The PewterReport.com Roundtable features the opinions of the PR staff as it tackles a topic each week that involves the Bucs.

This week’s topic: Were The Bucs Wise To Stand Pat At The Trade Deadline?

Scott Reynolds: Yes, These Bucs Are Young Enough Already

The 2019 NFL trade deadline came and went without a bang. Only cornerback Aqib Talib, who is on injured reserve, and a draft pick was traded from Los Angles to Miami in what was really a salary cap dump that benefits the Rams. There were several big names that were hyped to be traded, including Washington left tackle Trent Williams, Jets safety Jamal Adams, Broncos cornerback Chris Harris among others, but Tuesday’s trade deadline was a big let down for those that expected several big name players to be on the move.

No big deal. The Bucs weren’t going to trade tight end O.J. Howard, as I reported in last Friday’s SR’s Fab 5. And Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht wasn’t looking to deal away any really good, productive veterans for draft picks – even with a disastrous 2-5 record that indicates the Bucs will likely pick in the Top 10 of the draft once again. That’s a smart play, as the Bucs need to become a more veteran team next year – not a younger one full of rookies that come from stockpiling draft picks. Tampa Bay is the second-youngest team in the league with an average age of 25.2 years.

Bucs OLBs Carl Nassib & Jason Pierre-Paul – Photo by: Mary Holt/PR

What the Bucs need are more veterans in 2020 – more guys like Carl Nassib and Jason Pierre-Paul, veterans whom Licht acquired via the waiver wire and a trade last year. Tampa Bay needs more experienced players that can step in and play right away – not trial-by-fire rookies like Vernon Hargreaves III in 2016 and Carlton Davis last year. I’m all for draft picks, but dealing away a first-round pick for a veteran is not really ideal.

Pierre-Paul was acquired with a third-round pick and has been a tremendous value from a production and a leadership standpoint. The Bucs will likely need to spend that first-round draft pick on a right tackle to replace Demar Dotson, who just turned 34 and is in his 11th year, or a quarterback if the franchise decides to move on from Jameis Winston. Trading it for a 30-year old cornerback like Harris isn’t wise for a 2-5 team that likely won’t make the playoffs in 2019.

How many wins could Harris affect this year? One or two? Then the Bucs go 5-4 down the stretch and finish 7-9 and miss the playoffs by three games. Then Harris is 31 next year and the Bucs don’t have a first-round pick. Tampa Bay was indeed wise to stand pat at the trade deadline.

Mark Cook: Wise To Not Be Sellers, But Maybe Could Have Been Buyers

It wasn’t about 2019. It never was. The plan to bring Bruce Arians in wasn’t about competing for a Super Bowl this season, but gearing up for a serious playoff push in 2020.
So selling off pieces of the roster – foundational pieces at that – would have been an insane decision.

Look, if this Tampa Bay team is sitting at 2-5 at the trade deadline next year, then all bets are off. That means the Bucs would have moved on from Jameis Winston, they would be rebuilding with a new quarterback, it also means that questions about Arians being the right choice as head coach would be floating around and this franchise would be in a downward spiral – or limbo at best. Some would say that is already the case, but I wouldn’t call this season an impending crash – more like just some turbulence.

Bucs head coach Bruce Arians and OC Byron Leftwich – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

There are still way too may unanswered questions about the future that need to be determined before this team goes in full rebuilding mode. Can Winston turn it around and be a playoff-caliber quarterback? Will the young secondary finally figure out the scheme and develop into quality NFL starters? Can offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich find a way to make tight end O.J. Howard more of a threat in the offensive game plan?

All of these things are still unknown with nine games left. But we do know one thing, if this team starts getting rid of players way too soon, then we will hear nothing except how the Buccaneers gave up on players that went on to win Super Bowls elsewhere – the Doug Williamses, the Trent Dilfers, the Steve Youngs, the Aquib Talibs, the Michael Bennetts, the LeGarrette Blounts, and the list goes on and on.

While no one is satisfied with 2019, it never really was about this year. It has always been about 2020, and if Tampa Bay is minus Mike Evans, O.J. Howard and other top players then it becomes about 2025 – and nobody wants to wait that long.

Trevor Sikkema: Yes-ish

The Bucs would have loved to get a guy like Cardinals Pro Bowler Patrick Peterson. Heck, you could even say they may have liked to get an offensive lineman like Trent Williams. But that stuff just wasn’t going to happen. So in terms of Tampa Bay selling off players, yes, it was the right move for them to not do that.

