“Trade Bait”
March 4th, 2019
Being shopped?
Joe is on a crusade for the Bucs to upgrade their defensive end position opposite thirtysomething icon Jason Pierre-Paul. It’s the way the NFL has evolved.
As former NFL suit and current BSPN talking head Louis Riddick said recently, there is only one defensive position where one man can change a game and that is a guy who can “hunt” the quarterback consistently — and that is an edge rusher.
Joe loves JPP. Everything about him. But JPP is on the wrong side of 30 and may be gone after his contract expires after the 2020 season. Add a stout defensive end opposite of JPP, and now not only are you cooking with gas, but a strong pass rush can help hide all the nickel corners the Bucs have a subpar secondary.
Joe was hoping beyond hope that somehow, someway, the Chiefs would get dumb and leave defensive end Dee Ford dangling in the free agent waters. But Kansas City isn’t dumb as they have been a winning organization for a long time. As Joe feared, the Chiefs are reportedly going to tag Ford.
But not so fast, types Albert Breer of theMMQB.com. It seems the Chiefs, while they are expected to tag Ford, are inclined to shop him around to test Ford’s trade value.
Chiefs DE/OLB Dee Ford is in an interesting spot—cruising for the franchise tag and, absent a deal getting done in Kansas City, potential trade bait going forward. So I’ll give you what I know. The Chiefs are comfortable having Ford play on the franchise tag, whether it’s the $15.443 million linebacker number, the $17.128 million defensive end number, or somewhere in between (should there be a fight and settlement or arbitration). They also know that, by letting him go to free agency this year or next, they’d probably wind up with a third-round compensatory pick, which sets a floor for compensation. Would the guys who drafted him five years ago (John Dorsey in Cleveland, Chris Ballard in Indy) make a run at him with a second- or third-round pick and a big contract? It’s a question worth asking.
Breer also noted Houston’s Jadeveon Clowney is in the same boat as Ford.
Now what Breer wasn’t clear on in Joe’s eyes (still shaking off cobwebs from a week working and drinking in Indianapolis and the Monday morning dose of Community Coffee not yet fully kicked in) is if the Chiefs are planning on trading Ford before this season or after this season.
Would it be OK for the Bucs to trade a second- and a third-round pick for Ford? Joe wouldn’t necessarily do that only because the Bucs’ second-round pick is essentially a first round pick it’s so high. But a third-round pick and maybe a future second-round pick? Joe’s of the mind that’s negotiable.
Look, new Bucs coach Bucco Bruce Arians, 66, has made it clear he’s not here for a rebuild. And logic and common sense suggest he won’t be here when he turns 70. So why not cough up a fair ransom to land a proven pass rusher?
If the Bucs at No. 5 draft Houston freak Ed Oliver (to replace Gerald McCoy who almost surely would be released if the Bucs landed Ford), you would be looking at a front four of quarterback attackers in Vita Vea, JPP, Oliver and Ford — try to tell Joe that wouldn’t get NFC South offensive coordinators nervous?
And no, Joe is not trying to run off GMC. Joe wants him to stay. But last week at the NFL combine in Indianapolis, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht refused to say GMC is a lock for the roster. Joe appreciates Licht’s candor but clearly either Licht wants GMC to rework his contract or is seriously considering Bucs life without GMC.
Of course Oliver is cheaper and in the eyes of GMC’s haters, even though Oliver has never taken a snap in the NFL, is better than GMC (again, per the haters).
If the Bucs add a salary like a Ford or Trey Flowers, that means another salary is going to have to go and it seems Licht has already targeted GMC’s $13 million as vulnerable.
March 4th, 2019 at 9:29 am
Indy has far more money and ammunition than we do. And Indy will secure Landon Collins also. My bet is Indy can and will pull this off.
