Tampa Bay Buccaneer Ownership Gets Great News

Great news for the ownership of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers!

As of Friday, the salary cap is gone.

Wait.

That's not the good news.

The good news is that when the salary cap is gone, so is the salary bottom.

No longer will the Glazers have to spend at least $107 million on player payroll.

Fact is, they can spend as little as they want and they can even dump payroll without any of the previously dreaded salary cap "hits."

Here are the numbers that are music to Tampa Bay Buccanner ownerships' ears:

League minimum for players with less than one year's experience: $320,000.

League minimum for player with one year's experience: $395,000.

Two years: $470,000. Three years: $545,000. Four to six years: $630,000.

Since the Bucs say they are in a "youth movement," they don't have to pay any attention to the seven-to-nine year minimum of $755,000.

The Glazers are also no doubt overjoyed by the fact that a guy like Donald Penn is a RFA (restricted free agent) rather than a pure FA.

They can make him the cheap tender and voila! They have a quality left tackle at a bargain basement price.

So don't look for the Buccaneers to fall all over themselves in the free agent market. This year's market just isn't that hot and with the nasty shadow of possibly no football in 2011, why not sit this one out?

Makes all the sense in the world.

All they have to worry about now is that third pick in April's draft.

Do they really want to stay there?