The market may be set for Bucs K Chase McLaughlin next offseason

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have had their fair share of woes on special teams. They are doing their best to fix their issues on the punt team. The biggest move they made was bringing on Danny Smith as special teams coordinator.

However, despite all the lows, they have been able to enjoy having Chase McLaughlin as their kicker. He has become one of the more automatic kickers in the NFL, and he enters 2026 as one of the more notable free agents next offseason when his contract is up.

So we got to thinking, what could a new contract look like for McLaughlin? Well, he could be one of the highest-paid kickers in the league a year from now if he repeats what he did in 2025. Last season, he made 32 of 38 kicks for Tampa Bay, including going 11 for 12 from 50+ yards.

Recently, the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers made their kickers the highest-paid at their position in league history. They are going to make $7 million on average, and heading into 2026, making $4.1 million, so could he pass them by?

Perhaps, and the Bucs would be justified in doing so. Those numbers we mentioned above have him being about as automatic as anyone in the league is at the moment. He would be more than deserving of the pay raise and very well could achieve it by this time next year.

This article originally appeared on Bucs Wire: Chase McLaughlin has an idea of what his next contract could be