A lot of Buccaneers fans are upset with the fact that Jason Licht didn’t pull the trigger on a trade for former Rams defensive end Robert Quinn.
Look, there are a lot of hole to fill on this Buccaneers roster. We’ve been over it time and time again. They need help along the defensive line, the secondary, the offensive line, and running back. Not all of these can be addressed in free agency or the draft. The two have to work in unison with one another to get this team where it needs to be.
So the fact that Jason Licht was unable to trade for Robert Quinn does not mean the Buccaneers are ignoring the need for pass rush or that Licht is a bad general manager or that he’s just sitting on his hands doing nothing.
If you trade for Quinn, you trade for his contract. The Bucs could have absorbed the $12.39 million he’ll be due this year and the $12.93 million he’s due next year, but it could’ve proved problematic when Licht tried to re-sign some of his own draft picks. A lot of people were upset that the return for Quinn was so cheap – the Dolphins are sending a fourth round pick as well as the Phins and Rams swapping sixth round picks. The Buccaneers pick eighth in the fourth round while the Dolphins gave up the eleventh pick in the same round.
Updated: Two sources have told me that the Bucs offered a fourth-round draft pick for Robert Quinn, while the Browns offered a fifth https://t.co/cNkckJrHPA
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) March 4, 2018
With the Bucs having two sixth round picks, it would have been easy for the Bucs to swap sixths or even give up their additional sixth rounder to finish off the deal. That said, there seems to be a key point that everyone is forgetting;
It takes two teams to make a trade come to fruition. Maybe the Rams decided they wanted him out of the NFC altogether. Maybe they didn’t want to risk facing him in the postseason and knew that sending him to an AFC team would be more beneficial for themselves. Maybe they didn’t want to deal with the Bucs at all. Or perhaps there are relationships that came into play between the Rams and Dolphins and that helped facilitate a deal.
Don’t forget, Quinn hasn’t played a full season since 2014. The Rams were getting rid of him for a reason. Some may say he didn’t fit their new defensive scheme, but it seems more likely they were unloaded an often injured player with a high cap number.
Next: Free Agent Spotlight - Justin Pugh
Finally, how many of the people screaming about Licht not making this deal would have been the first to blame him for signing another “free agent bust” had Quinn been hurt again or had he failed to hit double digit sacks with a salary north of $12 million dollars? My guess is the vast majority.