The Bucs and Godwin agreed to a three-year, $60 million deal. Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Bucs strategically structured Chris Godwin's new deal so they could sign free agents this year

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 3/16/22

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have worked out a long-term contract with Chris Godwin, whom they previously assigned a franchise tag. The deal contains one key element.

The Bucs and Godwin agreed to a three-year, $60 million deal, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. The contract happens to be very similar to what the Chargers gave Mike Williams.

But the important aspect for Tampa Bay is that Godwin’s salary cap hit in 2022 will only be $5 million.

Had Godwin played under the franchise tag that the team assigned to him, he would have counted for $19.2 million against the cap in 2022.

The structure of the contract, which spreads out Godwin’s money to future years, allows the Bucs to afford the Ryan Jensen, Carlton Davis and Russell Gage signings they agreed to.

Just to come back to this tweet — instead of Godwin taking up $19.2 million in cap space, he will only take up $5 million, so now $14.2 million, which will cover much of previously reported deals for Davis, Jensen, Gage. https://t.co/VutBClQUCT

— Greg Auman (@gregauman) March 17, 2022

Spreading the cap hit out to future years helps Tampa Bay build a stronger team in the short term, but it hurts the Bucs in future years. However, as long as they have Tom Brady on the roster, they will try to build the most competitive team they can.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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