Buccaneers conquer salary cap unlike any champion before them

Not only are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the defending Super Bowl champions, but they are also the champions of the NFL salary cap.

We did not think it was possible, but the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers have conquered the NFL salary cap unlike any team before them.

By getting running back Leonard Fournette to agree to a one-year, prove-it deal worth $4 million, the Buccaneers are the first team in the salary cap era (since 1994) to return every starter from its Super Bowl championship roster. Guys like Fournette, outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett, tight end Rob Gronkowski and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh all made big sacrifices to make this happen.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are Super Bowl and salary cap champions

Prior to the advent of the salary cap, organizations that drafted phenomenally like the Chuck Noll-era Pittsburgh Steelers were able to contend for championships every single year. Significant player mobility did not arrive in the NFL until over a decade later when Reggie White famously left the Philadelphia Eagles for the Green Bay Packers. The Buccaneers have defied all the odds here.

While you have to give credit to the players like Fournette for seeing the bigger picture, what a tremendous accomplishment for Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht. He essentially solved the NFL’s Rubik’s Cube. What is even more impressive is he did it in a year when the salary cap went down due to a global pandemic. This front-office feat may never happen again in the NFL.

The Buccaneers are the favorite to win the NFC again, as they literally bring every starter back.