Bucs TE O.J. Howard – Photo by: Roger McQueen/PR

The big debate was with tight end O.J. Howard and whether or not the Bucs should have traded him. On one hand, Howard’s usage this year is clearly lower than it was in years past. With that in mind, moving on from him for what would have likely been a second-round pick could have been plausible. However, the correct conclusion here was for them to keep him and actually use him. Whether or not that will actually happen remains to be seen. There are nine games left in the season.

The fact is, though, this is one of the youngest teams in the NFL, and getting even younger via trading guys off for draft picks likely is not something that the front office or Bruce Arians himself wanted to do. They would actually rather have the opposite happen, but since there were no worth while players out there for trade, they did the right thing sticking with the guys they have.

Execution is the difference between them being 3-4 or 4-3, instead of the 2-5 team Tampa Bay is now.

Matt Matera: Yes, If Arians Is The Coach For His Entire Contract

If the plan is to keep Bruce Arians around for his five-year contract, then this is the right move. Arians was adamant in his press conference on Monday that he still wants to win now, and win with this current roster that they have. Had they started selling off assets in a fire sale at the deadline, it sends the message that they are hitting the reset button, but the odds that Arians would stick around with a completely revamped team in a rebuild at his age would be unlikely, especially if general manager Jason Licht isn’t here next season.

“I’m all about winning and winning as many games as we can,” Arians said on Monday. “Because when you sell the farm, you don’t know what you’re buying anyway. And you’re playing with a bunch of young guys that have to learn how to play again.”

The hottest rumor for whom the Bucs would have traded was tight end O.J. Howard, who is having a down year in a new system with 13 catches for 176 yards and no touchdowns. But Howard is still under the Bucs’ control until 2021 with a possible fifth-year option and is very talented, so it seems too early to give up on a player of his potential.

Bucs OLB Jason Pierre-Paul – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

The next two players that could have garnered a nice return are outside linebackers Jason Pierre-Paul and Shaq Barrett. While they’re both top tier pass rushers and it’s conceivable that a team making a playoff push would want them, they’re also free agents at the end of the year, so paying for a half-season rental and losing them in free agency after the season may not have been as enticing for other teams to give up enough draft value.

Another possible candidate would have been tight end Cam Brate. The Bucs have Brate signed through 2023, but he has no guaranteed money after this season and could be released without any cap hit. Brate could potentially be dealt in the offseason or down the road to add some more picks.

It really comes down to getting the right value at the trade deadline and it looks like the Bucs didn’t have any offers that blew them away. With Arians wanting to win with this group of players and having the belief that they can do it, waiving the white flag by selling off some of their top players was not in play.

Taylor Jenkins: No, At 2-5 The Bucs Should Have Cut Bait

At 2-5 the chances of Tampa Bay making the playoffs are slim to none. Well, closer to none than slim, if we’re being honest here. Between the years of 1990 and 2013 teams, made the playoffs just nine percent of the time at 2-4, and that number drops to three percent at 2-5.

With that said, the Bucs are still in a decent situation for the future. While Tampa Bay may be in the market for a new quarterback if Jameis Winston doesn’t pan out, there is a strong core of impact players in place on both sides of the ball with a ton of young talent. At the same time, Tampa Bay has a ton of players on one-year contracts that could allow this team to have a totally different look next year if Bruce Arians wanted to break down the roster and make wholesale changes to the locker room heading into 2020.

A few of the high-impact players that will see free agency this upcoming offseason include edge rushers Jason Pierre-Paul, Carl Nassib and Shaq Barrett, and interior lineman Ndamukong Suh, while linebacker Lavonte David and cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III will be free agents the following offseason in 2021.

Bucs LB Lavonte David and DT Ndamukong Suh – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

These are all players that could garner a return from a team in contention that’s looking for a game-changer, especially at such premier positions. Now I’m not saying that the Bucs should have traded all of these guys for draft picks to just continue building through the draft, quite the opposite in fact.

I think that the Bucs are a young team that needs veteran leadership from guys like Jason Pierre-Paul in the locker room more than anything, but when facing the reality that Tampa Bay is not likely not going to be able to keep most of its upcoming free agents, moving them for picks that could be used to draft talent or be used as an asset to bolster a future trade for established pros makes all the difference – as opposed to losing the players for nothing next March.

The Bucs should have, in my opinion, evaluated the guys that would not only get a worthy return but likely not re-sign with Tampa Bay and moved one or two of them for picks or a veteran player with multiple years of contractual control. As tough as it is to admit just seven games into the season, the 2019 Buccaneers are a wash. They’re not primed to win and they’re certainly not in position to make any kind of run in the playoffs. This is why the conversation has shifted from what the team should do to try and win now to what they should be looking to do to try and win in the future.