NFL Draft Rumors: Buccaneers willing to trade down

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are willing to trade down from the number one overall pick, according to Bob Glauber of News (h/t Bucs Blitz).

According to two people familiar with the team's situation, the Bucs will listen seriously to trade offers for the No. 1 pick.

That doesn't mean they will make a deal, and it doesn't mean that Winston won't wind up being the team's franchise quarterback. But the sources said the Bucs have let it be known in recent weeks that they are at least willing to listen to trade offers.

I'm sure they are willing to listen to offers. After all, why wouldn't they? There's no harm in listening, and if there is an offer that would truly blow them away -- something exceeding the price Washington paid to the St. Louis Rams for Robert Griffin III, for instance -- I'm sure they'd eventually be willing to make a deal. Everyone has a price.

But barring a truly obscene trade offer, the Buccaneers shouldn't trade down. Because in this NFL, you must have a quarterback -- and the Bucs can now pick from two players who are both as likely to turn into franchise passers as any quarterback not named Andrew Luck over the past decade. This is an opportunity that doesn't come around often, and if the Bucs are willing to pass it up they should only do so at a very, very high price -- and only if they're convinced that they can get a franchise passer somewhere else.

And they might be able to do just that. Multiple reports have indicated that the San Diego Chargers are willing to trade Philip Rivers, for instance. But a deal like that is extremely unlikely. The fact that the Bucs are willing to listen isn't surprising, really. It would be surprising if they turned listening into action.