Buccaneers Trade Pitch Lands $19 Million Star QB for Top Draft Pick

Getty Jason Licht, Buccaneers GM. He will be at the center of TB NFL trade rumors involving Justin Fields.

There is a fair amount of smoke when it comes to the possibility of a Justin Fields trade shaking up the NFL this offseason. That does not mean there is fire, of course. But one of the teams that continually finds itself linked to NFL trade rumors around Fields happens to be a recent NFL champ with a talented roster in need of a cost-controlled quarterback. You know, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Bucs have talent on both sides of the ball. They may yet be good enough to scratch into the playoffs this season with Baker Mayfield under center, but there’s probably a ceiling on how far this team can go with Mayfield. Besides which, Mayfield is on a $4 million contract this season, and there’s no way the Buccaneers will get him that cheap again next year.

Enter Justin Fields. At 25, he is a high-upside guy and still on his rookie contract. That was a four-year, $19 million deal when he signed it, and will be down to its final year at $6 million next season. He would be just the kind of low-cost risk—in salary-cap terms, at least—that would suit the cap-strapped Buccaneers next season.

That’s why, in the latest CBS Sports mock draft, the party gets started with a trade of Fields to the Buccaneers.

Buccaneers Would Deal Away Top Pick

It will cost you, though, Buccaneers fans—namely the 20^th overall pick, or wherever the Bucs wind up landing.

Here’s this  NFL trade rumor, as presented by CBS:

Buccaneers get: QB Justin Fields
Bears get: No. 20 overall, a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick that becomes a third-round pick if Fields plays 75% of the 2024 snaps

So, CBS has the Buccaneers adding their fourth-round pick in 2025, which becomes a third-rounder if Fields plays 75% of Tampa’s snaps next year. That’s probably a sacrifice that Tampa is willing to make because if Fields does play 75% of the snaps next season, it is an indication that things are going well.

And they could yet go well for Justin Fields, should he get a change of scenery. The Bears have been a poor fit for Fields all along. Few players have demonstrated the ability to be a running threat from the quarterback position quite like Justin Fields. He rushed for 1,143 yards in 2022, and led the NFL with 7.1 yards per carry on the season. The Bears, unwisely, tried to make him more of a pocket passer this year, a move that Fields complained about, saying that his play was becoming, “robotic.”

Justin Fields or Baker Mayfield & a Rookie?

Now, it is no small thing to give up a first-round pick in the NFL, especially not in a draft year like 2024, when there should be quality quarterbacks available throughout the first round. The likes of Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and Jayden Daniels are probably out of reach for the Buccaneers, but Bo Nix of Oregon, Michael Penix of Washington and J.J. McCarthy of Michigan are all potential first-rounders who could be on the board when the Buccaneers pick.

The quarterback-heavy class is sure to drive NFL trade rumors all winter.

A Justin Fields trade does have high upside, but a safer bet is to re-sign Mayfield on a short deal and pick one of the other first-round quarterbacks, giving the Buccaneers a short-term fix and some long-term promise.

That, though, requires that Buccaneers GM Jason Licht believes he can get a franchise QB among the likes of Nix, Penix or McCarthy. He may not be so sure. Justin Fields is a gamble, too, but a short-term one. It could be worth the risk for Tampa.