Tampa Bay Buccaneers may be forced to franchise tag Jameis Winston

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are stuck between a rock and a hard place. What are they going to do at quarterback in the 2020 offseason?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are going to be one of the most interesting teams to watch leading up to the 2020 NFL offseason.

What is this team going to do with starting quarterback Jameis Winston?

Winston has long been an enigma. He’s certainly a talented passer capable of making a positive impact on games, but he’s also been wild and reckless with the football, leading to way too many turnovers and, ultimately, losses for the Buccaneers.

But will the Bucs simply let their former number one overall pick walk out the door this coming offseason? Are they so confident that Bruce Arians can develop anyone that they would let Winston go?

The Bucs are riding a three-game winning streak and they’ve won four of their last five games after a dismal 2-6 start to the season. Winston has been, well, Winston in these last five games, but he’s still capable of lighting up the stat sheet and leading the Bucs to wins.

This season, Winston has thrown 26 touchdowns and 23 interceptions, completing over 61 percent of his passes in the process. The Bucs are currently 6-7 and projected to pick in the middle of the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

With plenty of uncertainty around the league at the quarterback position, is the Bucs’ best option going to be franchise tagging their former number one overall pick? It might just be.

Despite Winston’s flaws, it’s hard to see right now where the Bucs can find improvement on the open market. The Carolina Panthers aren’t going to trade them Cam Newton. They’re not likely to be in position to draft Joe Burrow or Tua Tagovailoa.

Would they rather take a shot on someone else in free agency like Teddy Bridgewater, who looks capable of leading a franchise? Would Bridgewater even want to play in Tampa Bay?

The franchise tag number in 2020 could be somewhere close to $27 million. Quarterbacks are just expensive in the NFL and that’s a lot of cash to give to a quarterback that has not proven himself to be consistent over the last five years.

But the Bucs aren’t likely going to give Winston a long-term deal at this point, not with the consistency issues. They aren’t going to be in position to get a top QB in the draft. They could draft someone to develop, but the draft is also obviously a crapshoot.

There is perhaps no better way to describe the situation than this:

You could be making a great decision by tagging Winston and betting he will progress with Bruce Arians, or you could be making a horrendous decision that will set you back $27 million.

If Winston hits the open market, he’s likely to command at least $24 million per season from some QB-needy team. The Bucs, without Winston, would be in a really tough position this particular offseason and although the price is steep, their best option may just be taking this year-to-year with Winston, and striking if/when opportunity comes for someone else.