The Buccaneers Are Crazy If They Don’t Trade Mike Glennon
By James Yarcho
With the quarterback market shaping up the way it has, the Buccaneers need to capitalize as quickly as possible. If not, they’re blowing a major opportunity.
We’re living in an age of the NFL where Brock Osweiler shunned the Broncos, in favor of the Texans, who then trade for Mark Sanchez. An NFL where Colin Kaepernick is being pursued by multiple teams. An NFL where Robert Griffin III is a hot commodity. The quarterback market is, essentially, a hot mess. Yet, for some reason, the Buccaneers are not jumping in and offering Mike Glennon.
Why in God’s name not?
Let me preface this diatribe by saying this: I like Mike Glennon. I think he is a reliable quarterback, a great teammate, and could easily start for a variety of NFL teams. No, he’s not “elite”. If he was, he wouldn’t be on the bench. That being said, he hasn’t really gotten a fair shake as a starter. He took over for a beleaguered Josh Freeman in 2013 during the abysmal Schiano days. Schiano was fired, Lovie Smith was hired, and Josh McCown was signed. It wasn’t until McCown was injured during an epic prime-time beatdown at the hands of the Falcons that we saw Glennon. What’d he do? Marched into Heinz Field and beat the Steelers.
Not too shabby.
Glennon would go 1-4 in 2014 and holds a career record of 5-13 as a starter. However, that record isn’t on him alone. It’s hard to win games when the entire team is in shambles and has given up on their head coach or when your offensive line is a sieve, your running back is injured, and the defense gives away points as fast as a high school girl takes selfies. The team was a mess and Glennon suffered for it.
But he shouldn’t anymore.
There is absolutely no reason to think Mike Glennon isn’t a more viable starter than Colin Kaepernick, who showed a massive decline in 2015, Mark Sanchez, who had been relegated to the bench in Philly, RGIII, who has been the epitome of bust, or the other quarterbacks teams are stuck scraping the bottom of the barrel for. You mean to tell me Glennon can’t go to Denver, with Emmanuel Sanders and Demaryius Thomas and that defense, and contend for the AFC West title? He’d have a heck of a better chance than Sanchez or Kaepernick, I can promise you that.
What about the Jets? They botched the Ryan Fitzpatrick negotiations and are now taking a visit from RGIII. With Matt Forte, Eric Decker, and Brandon Marshall up there, Glennon would certainly improve on some already respectable career numbers. San Francisco and Cleveland are working on a trade for Kaepernick as well, to which either should look at Glennon as just as viable as an option. Maybe even more so.
Glennon has thrown for 4,025 yards, 29 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions in 18 career starts. That’s nothing to scoff at, especially given the teams he started for. In a free agent market where backup quarterbacks are getting $21-million to stay a backup or $72-million to become a starter (like Matt Flynn – remember that mess?), Glennon could get himself a starting role and make some really good cash in the process.
“But, but, but…the Bucs can’t trade him! What happens if Winston gets hurt?!”
Stop it. Just stop. First off, if your franchise quarterback goes down, chances are your team is going down with him. There are those rare occasions where the backup goes in and performs well, elevating his stock as a starting quarterback. But for every one of those, there’s twenty examples of backups taking over and showing exactly why they are backups.
“Well, Glennon is a backup. Why would he be any different?”
Didn’t say he would be. I could easily be wrong. But is there any reason to think he’s not every bit as good as the quarterbacks in free agency or being put into trade rumors? Teams are desperate. That is why the Bucs need to take the risk of losing him as a backup and cash in. If they don’t, they’re going to lose him anyway and have nothing but the possibility of a late round compensatory pick to show for it.
The rumor mill states that the Bucs want a first rounder for him. I don’t buy it because Licht is a reasonable guy and he knows that’s too much. Another rumor said the Bucs want at least a third rounder, depending on where that team is drafting in the third. Jason La Canfora reported that an unknown team offered a second rounder and the Bucs said no.
If that is true, the Bucs really are insane.
Look, whether you feel he’s valuable in 2016 or not, at the end of the season he is outta here. Glennon is watching these backups get better contracts and the chance to start with other teams. He’s never going to have that here and there’s no way he doesn’t feel like he can’t start, and win, in this league. If Jason Licht is truly dead set on building through the draft, developing players, and re-signing them, then he has to make deals like this one to acquire more picks, especially if they’re in the first two days of the draft.
Next: Bucs Land Pass Rusher Robert Ayers?
Glennon is a winning lottery ticket. But you have to turn the ticket in to claim your winnings. Turn him in, Jason. Win more picks, more building blocks, for this team.