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Martin is increasingly likely to sign a free-agent deal with another club according to sources close to his negotiations with the Bucs on a new contract, Roy Cummings of the Tampa Bay Tribune reports.
The report comes on the heels of Jason Licht's proclamation in his Wednesday Combine press conference that he was "optimistic" that a deal that would keep Martin in Tampa would eventually get done. With a bit less than two weeks to go since the official start of the free agency signing period on March 9, there is certainly plenty of time for the consumation of an agreement. However, Cummings' sources indicate that "based on the current pace and direction of the talks, Martin is more likely to sign a deal with one of a handful of Bucs rivals". The same sources did not indicate any snag in negotiations however, and there was no concrete indication otherwise coming out of Licht's talks with Martin's agent Brian Murphy on Wednesday. Although they have the franchise tag at their disposal, Cummings reports that applying it to Martin would cost the Bucs approximately $11.5 million for 2016, a hit they've indicated they don't plan on absorbing.
