Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports points out that the Buccaneers could save $7.387 million against their 2024 salary cap by signing WR Mike Evans to an extension before Monday.

Jones explains that there are void years included in Evans’ current contract that is set to expire on February 19. If Tampa Bay allows the contract to expire, the money pushed out over the future years would accelerate to the 2024 salary cap.

This gives the Buccaneers a short window of time to get an extension in place for a key contributor and in turn, save some valuable cap room to work with this offseason.

Jones points out that signing QB Baker Mayfield would save the Bucs $1.725 million against the 2024 cap while a new deal for S Antoine Winfield Jr would result in $1.2 million cap savings.

That’s just under $3 million, but given the cap savings and his overall importance for their team, Evans would be a logical extension candidate to watch in the coming days.

The Buccaneers have made it clear that they want their impact players back with extensions possible for Evans and Mayfield. Jones says Winfield Jr could be a franchise tag candidate if they don’t get a long-term deal done.

Evans, 30, is a former first-round pick of the Buccaneers back in 2014. He was in the final year of his four-year, $14.631 million, and set to make a base salary of $690,000 for the 2017 season when he agreed to a five-year, $82.5 million extension that includes $55 million guaranteed in 2018.

Evans made a base salary of $13 million in the final year of his deal and is now set to become an unrestricted free agent next month.

In 2023, Evans appeared in all 17 games for the Buccaneers and caught 79 passes for 1,255 yards receiving and 13 touchdowns.

We have him included in our Top 100 – 2024 Free Agents list.