Buccaneers listed as potential trade destination for Falcons quarterback

We're just two Sundays away from the NFL regular season finally arriving, but teams around the league have some business to take care of first.

This Friday is the final week of the preseason schedule, but the date everyone should be circling is August 27th. That's when all teams have to cut their rosters down to 53 players, which means that close to 1,000 players are going to be moved around in the coming weeks.

Not all of the players who don't make the final roster will be out of jobs. Many of them will stick around as practice squad guys, while some are poached by other teams around the league.

With all of that chaos on the horizon, trade rumors are going to start picking up for players on the roster bubble who are a few tiers higher than some of the other guys who will be cut. That's where things could get interesting, or at the very least, some wild rumors could get tossed out.

Buccaneers listed as trade destination for Taylor Heinicke, but it's not happening

CBS Sports listed out some potential trade candidates around the NFL and linked the Buccaneers to Falcons QB3 Taylor Heinicke. It's a nice thought, and Heinicke is probably going to be the odd-man-out in Atlanta, but there's zero chance this trade is happening.

There's some logic to the idea of a team like the Buccaneers adding Heinicke but it takes some serious stretching to get there. John Wolford was injured in the team's preseason loss on Saturday and Kyle Trask doesn't look great, so it's easy to see why folks who don't pay attention to the team might draw up this sort of rumor.

Practically it makes no sense.

On one hand, the Bucs like the quarterback room the way it is, with Trask still developing and Wolford being the veteran voice. There's continuity there for Baker Mayfield, which is far more important than overthinking what happens if he gets hurt.

That's where there is some logic to having a conversation about Heinicke, as he's had more success as a starter than Trask has and isn't hurt like Wolford is. Heinicke has led a team to the playoffs, has shown leadership in the locker room, and could be a useful addition to a team looking for a backup that doesn't have a solid situation already.

Tampa Bay isn't that locker room.

If something were to happen to Trask or Wolford over the long term then this might be worth revisiting. Perhaps more pressing than the roster fit, though, is the fact that the Bucs and Falcons aren't going to do business with one another.

Atlanta has spent over $180 million and flipped future draft assets to try to catch the Bucs in the NFC South. There's a less-than-zero chance that Jason Licht will assist the Falcons in that quest.

If Trask can't hack it as the team's QB2, then Wolford is going to take the job. Both players have experience working with Mayfield and upsetting that chemistry doesn't make much sense.

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