Jason Licht has made just two in-season trades in more than a decade running the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That was in October 2020, when he sent a sixth-round pick to the Jets for Steve McLendon, and Tampa Bay won the Super Bowl a few months later. After a 0-4 start to the season, that approach is about to be tested.
That track record is why Bleacher Report’s Gary Davenport doesn’t expect a fire sale in Tampa. But in his projection of sell-offs across the league’s worst teams, he wrote that the Bucs could break precedent if they’re well below .500 at the Nov. 10 deadline and decide to retool for 2027.
Who the Buccaneers could actually sell
Davenport listed four candidates. A’Shawn Robinson and Yaya Diaby are both in contract years, with Robinson posting a sack, an interception and 16 tackles in five games. Diaby has no sacks and nine tackles. Chris Godwin, 30, has 19 catches for 179 yards in five games, years removed from three straight 1,000-yard seasons from 2021 to 2023. Zyon McCollum is in the first year of a $48 million extension that would leave Tampa Bay with $16.1 million in dead money if he’s dealt.
The Bucs have already shown where they draw the line. Vita Vea asked for a trade in July, and multiple teams called, but Licht shut it down. “I have no plans on trading Vita,” Licht said in August, and Vea later signed an extension through 2027.
The season hasn’t gone the way Licht planned since then. Tampa Bay lost its first four games, all by one score, before Bucky Irving’s 165 yards beat Dallas last Thursday. Baker Mayfield missed that game with a thumb injury, his second straight absence, and he didn’t practice Wednesday ahead of Sunday’s game against the Steelers. We also wrote this morning that Kenneth Gainwell could be a trade chip, too.
Licht doesn’t have to blow anything up. Moving Robinson or Diaby for a pick would be the kind of small sale he has avoided for years, and the Bucs have $15.3 million in cap space, per Over the Cap, so nothing is forcing his hand. The next three weeks will decide whether Raymond James Stadium is watching a bad start or the beginning of a rebuild.
More on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
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- Tampa Bay Buccaneers Are Right to Slow-Play Baker Mayfield’s Return
- Will Baker Mayfield Return vs. the Steelers? What Wednesday’s Throwing Session Could Decide
