Philip Rivers news will undoubtedly affect Buccaneers

The talks of QB Philip Rivers joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are beginning to heat up, but the news will affect the organization one way or another.

It was officially reported that the Los Angeles Chargers would be parting ways with QB Philip Rivers and that Rivers would be permanently moving to Florida earlier this week.

Of course, this is no news to Buccaneers fans who have been hearing rumors and updates for several weeks (in some cases months) now, but it did officially open up some discussion and speculation as to what Rivers’ next step will be.

Whether directly or indirectly, this move will absolutely affect the Buccaneers moving forward.

Directly

There are plenty of rumors currently that Rivers could replace Jameis Winston at quarterback for Tampa Bay and serve as a ‘bridge’ for the Buccaneers- who could take a chance on developing a QB for the future through the draft.

Many in the fanbase would see moving from Winston to Rivers as a downgrade, but he could provide veteran leadership and a little more carefulness when it comes to throwing the football (although I would only say that Rivers is marginally better than Winston when it comes to refraining from interceptions.)

Rivers will likely cost somewhere in the ballpark of $21 million- that was the amount of his previous deal- so he’d be saving the Buccaneers maybe $5 million in this year’s cap space compared to Winston, but not enough that Tampa Bay would see a significant increase in space unless he took less money as a way to potentially compete for a couple of last runs to the playoffs.

Indirectly

The more likely way that the Rivers decision will affect Tampa Bay is indirectly. The Los Angeles Chargers will have the No. 6 pick in the NFL Draft and, with Rivers departing, it would stand to reason that they’d want to take a quarterback in that spot.

Justin Herbert seems like a logical fit in terms of system. If the Chargers elected to take Herbert that early, it would open up a potential door for one of those top offensive linemen to drop a spot or two and potentially give the Buccaneers more options at tackle.

This is all speculation, but if the Chargers go Herbert, you’d likely not expect the first offensive tackle to be taken until pick No. 8 with the Arizona Cardinals. At that point, chances would rise immensely that more than one of those other top offensive tackles- Mekhi Becton, Tristan Wirfs and Andrew Thomas– drop to the Bucs. There are actually scenarios where the Bucs may actually have a choice between two of those tackles, if things worked out perfectly.

I will say this, though:

Herbert going that early would put a premium on some of the other quarterbacks in the draft- Jacob Eason and Jordan Love, in particular. The Buccaneers wouldn’t be likely to want to draft a QB in the first round if they re-sign Winston for a year, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be looking for one in the second round. The chances of a guy like Eason dropping to Tampa Bay in the second round are slim if Herbert goes that early in the draft.