Buccaneers still quiet as NFL activity continues prior to 2018 season
The Buccaneers had a little bit of news break on Thursday when it was reported the team had reached an agreement with Ryan Fitzpatrick to return as Jameis Winston’s backup in 2018.
However, this news was – gasp – overshadowed by news of yet another trade in the NFL ranks, and another not involving the Buccaneers.
Indeed, Aqib Talib will not be a Broncos player in 2018. Instead, he’s headed southwest to the city of angels where he’ll play for Wade Phillips and the Los Angeles Rams.
To the chagrin of many Bucs fans I’m sure, another player who supporters of the franchise have pined over has been taken off the market.
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But was he really on the market to begin with? At least for Jason Licht and the Buccaneers?
I’m not talking about interest from Tampa. At the moment I don’t have any information one way or the other to indicate whether the team was in the running for Talib or not.
Outside of the Rams, the only team I’ve seen confirmed as having talks with the Broncos was the 49ers. However, reports had also surfaced that Talib was interested in being released so he could then sign with the Rams or for the Patriots. A team he used to play for not in Tampa.
So, it doesn’t really seem like he had any interest in coming back. Do we blame Licht for this?
Think about that for a minute. Aqib Talib. You want to force Aqib Talib to come back to Tampa – where he reportedly doesn’t want to go – and expect him to just fall in line? Not happening.
Any franchise which forces Talib to play for them against their will, will surely regret it. Apparently, the same can be said about Marcus Peters. The Rams better hope they both keep wanting to play there.
There have been plenty of moves this off-season. Well, planned moves. I can honestly say I don’t remember there ever being this many trade agreements in place before the beginning of a league year.
However, there always needs to be a little caution when approaching teams trying to offload household names for low round picks.
There’s a reason they’re moving the player. And that reason may become your favorite team’s problem in a hurry if they jump at the ‘too good to be true’ price tag.
Hang in there Buccaneers fans. We’ve only just begun. Technically, we haven’t even done that.
"More Buc-less trades, the return of Fitzmagic, and Twitter Fingers! All on this episode of the Locked on Bucs podcast."