The Buccaneers had one goal entering round one of the 2020 NFL draft, which was to get a top-ranked tackle to help provide support upfront for Tom Brady next season.
The Bucs held the 14th pick, but after three of the four top tackles were off the board through 11 picks, Tampa Bay swung a trade with the Niners, moving up a spot to No. 13 to draft Iowa OT Tristan Wirfs. In the end, all it cost the Bucs was a fourth-rounder, and they even got a seventh-round pick back in the deal. But, as Peter King detailed recently, the Bucs may have surrendered much more had a trade with the Jaguars gone through.
Check out this excerpt from King’s piece, where Bucs GM Jason Licht called Jags GM Dave Caldwell, offering a bundle to move up from 14 to 9:
9:13. Licht picks up his cell and calls Jacksonville GM Dave Caldwell. “We’ll give you our three and four. [Picks] 76 and 117 . . . all right . . . call me back.” Licht tells his Cisco Webex crew: “Jacksonville’s thinking about it. Straight up, 76 and 117.”
- Quickly, Arizona, entertaining nothing, takes versatile defender Isaiah Simmons.
9:15. R-r-r-r-ringggggg! The alert on Licht’s phone sounds like the old-fashioned ringer on the Perry Mason Show. “Hello,” Licht said, answering it. “Okay. Okay . . . Okay.” Hangs up. Says to Cisco crew: “Jacksonville’s out. They’re taking [cornerback] C.J. Henderson.”
Had Jacksonville taken that offer, Tampa Bay wouldn’t have gotten Vanderbilt running back Ke’Shawn Vaughn in round three, but they would have had their pick of tackles in Jedrick Wills, Mekhi Becton and Wirfs.
Ultimately, they got Wirfs and were able to keep their third-round pick. As for the Jaguars, it seems like a missed opportunity to gain more assets.
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