Are the Tampa Bay Buccaneers real contenders to land Le’Veon Bell?

Immediately after early speculations, items in Tampa Bay have been tranquil on the Le’Veon Bell front… until finally recently. Do the Buccaneers have a shot at the jogging back?

At the starting of this 12 months, Albert Breer went on The Herd with Colin Cowherd and built a daring prediction that it would be the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that would land the services of the All-Pro jogging back, Le’Veon Bell. Not long ago nonetheless, all symptoms on the Bell-to-Bucs entrance had been tranquil that was until finally Wednesday.

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports activities tweeted earlier this week that among other folks such as the Philadelphia Eagles, and the New York Jets, the Buccaneers are anticipated to be involved in the recruiting procedure. This attracts skepticism as Philadelphia is at the moment in the red when it comes to cap area, and the Bucs sit down below $20 million in cap area. Even so, with cap to lose, that range in Tampa Bay could get upwards of $40 million in paying adaptability.

The issue has to be questioned: is a jogging back truly worth $15 million a 12 months? Todd Gurley reset the sector for a jogging back last offseason, signing an extension with the Rams at that price. Now Bell has severe leverage to demand that amount of money of dollars on the open sector. Although the Bucs could manage him, should they go after the services of Bell?

With Donovan Smith anticipated to be franchise tagged any day now and the impending free of charge company of Kwon Alexander and Peyton Barber and only 6 draft picks, there could be a wiser way to spend their dollars. Even so, the selecting of 60-12 months-previous Bruce Arians implies that the Bucs are all in ideal now and want to capitalize this 12 months, the last 12 months of Jameis Winston’s rookie agreement.

Although it is not likely and the Bucs could get a very similar but less proficient back in Tevin Coleman or Spencer Ware for significantly less expensive, it would not be a surprise to see Jason Licht go all in on Bell as the Bucs Typical Manager has not shied away from paying the major bucks in free of charge company.

Ronald Jones, a 2nd round select just a 12 months ago, has a probability at a fresh start out with Arians and Leftwich molding him, and Barber would not be an high-priced player to re-indicator. With holes somewhere else, the Bucs should keep away from Bell and concentration on the secondary and offensive line this offseason. It is only a issue of time until finally Bucs Nation finds out if Licht and the entrance place of work agree.