feel ‘disrespected’ (always a danger when using the franchise tag). Hopefully however the Bucs get a long-term contract done with him early-on so they can spread out the contract’s impact over 3-4 years instead of eating the whole $18 mil in 2024.
February 17th, 2024 at 4:10 am
The writing on the wall indicates Baker is in the bag. He’s indicated directly and his situation suggests he is NOT just looking for the biggest bag and willing to make sacrifices and even take incentives.
The franchise tag rarely make sense for a player willing to deal. You can’t structure your cap creatively with a franchise tag,
With Mike? one of two things
A) the doubt in paying top dollar and multiple years for Evans due to his age was real when the Bucs declined to extend him. OF course they say they want Mike to be a buc for life because its good PR and because when Mike insists on top dollars they can say what they wanted but couldn’t do.
B) they are prepared to open the bank such that Mike will stay but the franchise tag on Mike of all players would be insulting to him and Evans can sulk at times when not happy.
Personally I lean toward Mike and his agent being more insulted than they let on – and mike 60-40 is gone. However at the end of the day none of us know squat what goes on behind closed doors or even the players personally so opiniions are worthless.
February 17th, 2024 at 5:01 am
This is a tough one. The qb position is by far the most important position on todays NFL roster.
I believe Denver to make a serious run at mayfield if it can. That coach of theirs aint stupid, and he wasn’t born last night. Atlanta could as well. Mayfield is a Drew Brees clone and he’s only 29 and a pro bowler.
The Bucs will only be able to keep 2 of the 3 top free agents if they are lucky.
I’m locking in mayfield come by hook or come by crook.
Figure out the details any way you want.
If we do not lock in mayfield, we could be looking at another lost generation.
I’m too old for that.
With everyone on this roster, mayfield is priority number one. End of story.
February 17th, 2024 at 5:12 am
BAAHAHAHAHAHAHA I love all this “Mayfield Strategy” talk.
Serious question…
What’s the MARKET for Mayfield? If the Bucs don’t sign him where he is doing to go, and how much are they willing to pay?
I’d have to think the market for Mayfield isn’t that big. Of course Mayfield “wants to stay a Buc.” The Bucs will mostly likely be the team to pay him the most. That’s a no-brainer for Mayfield to say he wants to stay here.
There most likely won’t be many other teams “bidding” for Mayfield. Most of the teams in desperate need of a QB have high draft picks and this is a QB-heavy draft this year. So those teams have little incentive to overpay for a free agent QB.
The bottom line is Mayfield had a decent, but not great season. A lot his stats were padded in the 2nd half when the game was already out of reach and they let Mayfield play the entire game.
Do a serious analysis of Mayfield’s production in the FIRST HALF of games when the game was more on the line than when we got behind by multiple scores in many games. He had MANY games were he didn’t play well and didn’t move the chains much at all. This isn’t bashing on Mayfield it’s a FACT.
Trask may turn out of be a bust and a wasted 2nd round pick, but the fear this season with Mayfield is what is exactly happening right now… that Mayfield would play “okay” but not great and we’d end up getting suckered into giving him a massive contract.
The Bucs are in a TERRIBLE position now.
February 17th, 2024 at 5:20 am
Tag mayfield if he doesn’t accept team friendly contract from the get go. Negotiate evans and Winfield.
February 17th, 2024 at 5:54 am
Who is Jones? Why would a guy I never heard of have better “sources than the Joes? I ain’t buying it Joe. Don’t get me started on why not to believe alot of these media clowns.
First of all why tag anyone? It tends to piss players and their agents off. It also does no real good for the “Tagging team” in the big picture. Salaries go up every year Joe. Why put off paying a guy like AWJ for one year when you know it will cost you more next year and now your dealing with two pissed off people.
BTW can we get AWJ and Whitehead back there together Jason? Please?
Go Bucs!
Get it done Jason!
Go Bucs!
February 17th, 2024 at 7:25 am
The bucs free agents aren’t all going to be signed unless the front office are all in on Mayfield being a franchise QB. He isn’t even close. To me he is a lower tier QB who had an ok season on a team with great receiving talent. He had a great year for Mayfield but not so great for a NFL QB. You sign Baker for big money and the bucs will begin their decline.
February 17th, 2024 at 7:28 am
NDog always did this with Jameis Winston – comparing him to Peyton Manning. It is a strawman fallacy on both your parts. You need to compare Baker to others during his time period.
1. In TD/Int ratio, Baker was slightly below league average in his first three seasons.
2. In TD/Int ratio, Brady was slightly above league average in his first three seasons.
3. Brady had 8 GW drives in 1st 3 seasons. Baker had 4.
4. Brady’s team was better because of the defense.
5. Bakers offensive talent was better with Chubb and others.
6. New England’s best offensive player was 31-year-old Troy Brown.
February 17th, 2024 at 7:49 am
Looks like maybe the Bucs have doubts about Baker. After all his record wasn’t great.
