A handful of minor moves on a busy deadline day:
Buffalo Bills
Chicago Bears
Denver Broncos
Green Bay Packers
Kansas City Chiefs
Minnesota Vikings
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Free Agency
A recent report indicated that Buccaneers offensive lineman Ryan Jensen could make his return as soon as next week. However, Greg Auman of The Athletic is throwing some cold water on that idea, writing that Jensen “has only a small chance of returning from his knee injury.”
[RELATED: Ryan Jensen November Return In Play?]
The veteran center suffered a knee injury during training camp that was initially feared to be season-ending. Subsequent reports provided a bit more optimism about his prospects of returning during the 2022 regular season or playoffs, and his IR placement reflected that sentiment. A few weeks ago, there were whispers that the Buccaneers were hoping Jensen would be back on the field at some point in November, with the team specifically targeting a November 6th return. The team’s Week 11 bye could also be a target return date, but now it’s sounding like we shouldn’t count on an imminent return.
Jensen, who has started all 65 of his appearances since joining Tampa Bay in 2018, would naturally provide a boost to Tampa Bay’s offensive line, although the unit has generally ranked among the top-1o through the first chunk of the season. Pro Football Focus has generally ranked Jensen among the best centers in the NFL, and the veteran earned his first career Pro Bowl nod in 2021.
Auman discussed Jensen’s potential return in the context of Tampa Bay making a trade to upgrade their offensive line. Second-round guard Luke Goedeke has struggled so far in 2022, and backup Nick Leverett doesn’t have much of a track record. Both Jensen and his current fill-in, Robert Hainsey, are under contract for next season. While the team could look for a temporary upgrade for Goedeke, Auman opines that the organization would be better off pursuing a rental before having Goedeke and Hainsey compete for one of the guard spots opposite Shaq Mason in 2023.
Who could fit that bill? For starters, Auman suggests the team could look to deal from a position of strength and pursue another team’s depth piece. The writer also points to someone like Commanders guard Andrew Norwell, who doesn’t have any guaranteed money owed beyond this season. Panthers guard Austin Corbett is also an affordable option, although he’s under contract for the 2023 campaign.
Today’s practice squad transactions:
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Chargers
New Orleans Saints
Philadelphia Eagles
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
OCTOBER 31: The Buccaneers announced on Monday that Barrett has officially been placed on IR. That opens up a roster spot for a potential replacement, though no players of his caliber will be readily available so close to the trade deadline, of course. Tampa Bay sits in the middle of the pack with respect to cap space.
OCTOBER 28, 11:43am: Barrett’s MRI confirmed the tear, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. This is a tough break for Barrett and the Buccaneers, given the outside linebacker’s age and the team’s 3-5 record.
OCTOBER 28, 8:32am: Reeling after a fifth loss in six games, the Buccaneers are staring at an equation that does not include their top pass rusher. Although tests are still to come, the team fears Shaq Barrett suffered a torn Achilles during Thursday night’s defeat, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports (video link).
Barrett will undergo an MRI on Friday, but these ominous reports usually precede major injuries. This stands to be Barrett’s longest absence as a pro and deal a significant blow to Tampa Bay’s defense, a unit already battling uphill due to the state of the team’s offense.
Set to turn 30 next month, Barrett has been the Bucs’ top rush presence since signing a one-year deal in 2019. The former Broncos UDFA led the NFL with 19.5 sacks that year, prompting the Bucs to join nearly half the league in using their franchise tag during the 2020 offseason. Barrett is now signed to a four-year, $68MM deal — one that runs through the 2024 season.
The Bucs have not needed to play without Barrett for an extended stretch since he joined the team. The Colorado State product has missed just three games over the past three-plus seasons. He and Jason Pierre-Paul were instrumental in delivering the Bucs their second Super Bowl title, providing consistent pressure on Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes to close out that championship march.
Barrett combined for four sacks and eight quarterback hits in the Bucs’ final two games in 2020; his Super Bowl LV dominance led Todd Bowles‘ unit becoming the third defense to hold an opponent without a touchdown in a Super Bowl. As the Bucs brought back their entire championship core in 2021, they gave Barrett his sought-after deal.
After Barrett made his second Pro Bowl in 2021, the team moved on from Pierre-Paul. The elder edge rusher ended up signing with the Ravens, facing his former team Thursday night. Tampa Bay now has 2021 first-rounder Joe Tryon-Shoyinka in place as its top healthy pass rusher. Tryon-Shoyinka has 1.5 sacks and three QB hits this season. Backup edge rushers Carl Nassib, who returned to the Bucs after a Raiders stay this offseason, and Anthony Nelson have two apiece. Both should be expected to play bigger roles for Bowles’ defense, should Barrett indeed have sustained this major injury. Nelson will replace Barrett as a starter.
No guaranteed money remains on Barrett’s contract. Next season will be his 10th in the NFL; he is set to count $21.65MM against the cap in 2023.
Despite being in the midst of a three-game skid, and losing five of their last six games, the Buccaneers are not expected to make any big moves to acquire players before the trade deadline, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. General manager Jason Licht has been known to be willing to make moves that could improve the team’s standing for a playoff run, but, right now, the team seems to be fine with where they’re at. 
The Buccaneers don’t seem to have a ton of holes in their roster. They haven’t been very successful running the ball, ranking 31st in the NFL for rushing yards. They likely don’t feel the need to trade for a big name running back. Despite veteran pass-catching back Giovani Bernard spending the last six games on injured reserve, Tampa Bay still has Leonard Fournette. The team has also spent two third-round picks in the last three drafts on Ke’Shawn Vaughn and Rachaad White.
