“Jason, sometimes you have to bite the bullet.”

On one hand Joe firmly believes the Bucs ought to be shopping talent.

Sure, the Bucs could still make the playoffs. Anything can happen in this garbage NFC South landfill. But really, outside of the slim chance of making the playoffs, what then?

The Bucs would get lit up in the first round and it’s back to the same ol’ trying to maintain status quo of an average at-best team with neither the draft capital to make substantial headway in the near future or the cap space to land franchise-changing free agents.

Then on the other hand, Joe doesn’t believe the Bucs will be sellers. That’s basically Team Glazer sending out smoke signals that KitKat-eating Bucs coach Todd Bowles is a lame duck whose employment will be terminated in mid-January.

Additionally, that would also suggest Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht swallow his pride and turn loose several players he not just drafted, but banked on to get the Bucs back to the Super Bowl someday.

So while an insulated pragmatist who doesn’t give a damn about work relationships might be quick to pull the trigger on trades, in reality, it’s not always that simple.

So for a firesale to happen, it might have to be on order from above. As in Team Glazer. Well-plugged-in Jeremy Fowler of ESPN believes, from whispers he is hearing around the league, the firesale could be coming if the Bucs fall to Carolina this afternoon.

Bucs still in NFC South hunt, but a loss Sunday would put them at 1-6. If that happens, some in league expect TB to entertain seller mode at that point.

Now Joe knows that some Bucs fans will scream the firesale should happen win or lose today. That’s fair. If the Bucs were in just about any other division other than the NFC South or the NFC Least, Licht would likely already be spending half the day texting other teams’ general managers trying to line up trades.

Here is something a lot of folks either overlook or ignore: While fans hate the goal of division titles after one or two trips (and Joe totally understands that — division titles should be stepping stones to bigger and better things), owners think differently.

Owners love division titles because that means at least one game where they rake in millions from an additional home game, with a tidy markup since it is the postseason.

So for Licht to start advertising a liquidation, Joe is going to guess Team Glazer would have to give Licht the nod of approval first.

Temperature check on a few teams entering trade deadline:

-Many in league getting impression Colts will wait 1-2 weeks before determining trade course. Rallying off a few wins could change perspective. But…they need picks, too.

-Bucs still in NFC South hunt, but a loss…

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) October 24, 2026