Mark Dominik thinks moving up twelve spots in the fourth round is equal to moving back two spots in the top ten.

As most of you know, the Buccaneers did not have a 4th round selection before the start of the draft yesterday. The reason for this is because GM Mark Dominik traded that pick away in the 2011 draft to move up from pick #116 to pick #104 in the fourth round in order to select TE Luke Stocker.

That's right folks. Dominik gave up a 4th rounder for moving up twelve spots in the fourth round. Now, riddle me this: why in the world would he accept the exact same compensation for moving back two spots in the top ten?

I've been trying to wrap my head around this since the trade last night. I think Dominik got absolutely taken to the cleaners. If they had traded back with Dallas, would Barron have been there at pick 14? For the sake of argument, let's say no. It doesn't matter. The compensation offered by Jacksonville to leap frog St. Louis for Justin Blackmon wasn't nearly enough. He was their guy, and the team they leapfrogged would have selected him.

The only reason I'm not banging my head against the wall is because of the magic Dom managed to work with that fourth round pick later on. Moving up six spots from the second to the 31st overall pick was a stroke of genius. It didn't even cost the Buccaneers that fourth round pick. They simply slid back 25 spots with Denver.

Considering the fact that the Giants snagged RB David Wilson from Virginia Tech immediately afterwards, it's pretty obvious that Dominik scored a huge coup on this one. Literally plucking the 2nd best running back right out from under the Giants' noses.

I suppose a case can be made that Dominik knew that they could still get Barron easily at seven, and that something is better than nothing. If no other trade partners presented themselves (which I find hard to believe) at least he got an extra pick and it didn't cost them anything. I just think he should have held Jacksonville's feet to the fire a little more. At least their 3rd rounder, or if a fourth rounder, then we should have asked for their fourth rounder next year as well.

All this is also based on the assumption that they didn't want Claiborne. Some have said that the Bucs were trying to get cute, and thought they would still be able to land Claiborne with the seventh pick, but I'm not buying that one. St. Louis would almost surely have taken him if Dallas hadn't traded up anyway. I think the Buccaneers truly wanted Barron all along, which makes this a little easier to stomach.

So, in my eyes at least, Dominik "lost" his first trade, and scored a huge win with the second. At the end of the day, we're sitting pretty with the two guys they wanted all along.