The Tampa Bay Buccaneers traded Aqib Talib to the New England Patriots earlier today. Usually, trading away your best cornerback isn't the brightest idea. Neither is striking trade deals with the Patriots. Yet in this case, it appears that the consensus is that the Bucs made out like bandits by getting a fourth-round pick for Talib. Or rather, a fourth-round pick in exchange for eight games of Talib (the Pats will have him for just seven, in fact) and a seventh-rounder.

The Boston Globe's Greg Bedard got some NFL people to chime in and, well, they're not too friendly toward New England:

"Are you kidding me?" one AFC personnel executive said when told of the terms. "A fourth-round pick for a character risk? How was Tampa Bay able to land that price? Who were (the Patriots) competing against?"

Another AFC executive said "it all depends" on if the Patriots win the Super Bowl.

"It's a desperation move but the guy is lockdown corner, a good player," he said. "Good press cover guy. But a complete and utter fool as a person."

Albert Breer got someone else to say some nasty things about the patriots, too.

Another NFL personnel man makes it simpler on Talib: "Good player, but a head case. Will help (Patriots) if he buys in."

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) November 1, 2012

And he has a few more sources:

One NFL exec said Talib deal "smells of coaching buddies working something out to help one another". He thinks deal "tilts to TB".

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) November 1, 2012

And then there's Stephen Holder, who thinks this was a coup.

My take on the value in this Talib trade: I felt best they'd get was a 5th rd pick. Getting a 4th is a coup in my opinion. #Bucs #Patriots

— Stephen Holder (@HolderStephen) November 1, 2012

It seems the Buccaneers swindled the Patriots on this deal - but will that hold true in the long term? It's now obvious that the Bucs didn't see Talib in their long-term plans, so from that perspective this was a good deal. But the Patriots get a very good cornerback for a fourth-round pick, and will undoubtedly offer him a new contract after the season. That may turn out to be a pretty good long-term deal for them, too - and the Bucs could quickly grow to regret letting a talented cornerback go.

For the Bucs, the fact that he was under contract for just eight games appeared to be the deciding factor in making this trade. "[He's got eight games left under contract and his contract is going to expire", Mark Dominik noted on Buccaneers.com. "So we have to look at everything when we make these decisions, and each player is an individual situation."

So, what do you make of this? What do you think of this trade?