March 4th, 2019 at 9:30 am
No trades of picks
March 4th, 2019 at 9:30 am
gmc is too expensive its time to move on to a rookie
March 4th, 2019 at 9:37 am
Joe keeps floating these $15-17mil……and trading picks to boot…….not happening….we simply don’t have the money and we also don’t have the picks.
We can draft a DE…….
March 4th, 2019 at 9:45 am
I’ll pass
Joe cutting McCoy already lol
15 mill no room for that contract
March 4th, 2019 at 9:47 am
BTW our left tackle got the franchise tag there goes the $$$
March 4th, 2019 at 9:54 am
@Joe
LMFAO. Man you need to stop with this stuff. KC aint trading Ford and aint nobody paying Flowers 17 mil. Besides where is the money gonna come from even if we cut MeJax and Cancer93 (that was 4 tmaxcon) and/or Over the Hill Gholston. Since we bout to tag D. Smith, again where is the money gonna come from? #RankJ-ISM
March 4th, 2019 at 9:55 am
HELL NO to overpaying for more veteran DLine players!
This draft is chock full of good DL players. Bucs need to draft at least 2 in the early rounds.
March 4th, 2019 at 9:58 am
Nano Says:
March 4th, 2019 at 9:47 am
BTW our left tackle got the franchise tag there goes the $$$
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.
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the franchise has one foot on the dock and the other on the boat….Don’t ! believe any spin out of the front office…LT big bucks -uncertain….QB big bucks uncertain…the boys is Vegas are cold hearted..wonder how they have the Bucs ranked
March 4th, 2019 at 10:00 am
Not so fast. Smith gets the tag ***if*** a long-term deal cannot be worked out. Bucs have months to accomplish that.
March 4th, 2019 at 10:02 am
1. At least they are proven.
2. If a player produces, how then is the team “overpaying?”
March 4th, 2019 at 10:03 am
Then why is he being shopped? Seems awfully silly to waste valuable time and effort dangling a guy for trade value if you have zero interest in trading him. What’s the point then?
March 4th, 2019 at 10:05 am
For those who think Jason Licht is a worse GM that Mark Dominick was, consider their drafts:
MARK DOMINICK: 30 Picks; 3 Produced for the team.
Gerald McCoy
Luke Stocker
Lavonte David
Caybor, Foster and Bowers were drafted by Dominick, but they failed to produce for our team.
JASON LICHT: 41 Picks; 14 Produced for the team.
Mike Evans
Charles Sims*
Jameis Winston
Donovan Smith
Ali Marpet
Kwon Alexander
Vernon Hargreaves*
O. J. Howard
Justin Evans
Chris Godwin
Kendell Beckwith
Vita Vea
Carlton Davis
Jordan Whitehead
And that doesn’t even count the players who are still undetermined.
March 4th, 2019 at 10:12 am
So far as Free Agency, the best use of it is to use it to plug holes until you can fill them with younger, better talent, or the add the final pieces to your team…and by final pieces, I mean 1-3 pieces.
The problem in Tampa is that fans always want to use free agency to completely rebuild the team because they lack the patience to develop talent.
March 4th, 2019 at 10:12 am
Well we can’t draft very well so these are things we have to look at sadly enough
March 4th, 2019 at 10:14 am
Destinjohnny, the information I posted contradicts your claim that we can’t draft well.
March 4th, 2019 at 11:16 am
trading away picks would be stupid….
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!…GO BUCS!!!!
March 4th, 2019 at 12:05 pm
MARK DOMINICK: 30 Picks; 3 Produced for the team.
Gerald McCoy
Luke Stocker
Lavonte David
Remind me again what those career losers produced again…. sine you live in fantasy land let me remind you what those bums produced BASEMENT TITLES AND MORE BLOWOUTS THAN ANY CAPTAINS IN TEAM HISTORY?????
stocker was an sec backup at best in the nfl… damn you people have low low standards and have no clue when it comes to actual meaningful production.
March 4th, 2019 at 12:07 pm
ford has talent and actual production no way bucfan can understand that after a decade of cancer93’s fraudulent and meaningless production….
