Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik is giving every indication that his team will be a major player when free agency opens March 13.
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The Bucs certainly will be in position to do so.
Dominik told reporters Tuesday that the team has rolled over all of its available cap space into the 2012 salary cap, a maneuver allowed in the new collective bargaining agreement.
"We'll be more active in free agency than we were last year," Dominik said, according to The Tampa Tribune. "We purposely rolled every penny we could into this year's cap. Clubs didn't have to do that, but we wanted to. We have plans."
The Bucs were $60.5 million under the salary cap as of Feb. 6, according to NFL.com research, behind only the Kansas City Chiefs ($63 million).
"We'll be involved in free agency," Dominik added. "To what capacity, it depends on what the list looks like. We're prepared, and that's the most important thing."
Dominik also was asked about the recent addition of Butch Davis as a special assistant to new coach Greg Schiano.
Davis has a severance agreement with the University of North Carolina, where he was fired before the 2011 season after the Tar Heels were found to have committed NCAA rules violations. Davis is scheduled to earn roughly $2.7 million in severance payments, under the condition he doesn't accept another coaching role.
Dominik, however, said Davis joined the staff because he wants to assist in Schiano's transition to the NFL from Rutgers.
"The main reason Butch Davis wanted to come here was to work with his good friend, Greg Schiano," Dominik said. "He wanted to come here and advise, not coach. He'll be an extra set of eyes, he can evaluate talent, he can listen in on meetings. He just wanted to come here and help."
