Bucs Sign Winslow to New Contract

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded for tight end Kellen Winslow on the first day of free agency and it was widely speculated at the time that a new contract for Winslow was apart of the trade, which made sense considering Tampa Bay had the most cap space. Well it took longer than most expected, but Winslow has agreed to a new 6-year contract.

Under his previous deal, which had 2 years remaining, Winslow was set to earn base salaries of $4.5 million and $4.75 million in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Winslow's new deal is worth $36.1 million and could be worth as much as $42.1 million if incentive clauses are reached. Winslow is due base salaries of $5.17 million and $6.725 million in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In 2011, Winslow will reportedly earn $8.29 million in base salary.

ESPN's Pat Yasinskas is reporting that $20.1 million of Winslow's new contract is guaranteed.

The 6-foot-4, 250-pound Winslow entered the league as a first-round pick in 2004. He has caught 219 passes for 2,459 yards (11.2 avg.) and 11 touchdowns and made one Pro Bowl during his playing career.

Inflated Ego, Deflated Contract; Tomlinson Restructures

Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson was faced with a decision, take a pay cut or get cut by the only professional team he has played for. In the end he restructured the final three years of his contract and saved the San Diego Chargers $2.25 million in salary-cap room.

Tomlinson was scheduled to make $24 million over the final three years of his contract. Under the new deal, the Chargers gave him a $2.875 million signing bonus and lowered his base salary to $3.825 million, a source said. In so doing, Tomlinson was able to keep the 2009 payout of his contract at $6.725 million.

That last number there is the important figure for Tomlinson and his ego, at $6.725 million he will still be on the books for more money than his back-up Darren Sproles who is scheduled to make $6.6 million this season under the terms of the franchise tag he was given before free agency.

If Tomlinson's back-up were to make more money than him, it would be viewed as an insult and would have likely caused even more trouble for the former star running back who has struggled to stay healthy the last few years and is not nearly as productive as his inflated contract and ego would warrant.

Salary Cap to Grow to $127 M for 2009

According to Adam Schefter of the NFL Network the salary cap will grow in 2009.

Teams didn’t spend as much as they were supposed to under the collective bargaining agreement the past three years, therefore the salary cap will increase over $4 million to $127 million for this coming year. The collective bargaining agreement calls for cap adjustment down if teams spend over the cap in cash and adjustment up if they don’t spend up to the cap. Teams believed they would see a mild increase in the salary cap, but this is bigger than teams expected.

The increase defies logic in this tough economic time, but as we are less than 24 hours from the start of free agency, teams actually will have more flexibility and salary-cap room.

For teams such as the Colts and Panthers, who are pressed against the cap, this is tremendous news and not such good news for teams such as the Buccaneers and Chiefs, who were way under the cap. Now their advantage is somewhat compromised.