March 4th, 2019 at 12:13 pm
Buccaneer Bonzai Says:
March 4th, 2019 at 10:14 am
Destinjohnny, the information I posted contradicts your claim that we can’t draft well.
16 years without a single meaningful win and some of the most embarrassing performances in nfl HISTORY contradicts every post you make…. you act like this is a classy and winning franchise with great history when in fact it’s a minor league franchise filled with clowns and underachieving has beens that had 1 great year in 42…. SCOREBOARD MY FRIEND IS ALL THAT MATTERS…..
March 4th, 2019 at 12:25 pm
RESPECT CAN ONLY BE EARNED ON THE FIELD!!! THE BUCS HAVE NOT HAD ANY RESPECT SINCE SAPP WALKED OUT THE DOOR… THE TRUTH HURTS LADIES!
March 4th, 2019 at 12:52 pm
The Bucs should be trading McCoy.
March 4th, 2019 at 3:00 pm
I wish we could trade Tmaxcon for a bag of stale chips and a flat hot beer. If you dislike this franchise so much that you constantly belch your hate not only to those players you deem to be subpar, you also do it to other fans. It must be real fun to watch a Bucs game with you. Yes you have your opinions so do I. Have a fantastic day.
March 4th, 2019 at 5:02 pm
The Chiefs are transitioning to a 4/3 and so need to get rid of an OLB and find a good 4/3 DE. We are transitioning to a 3/4, need an OLB, and have a proven 12 sack DE who is a great leader and played with Giants under Spagnuolo who maybe doesn’t fit our new system. So what could we offer them in trade…?
March 4th, 2019 at 5:03 pm
@TBBF … “Joe keeps floating these $15-17mil……and trading picks to boot…….not happening….we simply don’t have the money and we also don’t have the picks.”
@Pickgrin … “HELL NO to overpaying for more veteran DLine players! This draft is chock full of good DL players. Bucs need to draft at least 2 in the early rounds.”
WHAT THEY SAID !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (The extra 20 exclamation points were for you Realist. Where ya hiding? These are too easy … Jump in)
Oh and Joe, in terms of overpaying? This little thingie called a $195 mil salary CAP to feed 51 players keeps raising its ugly head. Just how many players making $21 mil (Jameis), $20 mil (ME13), $16 mil (JPP), $13 mil (GMC), $10 mil (DJax), $10 mil (LVD), $10 mil (Marpet), $10 mil (Jensen) and potentially now Donovan ($15 mil) can we afford? That’s $125 mil for just 9 players, meaning that the other 42 (based on the Top-51 rule) have to eat on a combined $70 mil (less than $2 mil apiece?). And people wonder why we’re the perennial bottom-feeders in the NFC South. Ya right.
March 4th, 2019 at 5:43 pm
I think he’d fit right in with the Bucs. Anybody so unfocused and brain dead to line up offsides on literally the biggest play of the Chiefs season, cost them a SB appearance, has already mastered “Buc Ball.”
March 4th, 2019 at 8:01 pm
Sorry Joe. I know how badly you’ve wanted Dee Ford but it aint happening. You wanna talk about wrong side of thirty? They’re supposedly going to resign GMC for likely $8-13 million/year (possibly traded) who’s 31 but plays like he could apply for Medicare and talks Next Top Model to other teams when he puts his fingers in the ground. JPP was the soul and MVP in his first year with this team last year and getting double digit sacks. Dude’s a 30 year old frate train and with all the other holes we have, paying big dough to replace JPP is probably the last thought in Licht’s head at the moment.
March 4th, 2019 at 8:17 pm
RustyRhinos Says:
March 4th, 2019 at 3:00 pm
I wish we could trade Tmaxcon
typical bucfan wanting to trade a winner!!!!
March 4th, 2019 at 10:05 pm
Did we forget Carl Nassib? He’s legit. Give him another year with a good defensive scheme and coaches.