The Tampa Bay Buccaneers pull off a huge trade with the Cincinnati Bengals, which creates new possibilities in this 3-round NFL Mock Draft.
The finish line is in sight, as the NFL Draft is almost here. Months of speculation and throwing things against the wall will culminate in seeing if anything we’ve been speculating and talking about for the last few months ends up being true.
Part of the fun this time of year is tossing out ideas and talking them out. Whether they end up happening or not is almost beside the point, as there’s no way to truly predict what will happen once teams start going on the clock and the next stars of the league begin coming off draft boards.
For the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a unique situation exists where the team can go in a number of different directions with the No. 19 pick. The Bucs can stand pat and see if a top tackle falls to them, Jason Licht can trade up for just the second time as a GM, or they can trade down and collect more assets to build for the post-Tom Brady future.
Trading down is of particular interest, as it affords the Bucs a chance to potentially land a player to fill a position of need while adding picks that can help them be in the position to add top talent in key areas of the roster.
NFL Mock Draft: Bucs pull off huge trade with Bengals for No. 19 pick
In a piece musing about hypothetical trades, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell has the Bucs swapping first and third round picks with the Bengals, with Jonah Williams coming to Tampa Bay as the kicker to get the deal done.
Again, this is a hypothetical trade that is in no way being reported by Barnwell as being in the works, but it’s a pretty good deal to consider if it ever becomes real.
This does a few things for the Bucs, not the least of which is take care of the situations t tackle.
While most mock drafts have Darnell Wright seemingly locked into the Bucs pick at No. 19, there could be a run on tackles that drains the pool before Tampa Bay goes on the clock. Landing Williams in this deal alleviates that anxiety about whether a tackle will be in play for the team.
It means not having to trade up and give up assets to land a guy, too.
What it also does is eliminates the need to spend the team’s first round selection on a tackle, and opens up some different lanes. Just like when the Bucs re-signed Jamel Dean and took away the need to use the pick on his replacement, Tampa Bay can go a number of different routes with a completely different looking draft board at the back-end of the first round.
So let’s assume the make this trade, what would that do to the Bucs draft strategy and what players could they come away with?