Dez Bryant is just one of the two first-round picks who have signed up to this point

With training camp approaching for Tampa, the number one priority should be to sign their first round pick, Gerald McCoy, before camp starts. The Cowboys are the lone team, up to this point, who signed their first pick (Dez Bryant, 24th overall) before their camp got underway. Besides Dallas, the New England Patriots are the only team who have their first round pick locked up (Devin McCourty, 27th overall). So why are these first round picks not signing? (more…)

The only time major trades happen in the top of round 1 is for teams to acquire QB’s.  It happened last year with Mark Sanchez and Josh Freeman. There are a few teams that value their board so much (rightfully so) that if they think they are about to drop down a tier of player, they will make the necessary move to trade up and acquire the guy they have been targeting.

I personally am just not seeing too many teams that are in dire need of a QB that would see us a trade partner to move up with.  Sam Bradford is clearly the number one QB prospect at this point, and being as though we are not going to draft him at 3, why trade with us?  Same goes for the Lions, so the one potential trading partner would seemingly have to be the Rams.

Oakland, Cleveland, Carolina, would be the only teams in my eyes that have glaring QB issues, and as mentioned before, I’m just not seeing why any of those teams would see us as the logical trading partner.  Carolina doesn’t even have a first round pick, so we can immediately rule them out, and Cleveland and Oakland pick in the top 10 themselves.  If one of those two teams thought that they had to move up to 3 to take Jimmy Clausen and beat out the other team, then that makes us a viable option, but I am just not seeing that possibility arising.  Oakland couldn’t stomach the money it would take to pay out Clausen and Fat Boy Jamarcus Russell at the same time, so you can pretty much rule them out from trading up to 3.  So that leaves the Rams and the Browns as teams that need a QB that have the ammo to get one, and the Rams pick first themselves.  There was some reports that came out yesterday that the Browns had talked to the Rams about moving up to 1 to take Sam Bradford but once again, I’m not seeing how we are in that equation.

While acquiring as many picks as possible is important for a team that is in dire need of multiple impact guys, the potential that our biggest position of need could be filled by a guy many people view as the best player in the draft at the number 3 spot, coupled with a lack of potential trade partners, in my eyes, takes us out of the trade world come draft day.

Let me put this caveat in here before discussing.  This time of year, there are all kinds of rumors that surface that might be posturing by teams or might be just totally unfounded.  This could be a ploy by the Rams in order to get Michael Vick for a cheaper price from the Eagles.  All I’m saying is that its just a rumor, so lets treat it that way.

On the surface, trading up to the number one selection makes a ton of sense for our team.  Our most glaring need is in the middle of our defensive line at the DT position, and the two best players in the draft, both DT’s, will probably go 1 and 2.  As is stands now, at number 3, we’d be forced to maybe pick a player where we don’t have as much of a glaring need (SS) or reach for a player who fits a need but might be too high to draft (DE).

My issue is not trading up to number one, it is the reported package that is being talked about, Josh Johnson, our number 3 pick, and the number 67 pick in the draft.  This draft is crucial not only for the future sustainability for the Bucs as a competitive franchise, but obviously for the likelihood that Radio and Mark Dominik are retained or not.  I’m a little worried that although they preached that building through the draft, from the bottom up, ala the Patriots, was the way to build an organization, that they would sacrifice that very thing in order to save their jobs and get the player who has a chance to make the biggest impact.  Let’s be honest, the Bucs need impact players at SS, CB, MLB, SLB, DE, DT, RT, WR, RB.  Some of those positions, we need two quality guys.  So just on the surface, we have 1o picks, and 9 obvious need positions in my eyes, with a need for no less than two impactful receivers coming from this draft.  If we moved pick number 67 in order to move up two spots, we are at minimum sacrificing one of those positions.  You could also add QB to the list of needs if we were to trade the guy who should walk in to camp this year as the backup in Josh Johnson.

Another issue I have is the fact that deep down in my heart, I still believe the Rams are targeting one of the two QB’s, Jimmy Clausen or Sam Bradford.  By trading down to number 3, they have the ability to target the guy they want anyway, and get him for a much cheaper price, and in the process, pick up pick number 67 as well as a guy who not 6 months ago, Radio proclaimed his backup for life.  For the Rams, this is a no brainer deal in my eyes, for the Bucs, not so much.

Players that could be available come pick 67:  Brandon LaFell, Jahvid Best, Myron Rolle, Major Wright, Arrelious Benn, Devin McCourty and a slew of other players, who fit positions of need who have a chance to be impactful first year players, not just projects for years down the road.  Obviously the combine hasn’t begun yet, and some of those players may or not be there when we pick, but just from a cursory look at most Draft Boards, there are a bevy of high quality players available when we pick in Round 3.

My issue isn’t the trading up to Ndamukong Suh, it’s sacrificing a key piece of what is needed to properly rebuild (pick 67), and rebuild the way these retards said they wanted to.  If that were pick were lowered to a 5th or 6th rounder, I think my mind would be changed.