A more likely reason for their rushing struggles is the offensive line losses they’ve dealt with this year. The retirement of last year’s starting guard Ali Marpet, the loss of their other starting guard, Alex Cappa, to free agency, and the long-term injury suffered by starting center Ryan Jensen have forced the Buccaneers to piece together a new configuration. Last year’s Buccaneers weren’t one of the league’s better rushing offenses and, with these setbacks, they’ve turned into one of the league’s worst.
Fans may also be looking for the team to make a move on defense, where the team ranks last in the league in rushing yards allowed. The Buccaneers don’t necessarily think a change in personnel is in order from an outside source, as they have several players who have missed time due to injury set to make comebacks soon. Tampa Bay hopes to get defensive lineman Akiem Hicks back soon, which should be a huge help. They’re also looking for cornerbacks Carlton Davis and Sean Murphy-Bunting to make returns soon. Unfortunately, the loss of outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett hurts the defense’s chances for improvement a bit.
If any changes were to be made, it’s looking more and more likely that it will come on the coaching end and not on the players’ end, according to Armando Salguero of OutKick.com. With an offense that has been deemed as “under-performing” there is speculation that the team could have retired head coach and current consultant Bruce Arians or offensive consultant Tom Moore pair up with offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich to bring the offense back up to par.
Currently, head coach Todd Bowles says the coaching staff and their duties will remain intact, but, if the team continues to flail in what could easily be the last season for quarterback Tom Brady, look for the team to get creative with their use of the coaching staff.
Days away from this year’s trade deadline (3pm CT, Nov. 1), a few teams have made some in-season moves to bolster their rosters. Several squads have also restructured contracts this season to create additional space. That extra room will matter as most teams will consider adding or subtracting costs before Tuesday’s deadline.
Here is how teams’ cap-space numbers (courtesy of OverTheCap) look ahead of the deadline:
The Browns have held the top spot for months, and the gulf between their cap-space figure and the field almost certainly stems from a desire to carry over cap space before Deshaun Watson‘s cap number spikes from $9.4MM to a runaway-record $54.99MM. Cleveland has recently been linked to creating more cap space. Interest has come in for Greedy Williams, who is in the final year of his rookie contract, and Kareem Hunt. Although the Browns did not grant Hunt’s summer trade request, it may now take only a fourth-round pick for Cleveland to deal its backup running back.
Another potential seller could move up on this list while creating some additional space in 2023. The Broncos are believed to have made Jerry Jeudy available. Unlike fellow trade chip Bradley Chubb, Jeudy is under contract for 2023 (on a $4.83MM cap number). Denver appears more likely to move Chubb. That departure would remove the franchise tag from the team’s equation in 2023 — barring a tag for fellow 2023 UFA-to-be Dre’Mont Jones — thus freeing up more free agency funds. It will be interesting if the Broncos, if they are to move Chubb, agree to eat much of his fifth-year option salary. George Paton‘s club took on most of Von Miller‘s 2021 money to increase draft compensation.
The Eagles are still near the top despite acquiring Robert Quinn. Philadelphia is paying just $684K of Quinn’s contract, which now runs through 2022 instead of 2024. Chicago is on the hook for $7.1MM. The Bears are on track to have a gargantuan lead on the field for 2023 cap space. They are projected to hold more than $125MM next year, according to OverTheCap.
New Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney checks in at just $784K on their 2022 cap sheet. The former Giants first-rounder’s figures bump to $1.9MM (2023) and $2.53MM (’24). Kansas City recently restructured Travis Kelce‘s deal, creating some wiggle room for the Toney addition. The Chiefs, who did not touch Patrick Mahomes‘ deal this year, restructured Kelce’s contract twice in 2022. Thursday’s trade hit the Giants with a $2.33MM dead-money charge. Toney will count $3.67MM in dead money for the Giants in 2023.
The Panthers picked up nearly $19MM in 2022 dead money via the Robbie Anderson and Christian McCaffrey trades. Unlike the Eagles and Bears, last week’s Panthers-49ers McCaffrey swap did not involve Carolina taking on additional salary. McCaffrey’s offseason restructure dropped his 2022 base salary to the league minimum; the 49ers have him on their books at just $690K. McCaffrey’s record-setting extension will still represent $18.35MM in dead money on the Panthers’ 2023 cap, but his nonguaranteed base salaries from 2023-25 ($11.8MM, $11.8MM, $12MM) transferred fully from Carolina to San Francisco.
On the subject of 2022 dead money, the Bears lead the way with $80.32MM. The Falcons added to their total this month, however, by trading Deion Jones to the Browns. That deal saddled the Falcons with $11.38MM in additional dead money — accompanying the franchise’s record-setting Matt Ryan dead-money hit ($40.53MM) — and ballooned Atlanta’s overall total to $78.57MM. Ryan is off the Falcons’ books after this year, but Jones will carry a $12.14MM dead-money figure in 2023.
Today’s practice squad transactions:
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Today’s minor moves:
Baltimore Ravens
Detroit Lions
Houston Texans
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Chicago Bears
Cleveland Browns
Dallas Cowboys
Denver Broncos
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Las Vegas Raiders
Los Angeles Chargers
New England Patriots
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Today’s minor transactions:
Carolina Panthers
Detroit Lions
Houston Texans
Kansas City Chiefs
Los Angeles Rams
New Orleans Saints
New York Jets
San Francisco 49ers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Commanders