Will The Buccaneers Land Beckham Jr?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are arguably the most invested “win now” NFL team in the league.
It was clear with the move to acquire six, seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady last offseason. Bruce Arians followed up the addition of Brady with a trade for his pal, Rob Gronkowski. After Gronk came Leonard Fournette… then to cap it off, former Patriot Antonio Brown became a Buccaneer.
In the midst of the 2021 offseason, there may be different weapons for TB12 headed into the new 2021 season, but the Lombardi aspirations will be the same. So, who could join the Tompa Bay arsenal? Let’s get into the details.
Odell Beckham Jr.
Reports have surfaced of Tom Brady being interested in obtaining Beckham Jr. from the Browns. According to Adam Shefter, it would still be challenging for the Buccaneers to acquire the Browns gifted WR.
We’ve seen Rodgers Brady often get his wishes of player additions. Gronk was acquired in a trade from New England, while it was well known that Brady wanted AB for quite some time — which resulted in signing AB.
If the Browns were to trade for OBJ, there would be a nail in the coffin for AB returning. If the team wanted to keep Chris Godwin (who could be better), they would likely have to lose a key defender from returning. Coach Arians will have to decide if it’s worth adding a player like OBJ but losing Lavonte David or Shaq Barrett.
The Buccaneers defensive front was key in shutting down Patrick Mahomes and unraveling one of his career low performances. Mahomes ousted a 52.3 passer rating, averaged 5.5 YPC, and was sacked three times.
Stephon Gilmore
It may be an unlikely look for Bill Belichick to trade Stephon Gilmore to the Brady bunch after they won the Super Bowl, but it would be the perfect fit. It’s almost a guarantee that Belichick sends Gilmore out of Massachusetts.
The former DPOY could help the Buccaneers where one of the few weak links lies: cornerback. When the 2020 playoffs Buccaneers defense didn’t play lights out and Devin White didn’t look like the best LB in the league, their secondary often got exposed. In particular, the annual NFC South foes got the best of the Bucs secondary.
The Saints swept the Buccaneers in the regular season at the expense of the Saints passing game crippling the Bucs young cornerbacks. And the Falcons nearly edged out the Bucs in the second matchup, but their own secondary fell harder.
If the Bucs had to give up a player in the front seven to obtain Gilmore, it may be worth it more for Gilmore — opposed for a risky WR.
Michael Gallup
If the Buccaneers very well look to load up on weapons and if OBJ isn’t in play, they should strongly consider Michael Gallup. There’s been a lot of buzz around the Dallas Cowboys shopping Gallup, or Jaylon Smith. Even if Prescott has agreed to a contract extension, they are very tight against the cap amid a team that’s looking to rebuild on defense.
Gallup is only 25 years old and his last two seasons exceed the production of Beckham Jr. Not only has Gallup been more electric than the Browns wideout, but Gallup comes at a much better price than OBJ.
Gallup still has a year left on his rookie deal, while OBJ is under contract until 2023 — from his five year, 90 million dollar deal in 2019. If the OBJ experiment doesn’t work in Tampa, they have to deal with a financial mess. And if Gallup doesn’t blow the roof off defenses, they can just let him hit free agency next offseason.
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