Getty Image / Cooper Neill
For the first time since the 90s, football fans will witness an NFL season without Tom Brady in 2023.
After 23 years as the NFL’s most successful quarterback, Brady has decided to call it a career.
Despite his decision, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are still going to be taking a hefty cap hit because of him.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo Brady is going to cost the Buccaneers $35.1 million against the cap in 2023 despite the fact that he isn’t going to take a single snap for them during the season.
The Super Bowl LVII @NFLGameDay Notebook: Aaron Rodgers heads into the darkness Monday with a decision looming; The #Bucs will retool and get their books in order; Could the #Ravens trade Lamar Jackson?; Baltimore matching an offer sheet could actually be the result. pic.twitter.com/BdF6AGRank
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) February 12, 2023
These kinds of void years in contracts have become very common around the NFL and are a pretty effective way to push salary cap issues down the road. Now the time is coming for the Bucs to pay off the cap hits they deferred.
It might seem like they put themselves in a difficult situation, but the plan worked out pretty well for the Bucs.
The way they structured Brady’s contract allowed them to be able to fit a lot of talent around him while they were trying to contend.
Now that he’s gone, they won’t exactly be fighting for a ring in 2023. They were barely a playoff team with Tom Brady in 2022.
Taking that cap hit won’t really hurt them much as they begin to rebuild their roster this offseason.
At the end of the day, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got the Super Bowl ring they were looking for and they will gladly take whatever kind of hit they have to now in exchange for that success.