The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had an entertaining 2019, even if it wasn't exactly great. Tampa Bay went 7-9, that was good enough for second place in the AFC South. However, it wasn't good enough to make the playoffs.
The main headline of the team was quarterback Jameis Winston. Winston threw for an incredible 5,109 yards and 33 touchdown passes. He also had 250 rushing yards and another touchdown on the ground.
At the same time though, Winston had 30 interceptions and 12 fumbles. He could end up being one of the main headlines of the offseason as well, as the Buccaneers need to decide what to do at the quarterback position.
Tampa Bay will want to make improvements though. Which means they will also be adding outside names, while potentially cutting some current players.
So who could be a surprising roster cut this offseason? How about Cameron Brate?
Cameron Brate
Winston is asking for a lot of money. So if the Buccaneers want to bring him back, they will need to fork over some cash. Even if Tampa Bay decides to move forward, they will need to bring in another quarterback. That's going to cost them a pretty penny too.
With that in mind, the Buccaneers will need to save some money. And only six players will cost Tampa Bay more money than Brate at the moment. Those players are superstar wide receiver Mike Evans, superstar linebacker Lavonte David and budding star linebacker Devin White. Then three of their top offensive linemen are the other three players (Donovan Smith, Ali Marpet and Ryan Jensen).
Those all seem like immovable objects. It's hard to imagine the Buccaneers will want to part ways with any of them. Then there's Brate. A solid tight end, but there's not much else to say after that. He's set to take $6,000,000 off the books, while fellow tight end O.J. Howard is at $3,530,107.
Howard struggled last year, and it was very highly publicized. He still managed 34 receptions for 459 yards and one touchdown. Brate hardly did better. He had two more receptions (36) and three more touchdowns (4), but had 148 less yards (311). Brate also achieved those numbers in 16 games, while Howard appeared in just 14.
So even with Howard's disappointing season, he is the right direction for the offense to go.
Cutting Brate saves the Buccaneers money that they can use at quarterback, in the secondary or wherever they see fit. In doing that, they'll lose a talented tight end, but they have another talented player at that position already, one with a higher upside.
Brate's a good player. But if Tampa Bay wants to move money around, this might be the best way to do it.
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