The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have one of the NFL's most exciting crops of rookies this season.
The Bucs' draft class is full of players who won't only be expected to help in the future, but who are expected to earn major roles this season.
Fourth-round pick Keionte Scott is expected to be the team's new slot corner, with Jacob Parrish moving outside to accommodate him, despite his own success inside as a rookie last year. Linebacker Josiah Trotter, taken in Round 2, has been getting reps with the starters during training camp. Wide receiver Ted Hurst, Tampa's third-rounder, has looked good so far and is looking to be another key weapon for the offense.
According to Josh Queipo of PewterReport, the Bucs could have added two more picks to add quality talent, but turned down an offer from the Detroit Lions to trade back in the first round.
New video footage released by the club shows that, leading up to their turn on the clock, the Bucs were contacted by the Lions, who were looking to move up. The Lions offered their own first-round pick, 17th overall, plus both of their fourth-round selections, numbers 118 and 128, for Tampa's pick 15 and sixth-rounder, number 195.
Queipo notes that, using the Jimmy Johnson trade value chart, the trade's value was very even for both teams. However, the Spielberger-Fitzgerald chart, which is more modern and more commonly used, showed the Bucs would have received a significant surplus of value by making the trade, an equivalent of the 89th overall pick.
Why would general manager Jason Licht and the Bucs turn that down?
It's simple. Rueben Bain Jr. was still on the board.
In the video, you can see Licht's excitement that Bain might fall all the way to pick 15 and wouldn't risk losing him by moving down. Could they have still gotten him even after moving down two spots?
Even though the Lions were also heavily linked to edge rushers in the first round, they drafted Clemson OT Blake Miller. It has been reported that Detroit tried to trade up for Miller, but found no takers. It appears that the Lions would have taken Miller at 15, even with Bain still available.
The New York Jets picked next and took TE Kenyon Sadiq. Would they have taken Bain? The Jets had already taken edge rusher David Bailey second overall, so it may be a stretch that they also would have drafted Bain. However, the temptation of drafting the draft's two best pass rushers would be very difficult to resist.
Even if the Jets wouldn't have selected Bain, it is always possible another team could have traded with New York to jump in front of the Bucs and snatch him away.
We will never know whether Tampa could have still gotten Bain if they traded down, but we do know Licht wasn't going to take the risk.
NFL teams almost always say they got the guy they wanted in the first round, no matter who they pick. Of course, that is not always true, despite what they say publicly.
There is indisputable proof that Bain was the player the Bucs wanted and wouldn't risk the opportunity to draft him, even if the chart said they should.
The Bucs were very determined to get Bain, and he hasn't disappointed. The former Miami Hurricane has looked like a star since he arrived in Tampa, earning significant praise throughout the offseason.
Licht and the Bucs got their guy, and Bain has the talent to make every team that passed on him regret it for a long time.
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