Why Buccaneers need to give up their first round pick

With the NFL draft right around the corner, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers appear to have most of their ducks in a row. Despite the chaos of their offseason so far, the Buccaneers have managed to secure multiple big-time contracts, add some effective pieces, and increase their team’s depth heading into next season.

Due to the fact that the Bucs have no specific position that the team is in dire need of in this draft, they’ll be spending most of their picks on future contributors that probably won’t see the field this season.

General manager Jason Licht has already stated that the front office will be eyeing defensive and offensive line talent as well as tight ends.

While the Bucs already have talent on both sides of their line, a team can never have enough these days, plus acquiring talent in those positions now will give them flexibility with contracts later. Licht targeting tight ends also makes sense given the fact that the Buccaneers are still unsure if Rob Gronkowski will return and definitely need to be thinking about finding a long-term solution for such a vital position anyway.

Given that there is a plethora of mid-tier talent in the draft, especially in the positions that the Bucs are targeting, trying to gain some extra value by trading away their late first-round pick would certainly be in the team’s best interest.

There is almost no chance that there is a player the Bucs want that can only be acquired with the 27th pick. With that being the case, they would be far wiser to trade off their pick for either another second-round pick or more picks later in the draft.

By doing this, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will effectively lose nothing and gain at least one extra pick, if not more, depending on how well they can negotiate and which team is buying. Nobody knows how the draft will go, but we do know there’s a way to maximize value, and this is certainly the best way.