The Baker Mayfield contract standoff and Vita Vea’s trade request have taken over the Buccaneers’ offseason conversation, but Tampa Bay has a bigger problem lurking down the road: a pileup of important contract calls that could reshape the roster next year.
The front office won’t be able to keep everybody. That means some familiar faces may be headed for the exit after the upcoming season, even if they’ve become fixtures in Tampa Bay over the last few years.
One of the biggest decisions will center on Chris Godwin Jr. At the end of the season, the Buccaneers must decide whether to pick up the club option on his deal or let him walk into free agency.
Godwin signed a three-year, $66 million contract last offseason, but none of his 2027 salary is guaranteed. Availability has become the issue: he has missed 18 games over the last two seasons and posted career lows in both receptions and receiving yards in 2025.
This year, he needs to show he can stay on the field and still be a real part of the offense, or Tampa Bay could decide to move on and clear $22 million next offseason.
Yaya Diaby is another player heading toward a major payday decision. He’s been one of Tampa Bay’s most important defensive pieces, and one of the few pass rushers who has consistently made an impact.
Diaby led the Buccaneers in sacks in two of his three NFL seasons, and after the team poured resources into reworking the defensive front this offseason, he looks set up for a breakout. He’ll have the best support of his young career around him, and a first double-digit sack season is in play.
The price, though, is real: Spotrac projects his next deal at $18.1 million per year over three years.
The Buccaneers also have to weigh what comes next for Cody Mauch. His season ended in Week 2 last year, right when he was beginning to establish himself as one of the NFL’s better guards.
When he was healthy in 2024, Pro Football Focus ranked him No. 14 among guards and No. 6 in pass blocking. He gave up just two sacks and one quarterback hit.
Mauch keeps trending up, and Tampa Bay has to decide how much more it wants to invest up front after already committing over $20 million annually to both Tristan Wirfs and Luke Goedeke.
Then there’s Chase McLaughlin, who has been as reliable as it gets since arriving in 2023. He’s made 91% of his field goals as a Buccaneer, including 86% from 50 yards and beyond.
In 2025, he made NFL history by opening the season with 11 straight field goals from 50+ yards. Given what Tampa Bay went through during its kicker curse for more than a decade, McLaughlin’s value is obvious.
He’s in line for a deserved raise, and bringing him back should be the easiest call of the bunch.
In Other News...
Buccaneers May Already Be Eyeing Life After Baker Mayfield
Baker Mayfields contract situation has already pushed the Buccaneers into an uncomfortable question about what comes next at quarterback. Even with Mayfield still in place for now, the team is in a spot where it has to keep one eye on the future, especially if his time in Tampa Bay does not extend beyond 2027.
That is where the 2027 NFL Draft starts to loom as a possible pivot point. Tampa Bay is being connected to a handful of college passers who could shape that conversation, including Drew Mestemaker, Darian Mensah, Jayden Maiava, LaNorris Sellers and Julian Sayin, a group that gives the Buccaneers options if they decide the eventual answer under center might not already be on the roster. [Read more 🡒]
National Take On Todd Bowles Echoes What Bucs Fans Fear Most
Bill Simmons took a hard line on Todd Bowles this week, saying he does not have much confidence in the Buccaneers coach and suggesting Bowles should be among the first names considered if teams start making changes. Even so, Simmons still picked Tampa Bay to win the NFC South, pointing to the talent on the roster and the general softness of the division as reasons the Bucs can still come out on top.
For Tampa Bay fans, that split view probably feels familiar. The roster has enough quality to keep the team in the conversation, but Bowles remains under a harsh spotlight after last season, and the doubts around his performance are not going away just because the division looks manageable. The Bucs may have the pieces to hang around, but the bigger question is whether the coaching can match them when it matters. [Read more 🡒]
Bucs Made One Draft Choice That Will Fuel Debate For Years
The Buccaneers latest behind-the-scenes draft video added a little more context to one of the most debated decisions of their 2026 class. During the war room footage, Tampa Bay showed it had a chance to move back from No. 15 in a deal with the Lions, a reminder that the front office was weighing not just a player, but the value of staying put versus stacking more picks.
In the end, the Bucs passed on the extra draft capital and stayed at 15 to take Rueben Bain Jr., a choice that makes sense when viewed through how highly they had him graded. The video only deepens the debate because it confirms Tampa Bay had real options on the table, and it also shows the franchise was willing to trust its board and chase a player it clearly believed was worth more than the trade-down package. [Read more 🡒]