We don’t know what the Cardinals will do with the No. 1 pick.
We don’t know what the 49ers will do with the No. 2 pick.
We don’t know what the Buccaneers will do with the No. 5 pick.
But we do know this:
Come April 25, the order of the first round of the NFL draft will look nothing like it does now.
There will be trades.
Lots of trades.
In 2018, there were seven trades on the first night of the draft. In 2017, six. In 2016, five.
There has been a lot of chatter about the Bucs taking LSU linebacker Devin White when it’s their turn to pick.
Believe it when you see it.
Though it makes sense why draft analysts would make that connection — White could fill the void left by Kwon Alexander, who signed with the 49ers last month — it’s worth noting that it’s in the Bucs’ best interests to lead teams to believe there is someone they covet at the No. 5 slot, even if they’re open to trading the pick. It’s the scarcity principle; we tend to overvalue objects when they’re difficult to obtain.
Another possibility: that the Bucs trade down and collect more picks, as they did a year ago when they traded the No. 7 pick to the Bills for the No. 12 pick as well as two second-round picks. Buffalo got their quarterback (Josh Allen), and Tampa Bay addressed its defensive line (Vita Vea) and secondary (M.J. Stewart and Carlton Davis).
It was a heist, according to the draft pick value chart developed by Chase Stuart of Football Perspective. It was as if the Bucs had traded $100 for $167.
Could they trade down in the first round for the second straight year (and third time in four years)?
A couple of recent mock drafts say so.
Jared Dubin of CBS Sports projects that the Bengals will trade up from the No. 11 slot, while Luke Easterling of the Draft Wire projects that Washington will trade up from the No. 15 slot.
