Why did the Buccaneers not trade Mike Glennon?

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have one of the best players in the NFL at one position. No, it's not Gerald McCoy at defensive tackle. Nor is it Lavonte David at linebacker. It's not even Demar Dotson at right tackle or Mike Evans at wide receiver. Instead, it's Mike Glennon at backup quarterback -- at least if we can believe Marc Sessler's ranking of backup quarterbacks.

I was surprised nobody swung a trade for Glennon this offseason. NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell called him "far more advanced" than Robert Griffin III, saying "they shouldn't even be in the same discussion." Glennon played behind one of the NFL's worst lines last year and it showed, but his 18 career starts include moments of genuine promise.

The Bucs apparently like Glennon enough to hold on to him as a backup, but not enough to actually start him. Which is understandable given that they drafted Jameis Winston -- but how valuable is a backup quarterback really? Winston doesn't exactly have an injury history, and that's really the only thing that's going to keep him off the field -- well, that or suspensions, I guess.

In the mean time, Glennon will have just one year on his contract left next year. There's no way the Bucs will use the franchise tag on him, because that's cost them somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million for a single year. And there's no way that he re-signs, because he'll have no shot of starting here -- and some other team will definitely at least give him an opportunity in a competition.

That means the Bucs won't be able to get all that much for him next year. There are always quarterback-desperate teams, but those who think they can get through a year without Glennon can just wait a year for him to likely hit free agency. There will be some market, of course, and the Bucs will be able to get something in trade for him -- but they're not maximizing his value. That would've meant trading him this offseason.

There's one hope for the Bucs, though: that two teams get into a bidding war for Glennon, because they're just so desperate for quarterback help. This happens every year. It's why Mark Sanchez has a job, and why Nick Foles and Sam Bradford switched teams, and Ryan Mallett is set to be a starter this year. Teams are desperate. Maybe the Bucs can finagle a few picks out of teams next year -- assuming that Winston actually succeeds.