April 26 (UPI) — A league source says that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are trying to move down from its No. 19 pick in the first round of Thursday’s 2017 NFL Draft.
ESPN reported Wednesday that the Buccaneers are talking with at least three other teams about moving back in, or maybe even completely out of, the first round.
On Saturday, Bleacher Report reported that the Buffalo Bills, Tennessee Titans, New York Jets, and the San Francisco 49ers have also made calls about moving down in the draft order.
Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht has a history of draft-related deals.
In 2014, he flipped center Jeremy Zuttah to the Baltimore Ravens for a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. He also traded wide receiver Mike Williams to the Buffalo Bills for a sixth-round draft choice that year. During the 2014 NFL Draft, Licht and the Buccaneers gave up a fifth-round pick and a 2014 seventh-round pick to the Bills in exchange for the 149th overall selection.
In August of 2014, he traded a fourth-round pick and tight end Tim Wright to the New England Patriots for guard Logan Mankins. In April of 2015, the Buccaneers gave a 2015 fifth-round selection to the Detroit Lions so that it could sign free agent defensive end George Johnson. During the 2015 draft, Licht swapped fourth-round picks with the Indianapolis Colts to offensive lineman Ali Marpet. He also pulled off a late-round trade with the Oakland Raiders in that draft to pick up Kwon Alexander.
During last year’s draft, the Bucs traded its No. 9 overall pick to the Chicago Bears in exchange for the No. 11 pick and a fourth-rounder. Licht then picked Vernon Hargreaves in the first round. He then flipped the extra fourth-round pick and used it, in addition to a third-rounder to move up and pick kicker Robert Aguayo with the No. 59 overall selection.
Licht took over as the Buccaneers’ general manager in 2014. Since then, the Buccaneers have a 17-31 record under two different head coaches and three different offensive coordinators. Licht, 46, previously served as the Arizona Cardinals’ vice president of player personnel.
“You can get a good player at 50, you can get a player throughout the draft. A lot of times when you’re picking high, if you go back and study it, there’s a lot of high-ceiling, but also low-floor players up there, a little boom or bust,” Licht said last week.
“That’s the case throughout the draft, but a lot of times when you’re picking later in the first round, you’re getting sometimes a safe player that may not have the flash, but ends up being a very solid player. So, it’s a little trickier picking at 19 with all the scenarios that happen in front of you. We can’t pinpoint who’s going to be there yet because crazy things happen, but we’re excited about where we’re picking. No matter where you’re picking, you wish you could figure out who’s going to be there and you wish that you were a little bit higher at that point. At the end of the season you don’t wish you were higher, but it’s just so you can minimize or predict a little bit more of who you’re picking from. Wherever we’re picking, we think we’re getting a solid player.”
The latest UPI mock draft has the Buccaneers picking Florida State running back Dalvin Cook with the No. 19 pick.
Thursday’s draft begins at 8 p.m. EDT in Philadelphia, Pa. The Buccaneers currently have one pick in every round.
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