Effective today at 4 PM ET, the NFL’s Top 51 cap space rule went away for the season.
Many teams created cap space through contract restructures:
49ers George Kittle/Trent Williams: $23.224M
Ravens Marlon Humphrey: $7.536M
Seahawks Jamal Adams: $6.613M
Bucs: Shaq Barrett:…— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 6, 2023
In a crucial move to prepare the team for the 2023 season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers restructured outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett’s contract, clearing $10.468 million in cap space this season, per ESPN’s Field Yates. This will give the Bucs sufficient flexibility to make in-season signings to accommodate injuries and other personnel moves.
This restructure carries numerous implications. First, it significantly improves the likelihood that Barrett is on Tampa’s roster through 2024. Cutting or trading him before June 1 next year would give Tampa a $26 million dead cap hit according to Over the Cap, and any post-June 1 designations would not help Tampa with its free agency needs.
Subsequently, it signals that the Bucs have some confidence in Barrett’s recovery from a torn Achilles last year. By eliminating the financial incentive to move him, the Bucs’ brass must believe that Barrett can still be a useful player to them.
Finally, restructuring Barrett could have implications for contract negotiations with Mike Evans and Devin White. Extending Evans or White might have given Tampa additional cap space this season by shifting some of their existing obligations. Instead, the Bucs retooled the contract of a 30-year old pass rusher coming off a torn Achilles. Though this does not rule out the possibility of Evans or White signing a new deal with Tampa, it does remove some of the immediate cap relief incentives.
