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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers currently stand at just over $15M in cap space for the 2019 league year according to Spotrac.
As speculation grows the team may be clearing more space by dropping large contracts with no dead money attached to them, Jason Licht should have even more money to help his new head coach build the roster they need to turn the ship around.
Bucs fans may not have playoff football to watch of their favorite team, but it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to watch for.
As the post-season moves forward, we’ll be giving you a week-by-week breakdown of which players of interest have expiring contracts and could potentially be on the market for Licht to bring down to Tampa.
Starting with the first playoff game of the year.
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
2019 FREE AGENTS
| POSITION | NAME | AGE |
|---|---|---|
| POSITION | NAME | AGE |
| CENTER | JOSH ANDREWS | 28 |
| GUARD | EVAN BOEHM | 26 |
| CORNERBACK | JALEN COLLINS | 25 |
| CORNERBACK | PIERRE DESIR | 28 |
| SAFETY | MATTHIAS FARLEY | 27 |
| SAFETY | CLAYTON GEATHERS | 27 |
| GUARD | MARK GLOWINSKI | 27 |
| LINEBACKER | NAJEE GOODE | 30 |
| WIDE RECEIVER | RYAN GRANT | 28 |
| FULLBACK | RYAN HEWITT | 28 |
| DEFENSIVE END | MARGUS HUNT | 32 |
| WIDE RECEIVER | DONTRELLE INMAN | 30 |
| WIDE RECEIVER | MARCUS JOHNSON | 25 |
| QUARTERBACK | BRAD KAAYA | 23 |
| SAFETY | RONALD MARTIN | 26 |
| CORNERBACK | CHRIS MILTON | 26 |
| SAFETY | MIKE MITCHELL | 32 |
| SAFETY | COREY MOORE | 26 |
| WIDE RECEIVER | ZACH PASCAL | 24 |
| LINEBACKER | LUKE RHODES | 26 |
| WIDE RECEIVER | CHESTER ROGERS | 25 |
| GUARD | MATT SLAUSON | 33 |
| TIGHT END | ROSS TRAVIS | 26 |
| KICKER | ADAM VINATIERI | 46 |
| DEFENSIVE END | JIHAD WARD | 25 |
| RIGHT TACKLE | J'MARCUS WEBB | 31 |
| SAFETY | J.J. WILCOX | 30 |
| RUNNING BACK | JONATHAN WILLIAMS | 25 |
| DEFENSIVE TACKLE | AL WOODS | 32 |
PLAYER TO WATCH: G, MARK GLOWINSKI
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When the Indianapolis Colts drafted Braden Smith out of Auburn in the 2018 NFL Draft, the plan was for him to become the right guard of the future. However, according to Jake Arthur of Colts.com, when Denzelle Good went down earlier in the year Smith filled in and filled in well.
So well, that when right guard Matt Slauson also went down, the team didn’t want to move Smith inside. Enter, Mark Glowinski.
As Arthur chronicles in his article on the team’s site, Glowinski has performed...glowingly.
The offensive lineman will be 27-years old by the time the 2019 season begins, and will be coming in with 28 career regular season starts, plus whatever the Colts get this post-season.
Already, he’s contributed to offensive lines which made it to the NFC Divisional Round of the playoffs in 2016 with the Seattle Seahawks, and has surrendered a league best 18 sacks this season for the Colts.
Given the struggles at the right guard position experienced by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers this past season, Glowinski is certainly a guy to watch this wild card weekend as a potential target should the Colts not lock him down before the start of the 2019 league year.
HOUSTON TEXANS
2019 FREE AGENTS
| POSITION | NAME | AGE |
|---|---|---|
| POSITION | NAME | AGE |
| LINEBACKER | TYRELL ADAMS | 26 |
| DEFENSIVE END | ANGELO BLACKSON | 26 |
| RUNNING BACK | ALFRED BLUE | 28 |
| WIDE RECEIVER | DEANDRE CARTER | 26 |
| LINEBACKER | JADEVEON CLOWNEY | 25 |
| DEFENSIVE END | CHRISTIAN COVINGTON | 25 |
| DEFENSIVE END | BRANDON DUNN | 26 |
| KICKER | KA'IMI FAIRBAIRN | 25 |
| DEFENSIVE END | JOEL HEATH | 26 |
| RIGHT TACKLE | SEANTREL HENDERSON | 27 |
| CORNERBACK | KAREEM JACKSON | 31 |
| LINEBACKER | JOSH KEYES | 25 |
| RIGHT TACKLE | KENDALL LAMM | 27 |
| SAFETY | TYRANN MATHIEU | 27 |
| LINEBACKER | BRIAN PETERS | 30 |
| KICKER | NICK ROSE | 25 |
| LINEBACKER | BRENNAN SCARLETT | 26 |
| QUARTERBACK | JOE WEBB | 32 |
| CORNERBACK | KAYVON WEBSTER | 27 |
| QUARTERBACK | BRANDON WEEDEN | 35 |
| CORNERBACK | SHAREECE WRIGHT | 32 |
PLAYER TO WATCH: FS, TYRANN MATHIEU
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Tampa Bay’s secondary improved noticeably as the season progressed. The younger and lesser-known players thrust into starting roles due to injuries developed quite nicely all things considered.
However, let’s not get too carried away in thinking the team has solved their issue in the secondary and can just move forward with the defensive backfield as-is.
Bucs fans are going to be ‘lit’ - I think that’s how you use it - if Jason Licht lands Bruce Arians to be the next head coach in Tampa Bay.
They’ll ‘turn up’ if BA brings Todd Bowles in with him. If one or both of those things happen, you’d be safe to place bets Mathieu will at least give a glancing look to the Buccaneers this off-season.
Houston has some decisions to make. Clowney, Jackson and Mathieu are the first three I feel like they’ll need to hammer out before moving much further.
They’ve got close to $70M to work with, but I doubt they’ll want to deplete such a large portion of it on three players.
Looking at Houston’s roster, it seems they have more room to allow Mathieu to walk than the other two, which could be good news for Bucs fans.
It might seem Mathieu should be older given how long he’s spent in the spotlight, but he’ll be entering his seventh season in the NFL at just 27-years old when 2019 kicks off.
These two teams face-off Saturday, January 5th, to get the playoff festivities going. You may not be watching the Bucs, but you could be watching future Tampa Bay Buccaneers in action.