February 17th, 2024 at 8:00 am
BA, White Tiger. Good points, hadn’t looked at the dollar amount until you’ll comments
February 17th, 2024 at 8:14 am
Ethan … Not seeing that ‘maybe the Bucs have doubts about Baker’. Sounds like they did consulted him on several recent issues, and that’d be unlikely if they were intending to move on. Besides, it’s not like the Bucs have a huge number of available QB options at this point.
I keep thinking about what JL’s & TB’s perfect team must look like in their eyes. One thing that strikes me is that they BOTH favor building strong trenches (on different sides of the ball of course). C & G have undoubtedly got JL’s attention (as well as a long-term contract for Wirfs). Improving pass rush & interior pressure has to be high on TB’s agenda. They both seem to want a better running team. I wonder though how much they’re willing to invest THIS YEAR towards achieving THOSE goals. Signing all 5 top UFAs (Winfield, Evans, Mayfield, LVD, McLaughlin) will require some creative financing (restructuring contracts, etc), and that’ll result in tying their hands salary-CAP-wise for several more years. Narrow road they’re being forced to walk.
February 17th, 2024 at 8:28 am
Didn’t expect that. Bye, Baker.
February 17th, 2024 at 8:35 am
Ndog that’s a name I haven’t seen in years
February 17th, 2024 at 9:29 am
Winfield is a proven sure thing. Mayfield has yet to prove consistency.
February 17th, 2024 at 9:53 am
It is a misconception that Baker has been an up and down player. His one down year in Cleveland was because he played most of the season with a serious injury. His reward for his toughness was to be kicked to the curb. His down year with the Panthers was because it was a completely dysfunctional team under Matt Rhule. How much do you think Cleveland regrets giving up on Baker now that they are on the hook paying Watson over 250 million guaranteed and he won’t play if he has something as small as a hangnail? Baker will run through a wall for you!
February 17th, 2024 at 9:53 am
Winfield is at the tip in the league and will command the most money and hardest to resign. I think baker and Evans might both sign a fair deal for both sides. Winfield demands a blank check….im all for this he’s an animal and can’t afford to lose him.
February 17th, 2024 at 9:58 am
Alabama, don’t you think it’s easier to show consistency if you’re a safety rather than a QB? A lot k SS moving parts to be concerned about.
Plus, Mayfield was on his way to proving his consistency before his injury.
Plus Mayfield inherited a team that was 1-33 before he played in his first game as a rookie against the Jets.
Just sayin’
February 17th, 2024 at 10:16 am
Broncos aren’t making any moves until they move Russell Wilson and his 35M cap hit
February 17th, 2024 at 10:29 am
I’m pretty sure a number of teams, including the Packers, would love to take a run at him. I think franchising him might be the smart play, if you can’t lock him up before the deadline.
February 17th, 2024 at 10:44 am
So many bad takes, love it
February 17th, 2024 at 11:45 am
Obvious:
I’m gonna point out that the team Baker was drafted to was 1-31 the previous 2 years. Not exactly a pool of talent…
As for the ‘talent’ he was surrounded with: OBJ was GREAT in NY… has not been since. He was more of a liability in Cleveland – never running the correct routes, free-lancing everywhere, then complaining that he wasn’t getting the ball. It’s not a coincidence that Cleveland IMPROVED when he went out with a knee injury… LANDRY was the true star… there were no other good receivers on that team. I’ll give you Chubb – in fact, TB should make a run at Chubb this year, and/or Kareem Hunt.
The ‘great’ O-line he had played only 4 games together in 2019 and 2021 — one or more of the tackles where injured during most of that time, and they were playing rookies like Hudson, Hansen, et al. Against the Jets they started 4 guards and a center. In the playoff game against Pittsburgh, Baker had to introduce himself to 2 of the starting linemen before the game that week.
Theoretically, yes, Cleveland had some talent. Practically, not so much.
February 17th, 2024 at 11:56 am
Tony Marks Says:
February 17th, 2024 at 4:10 am
The writing on the wall indicates Baker is in the bag. He’s indicated directly and his situation suggests he is NOT just looking for the biggest bag and willing to make sacrifices and even take incentives.
——————-
He has no other options.
February 17th, 2024 at 11:58 am
How many more all pro years does Winfield have? Safeties don’t seem to last at such high levels of play. Franchise him next two years then see where he is at physically.
