Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tampa Bay is tight now at $8.9M in cap room ranked 27th, but the books clear dramatically next year with $81.7M projected ranked 9th, making this a short-term squeeze with a bright financial horizon.

32 contracts expiring

Madden Tools Analysis

Four starting spots have weak depth behind the starter.

Seven picks this season, all in the first round, plus 21 total over three years including three first-rounders gives Tampa Bay one of the most enviable draft stockpiles in the league to accelerate a build.

The roster's top strength is its offensive line anchored by 95 overall Tristan Wirfs and 84 overall Luke Goedeke, while the middle linebacker position is the weakest spot with Josiah Trotter ranking 29th among starters at the position.

• MIKEhigh

  Josiah Trotter starts at MIKE but his 75 overall ranks 29th among starters, making an upgrade at middle linebacker the most urgent personnel priority on the roster.

• TEhigh

  Cade Otton starts at tight end at 75 overall, but the position group ranks 30th in depth league-wide, leaving the team extremely thin if Otton misses time.

• LGmedium

  Ben Bredeson handles left guard duties but ranks 24th among starters at the position, and the depth behind him is below average.

• WRmedium

  Chris Godwin Jr and Emeka Egbuka start outside, but the starter group ranks 25th overall, and finding a true complement to upgrade the position remains a medium priority.

• CBlow

  Zyon McCollum leads a corner room that ranks 22nd at the starter level, with depth that sits in the middle of the league and warrants monitoring.

• 57Scott DalyLSFrees $1.2M · $0 dead
• 74Anthony NelsonLEDGEAnthony Nelson backs up Rueben Bain Jr at LEDGE and cutting him frees $4.0M against $1.4M in dead money, making him the most impactful cap release on the roster given his backup role and aging profile.Frees $4.0M · $1.4M dead
• 60Kemon HallCBKemon Hall sits outside the active cornerback rotation and releasing him costs nothing in dead money while recovering $1.2M in cap space.Frees $1.2M · $0 dead
• 67Miles KillebrewSSMiles Killebrew is third on the safety depth chart behind Tykee Smith and Ifeatu Melifonwu, and a release frees $1.3M against only $490K in dead money.Frees $1.3M · $490.0K dead
• 69Rakeem Nunez-Roches SrDTRakeem Nunez-Roches Sr is a 33-year-old 69 overall interior lineman with zero dead money on release, freeing $1.3M for a position group that has younger options behind Vea.Frees $1.3M · $0 dead

Tampa Bay enters this season with a legitimate foundation built around one of the best offensive line duos in the league in Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke, an elite safety in Antoine Winfield Jr, and a pass-rusher in Rueben Bain Jr who is only 21 years old with a Superstar dev trait and a long runway ahead of him. Baker Mayfield gives the offense a Superstar-trait quarterback capable of running the offense at a high level, and Bucky Irving is a dynamic 24-year-old Superstar-trait back who can carry the ground game for many seasons. The youth movement continues with 23-year-old Star-trait receiver Emeka Egbuka growing alongside Mayfield. The concerns are real but addressable: the tight end group is one of the thinnest in the league, Josiah Trotter at MIKE is a work in progress, and cap room this season is limited at $8.9M ranked 27th in the league, with $11.8M in dead money on the books. The good news is that committed money drops sharply in coming seasons, and the team projects $81.7M in cap room next year ranked 9th league-wide, which opens a significant roster-building window. Vita Vea remains dominant on the interior but is entering a later phase of his career, so the front office should be identifying his long-term successor. Alex Anzalone, also in the later stage of his career, holds down the WILL spot but will need a replacement plan soon. With seven picks this year and 21 total over three years including three first-rounders, the team has meaningful draft capital to address its holes while the core is still producing.

The Buccaneers were born as an NFL expansion team in 1976, awarded to Tampa, Florida under original owner Hugh Culverhouse and dropped into the AFC West for a single season before moving to the NFC Central in 1977. The beginning was historically brutal: Tampa Bay lost all 14 games in 1976 and the first 12 of 1977, 26 straight defeats, still the longest season-spanning losing streak to open a franchise in NFL history, while wearing the orange "creamsicle" uniforms and the winking-pirate "Bucco Bruce" logo that became cult icons. Coached by John McKay and led by first-ever draft pick Lee Roy Selmon and young quarterback Doug Williams, the Bucs reached the 1979 NFC Championship Game in just their fourth season. From 1983 through 1996 Tampa Bay endured 14 consecutive non-winning seasons, cycling through coaches and high draft picks. Everything changed when Tony Dungy arrived in 1996 and installed the "Tampa 2" defense, building around Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, John Lynch, and Ronde Barber. Jon Gruden, acquired in a blockbuster 2002 trade, put them over the top, and that defense throttled the Oakland Raiders 48-21 in Super Bowl XXXVII for the franchise's first championship (2002 season). The team rebranded to its pewter-and-red identity in 1997 and opened Raymond James Stadium that same year. A second title came a generation later: the 2020 signing of Tom Brady, paired with head coach Bruce Arians, produced an immediate championship in Super Bowl LV, 31-9 over the Kansas City Chiefs, the first team ever to play and win a Super Bowl in its own home stadium. The Brady era gave way to the Baker Mayfield years under Todd Bowles, who guided the Bucs to four consecutive NFC South titles (2021-2024) before the streak snapped in 2025.