The Tampa Bay Buccaneers should handily win their division but the NFC is going to be a much tougher hill for them to climb, as it should be. If the Bucs want to be serious Super Bowl contenders, their team needs to get better and fortunately, the NFL trade deadline will force GM Jason Licht to make some moves to help improve this squad.
There will be a lot of people linking the Buccaneers to wide receivers before the deadline, and look, I get why this is the case. Tampa has suffered a lot of key injuries at the position this year with Mike Evans missing most of the year with a broken collarbone and Chris Godwin still recovering from his fibula injury. Throw in that star rookie Emeka Egbuka is also banged up and yeah, I get linking this team to wide receivers.
Earlier in the week, Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report put together a list of potential landing spots for Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr., who hasn't been clicking with former Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen's vision in Jacksonville. As you can probably predict, the Buccaneers made the list of possible suitors for Thomas.
"The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have the pieces needed to contend in the NFC this season. However, their last couple of games have exposed how injuries at the receiver position are becoming a problem.
Chris Godwin is still sidelined with a fibula injury, while Mike Evans is on injured reserve with a broken collarbone. Tampa struggled to keep pace during its Week 7 loss to the Detroit Lions, and it didn't get a ton going through the air during Sunday's win over the New Orleans Saints.
Baker Mayfield has also seemed either off or at less than 100 percent over the last two weeks, but adding a receiver like Thomas might be just the thing to get him back into Pro Bowl form."
Receiver is something that the Bucs could trade for, sure, but this isn't what they should be going all-in for. Their bigger need is along the offensive line, which has been littered with injuries and issues all season long. If they're going to make a big trade ahead of the trade deadline, it should be on the o-line.
Bucs linked to WR, but should be fixating on OL before trade deadline
The hope is that Egbuka and Godwin can both be healthy together at the same time and that'd give Baker Mayfield more than enough help. Tez Johnson has looked pretty good as a rookie as well, giving Mayfield another key option. Why overpay for someone like Thomas when the team has the talent onboard? (Knox had the Bucs parting with a second-round pick and Chris Braswell to get Thomas, for what it's worth).
The unfortunate part is that it doesn't appear many teams are willing to part ways with their offensive linemen. This makes sense considering just how hard it is to build an average o-line as it is, so why trade the decent names you have? Teams tend to try and keep their offensive linemen because it's clear that it's one of the hardest units to build.
Bucs fans know this all too well, as they've been lucky to watch Tristan Wirfs dominate on the left side of the line since the team invested a first-round pick on him in 2020. The rest of their o-line could use upgrading though, for sure.
If the Buccaneers could find a team willing to trade one of their offensive linemen, that'd be a no-brainer move for Jason Licht to make. Sadly, that doesn't seem to be a timeline we're living in, at least not right now. Maybe that can change before Tuesday's deadline though. Fingers crossed!