February 17th, 2024 at 12:38 pm
If they are planning on Franchising Winfield, they must have a pretty good clue that they can sign Evans and Mayfield. I don’t want to lose Winfield but I would definitely Franchise Evans if we didn’t think we could reach an agreement with him. Glad I am not in Jason Licht’s shoes right now. The stress level must be pretty high right now.
February 17th, 2024 at 12:41 pm
Most of you are looking at the now. Baker has had a up n down career I’m down to give him another season or 2 with the Bucs but the real question is about the future and baker isn’t the future. He’s 28. That isn’t old but that isn’t young either. His style of play which I do love will ultimately cut his playing career short. As he ages he won’t be able to scramble like he is now. So unless he plays behind a great line that won’t allow pressure as he gets older he’s going to take a lot of sacks. Again not hating on baker. I became a fan of his thru the season as he put his life on the line with those awesome scrambles. Baker could possible be good for the next few years but my issue is he played some very bad games this year very bad. He hasn’t had multiple winning seasons in a row he he hasn’t bin consistent thru out his career take that with his aggressive style of play and then pay him a bunch of money doesn’t sound like good Buisness. Maybe with the New OC he can be a little more consistent next year which is what we need to see. Gotta look at the future cause bakers not it
February 17th, 2024 at 12:54 pm
Jeffs grandpa Says:
February 17th, 2024 at 8:35 am
Ndog that’s a name I haven’t seen in years
____________
Or,
webster
DB55
Tmaxxxxxipad
All original members of the JayMiss Nuthugger Brigade.
Munch is the only member I can think of that’s still around, but I think that’s because he enjoys the pain or because he’s never wrong?
February 17th, 2024 at 1:10 pm
I believe Bucs D is trouble next season without David. Is Lavonte coming back?
February 17th, 2024 at 3:37 pm
I called this aftet the Falcons game. Winfield hands down won us 3 games, on his own last season. Winfield by far is the best DB on the roster and in my opinion in the game. This is a no brainer.
February 17th, 2024 at 4:43 pm
Let’umBake, occum’s razor? And at 1:30 in the morning? Impressive.
We are not going to forget about the kicker, are we, Jason?
February 17th, 2024 at 8:02 pm
This is proof that the bucs are going to over pay for Baker Mayfield so just prepare yourself real bucs fans because it will be a bad decision! Jason Light just want one more contract because it’s fully garuteen even if he gets fired he will get paid anyway.
February 17th, 2024 at 10:44 pm
The Bucs don’t really have a history of overpaying free agents. They could have resigned Suh but let him walk because they didn’t want to overpay. There’s a lot being said about resigning Baker and and letting Mike walk but we don’t know how the people at 1 Buc values Baker. Remember, they have All 22. During the season, Baker grew on me. He made a lot of great plays but he missed on more. I think we have the talent to have gone farther in the playoffs and to have a better record. We lost 6 out of seven in the middle of the season and Baker played horribly during that stretch. I don’t think 1 Buc forgot that. Yet many of our posters want to give him a 100M multi year contract. I say we sign Mike, and give Baker around 12-15M TOPS. That’s more than enough for someone who should be a backup QB
February 18th, 2024 at 2:37 am
The Bucs already came to agreements with BM6 and ME13. I’ve felt all along they’d probably tag Winfield Jr. because it’s a cheaper option for this season, and then after next season with the cap going up they should be able to find the money for his long-term deal. The Bucs salary cap situation has improved but they’re still paying off the end of the Brady years and it seemed like it’d be difficult to lock down three long term deals thos off-season and still have cap space for anything else. Here’s how I’d define this move: kick can down road. They’ll offer him a long-term deal as soon as they have cap room to make it work. Until then, they’ll kick the can. They sure as heck don’t want to lose him!
February 18th, 2024 at 8:46 am
I don’t understand why not just draft a quarterback and build around him ? We all know next year we ain’t winning a superbowl . If you ask the real bucs fans or any other fan of a team what’s the odds of the bucs or any other team will win a superbowl with Baker Mayfield puting the offense on his back? Those are some very low odds. To win with Baker Mayfield you have to have a good to great running game with a great defense. You can not put the game in Baker Mayfield hands to win just look what happened in Detroit with 2 minutes left on the clock to drive the ball and score and threw a pick on the second play that’s why no one was hurt or surprised about it because we all expected him to do that. That’s not haten that’s just the truth I know you guys love to use that word hate even when you have the proof to back up what you say . If Penix is there the bucs will be stupid not to draft him .
February 18th, 2024 at 9:54 am
The Bucs should never let Winfield walk away for the rest of his career. Whatever it takes to get a deal done, do it.
February 19th, 2024 at 12:53 am
@oneil – so draft a qb but not put a running game around the rookie? You stupid or something? Why not give the veteran a running game?
SMDH. People…READ SOME BOOKS. Stop posting 3rd grade crap.