The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have done a good job of retaining their stars on both sides of the ball in recent years. Jason Licht and his staff have made it a priority to draft well, develop those players, and retain them as they build a roster that can sustain a winning attitude.

Heading into the 2025 season, two of those players are in the final year of their contracts, and it presents a unique issue for the team.

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Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox recently wrote about the top ten free agents of the 2026 class. Within those rankings, two of the top seven were players from the Bucs, and both were on offense. Right tackle Luke Goedeke and wide receiver Mike Evans made the cut as the seventh and second-ranked players on the list, respectively.

For Luke Goedeke, Knox predicts his contract value to be in the neighborhood of four years, $80 million, which is about right considering what tackles like the Green Bay Packers’ Zach Tom and the Indianapolis Colts‘ Bernhard Raimann earned this offseason. Knox points out that, “At only 26 years old, Goedeke has a ton of long-term potential that will interest contenders and rebuilding teams alike.”

In regard to franchise legend Mike Evans, it is hard to imagine him playing anywhere else in his career. In fact, it seems almost more likely he would retire before he would leave Tampa Bay for somewhere else after establishing himself as arguably the greatest player in franchise history. However, whenever a team like Tampa Bay has a lot of players to pay, some folks are bound to be left out. Knox predicts his contract value to be around two years, $43 million, which at 32 years old may be a little rich for some folks.

Regardless, Evans has proven he is more than capable of living up to that type of money, as he is heading into 2025 with history in his grasp, having recorded 11 consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more receiving yards. By accomplishing that feat again in 2025, he will break the record previously held by Jerry Rice and carry it alone with 12.

This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Buccaneers have two of the top free agents in 2026