Buccaneers accusations could paint franchise in a bad light

The Buccaneers are generally known as one of the best teams in the draft during the Jason Licht era. Could broken promises change that?

The Lewis Cine news from yesterday that the Buccaneers went back on their word to draft him at the end of the first round was strange.

Why the Bucs would say that when they clearly weren’t dead-set on the idea is unusual, but it ended up working in their favor when they didn’t draft a safety that was not a need and were able to find a player that actually helps the outlook in 2022.

Again, this was weird, but it didn’t really amount to a story. These things tend to happen as teams wheel and deal on draft night. But what happens when this becomes a pattern?

After the Cine story came out, Whitney Holtzman, an NFL agent, came out and said something similar happened to one of her clients. Could more be on the way?

This is not a great look for the Bucs. As previously-mentioned, they do a great job of finding and nurturing young talent to find high levels of success. But how can this continue when players stop trusting the team at their word?

Will players still be willing to meet with the Buccaneers at the same frequency? Do prospects stop trusting the Tampa front office?

Managing trust in the draft is extremely important. Having a good relationship with prospects should always be a focus for the Bucs, especially after the Bo Jackson debacle, and allegedly showing a pattern of making promises like this to players and breaking them when it does little to help anything is not a great look.

More information and likely evidence to the claims is needed before this really becomes a problem, but it certainly isn’t a great look for a team that credits a large portion of its success to the draft.

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