Buccaneers named candidate to trade back by PFF

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers could have a wealth of options to improve their defense at pick No. 19. Alternatively, with such narrow focus, they could be out of luck — and then they could possibly trade back with a needier team.

It's impossible to tell how the cards will fall on draft day, but it's fun to think about — especially since it's a little more than a week away. Pro Football Focus recently went over three teams that could potentially trade down in the NFL Draft, and one of those three teams was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers headed by general manager Jason Licht.

Here's a little bit of what PFF's Trevor Sikkema wrote about the Bucs, acknowledging that they could make a move down if they don't find the defensive player they like at pick No. 19:

"But perhaps the Buccaneers don’t love any of the pass rushers, linebackers or cornerbacks at that point. I could see them luring some teams further down the draft order into moving up for certain pass rushers, quarterbacks or even running backs.

Let's say the Browns or Giants want to jump the Steelers for a quarterback. Let’s say one of the teams in the backend of the draft wants to jump the Broncos for a running back. Maybe one of those same teams wants to move up for a pass rusher. The Buccaneers may have a few trade-down angles to consider."

The Bucs need players on defense at almost every level, with linebacker, cornerback, safety and edge rusher all considerations. With that in mind, it seems likely that Tampa Bay would find someone they like at pick No. 19, which may make a trade down unlikely.

General manager Jason Licht spoke on potentially trading back during his pre-draft press conference. He mentioned that this year's draft is more "level", making trade-ups from other teams unlikely, but he mentioned that he doesn't know how the draft will go and he can't say for sure what his plan is before the draft happens.

"It just kind of depends on how things fall. You can’t walk into it saying, ‘I am definitely looking to trade back,’ because you don’t know what’s going to fall to you," Licht said.

As Sikkema mentioned, you never know when a run on a certain position will happen. It's very possible that the Bucs could trade down, and if they do, they'll be confident in the player they pick and in the new capital they'd get from a potential deal.