To say that Tuesday's trade deadline was chaotic would be underselling it.
Eight trades were made on Tuesday before the deadline passed, tying the most in one day going back to 1990, with a whopping four first-round picks over the next two years changing hands. High picks were flying around in both deals that got made and rumors about players who were on the block to get moved.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers got involved in a grand total of zero of those deals, and it was the best possible outcome the team could have hoped for. Obviously adding talent is never a bad thing but what we saw in the deals that were made was the price of doing business likely outweighed the benefit of the Bucs diving into the wave pool.
Here's the final tally from Tuesday's action:
Player | Traded From | Traded To |
|---|---|---|
Sauce Gardner, CB | New York Jets | Indianapolis Colts |
Quinnen Williams, DL | New York Jets | Dallas Cowboys |
Logan Wilson | Cincinnati Bengals | Dallas Cowboys |
Jaelan Phillips, LB | Miami Dolphins | Philadelphia Eagles |
AD Mitchell, WR | Indianapolis Colts | New York Jets |
Ja'Sir Taylor, CB | Los Angeles Chargers | New York Jets |
Trevor Penning, OL | New Orleans Saints | Los Angeles Chargers |
Rashid Shaheed, WR | New Orleans Saints | Seattle Seahawks |
There were also a handful of trades made well before the deadline on Tuesday that brings the total number of deals made up to 23. Those were ones like Joe Flacco to the Bengals, Michael Carter II to the Eagles, and the Rams acquiring Roger McCreary.
So why is the Bucs not making a move a good thing?
Outside of Howie Roseman, there might not be a better GM in football than Jason Licht, and a big reason for that is how careful he is in making deals. Historically, Licht shies away from big moves, which is why any expectation of the Bucs making a splashy trade to acquire a marquee player were misguided.
Licht has made two in-season trades, and only one where the Bucs actually acquired a player. That was back in 2020 when the Jets sent Steve McLendon to Tampa Bay for a 7th round pick; the other trade was back in 2016 when Jonathan Banks was sent to Detroit for a 2018 conditional pick.
That's not exactly wheeling-and-dealing, but unlike Roseman -- who rightfully cooks when he moves draft picks -- Licht likes to use his draft capital to build a winning roster with young talent. It's exactly what he's done over the last few years to help navigate the team out of choppy post-Tom Brady waters and into what is one of the most successful eras in franchise history.
Since 2023, the Bucs have drafted players like Zyon McCollum, Yaya Diaby, Tykee Smith, Bucky Irving, Cade Otton, and Jacob Parrish with picks in the third round or later. On Tuesday the Bears sent a sixth round pick to Cleveland in exchange for former first-round bust Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, a pick that Licht used in 2019 to draft Scotty Miller.
We all remember what he did in the NFC Championship Game a year later.
That's been a theme over the course of Licht's tenure running the Bucs, and it's a big reason why Tampa Bay hanging onto its draft picks is the smart move. A seventh round pick might have landed them a mid-tier player who can help in the short-term, or it can net the Bucs someone like Tez Johnson which was the case this past April.
It's always exciting to think about your team getting involved in trade deadline action, but so few front offices are actually good at it. Licht could probably figure it out if he wanted to but he's mastered a different realm of roster building, one that has helped put the Bucs in a position to buy at the deadline but one where they don't have to in order to have a chance at making a run at a Super Bowl.