We’re less than a week into the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ offseason, but we’re already reaching peak levels of rumor mill speculation. Nothing can happen until the new league year begins in March, but that hasn’t stopped some folks from getting a head start on things.
Almost as soon as the season ended, Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill poured fuel on speculation that he wasn’t happy in Miami by saying he wants out. Since then everyone has been trying to figure out ideal landing spots for him, and the Bucs keep finding themselves pulled into the middle of the mess.
To be clear, there’s no actually tangible speculation about Hill getting traded to the Buccaneers. That’s the only way he’d end up in Tampa Bay, as the Dolphins have him under contract until 2026 and he’s owed a ton of money between now and then.
None of it actually makes any sense as far as the Buccaneers trading for Hill, as the team isn’t exactly flush with cash and historically loves to keep its draft picks. Still, that hasn’t stopped the man himself from now twice linking himself to Tampa Bay.
Tyreek Hill mentions the Buccaneers for a second time amid offseason trade rumors
Hill got the rumor mill winds blowing again this week when he dropped a cryptic tweet about how much of a breeze a drive up to Tampa would be.
3 hour drive to Tampa about to be a breeze
— Ty Hill (@cheetah) January 16, 2025
Let’s be real, there’s not a lot to go off there, but it also doesn’t take much for whispers to build into something louder. There has been zero indication from the Buccaneers’ side that anything is remotely close to being in the works and, outside of the financials of it all, trading for Hill doesn’t make a lot of football sense.
Tampa Bay has around $11 million in cap space this offseason before factoring in returning deals and the upcoming draft class. If we’ve learned anything about this current regime, though, it’s that the salary cap is an easy obstacle to get around as Jason Licht’s team has mastefully restructured deals to create money to keep the team competitive.
We will almost certainly see that salary cap magic happen again this offseason, but the list of needs is pretty long before getting to trading for Hill. Bringing back Chris Godwin would be a cheaper option than absorbing the almost $40 million owed to Hill over the next two seasons; plus, the fit would be more natural bringing a beloved player like Godwin back.
This isn’t the first time Hill has teased that he wants to come to Tampa Bay, though. He rather bizarrely photoshopped his face onto Antonio Brown’s body in a picture of the latter infamously running off the field in the middle of a game in 2022. There’s a million ways to read into that and one of them is Hill saying he wants to come to the Bucs.
Of course, that’s true of all this speculation as there’s nothing more than cryptic rumblings to go off and nothing more. Hill is probably going to be moved this offseason, but it’s a long shot that Tampa Bay ends up being his final destination.
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