The Tampa Bay Buccaneers can actually negotiate and come to an agreement with the player they plan to choose with the No. 1 overall pick in next weeks NFL Draft.
Lovie Smith says that he and Jason Licht are in "total agreement" as to who the team should draft.
— Scott Smith (@ScottSBucs) April 20, 2015
Bucs have 'total agreement,' on No. 1 pick but will wait for draft http://t.co/sInBRZJj2K via @TB_Times
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) April 20, 2015
Barring a last-minute trade which seems unlikely, the Bucs are expected to choose either Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston or Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota and have spent extensive time with each player.
“Yes we are. We’re in total agreement,” Bucs coach Lovie Smith said. “As a staff, not just (general manager) Jason (Licht) and I. Go back to the first pick in the draft, you bring more people to get involved and make sure we can all come to an agreement and that’s definitely the case.”
Licht said the team feels comfortable with the player listed No. 1 on their draft board and would have no problems with either quarterback, if that’s the direction they choose to go. But because of the new collective bagaining agreement that includes a rookie salary pool, there is no incentive to begin negotiations with a player prior to the draft.
“Going all the way back to (the NFL scouting combine) in Indianapolis, if we said we had a leader in the clubhouse, we still do,” Licht said. “If we had to pick today, we’d feel very comfortable making the pick. With that said, we’ll wait….there’s always something that can pop up.
“We’re still going to use the majority of the alloted time before we make the decision just because I think it makes for good business. There’s no benefit for a team to engage in contract negotiations right now or to get a player signed. There’s no benefit at all. You can’t get the player in here any earlier. He can’t start working out any earlier. You can’t talk to him any more than you can right now. Because of the new CBA, it’s not as difficult right now to sign a player. The parameters are already pretty much there. We’re going to wait. We’re going to use our allotted time. We’re going to have more discussions internally. But we’re spending just as much time on pick 34, 65, 109 and so forth.”
I’d be shocked if it’s not Jameis Winston.
If the player was Mariota, I have to believe that they would have already agreed to the parameters of a contract, while getting an early jump on jersey sales.
Tampa Bay will not go through 10-extra days of anti Jameis Winston protest if they don’t have to.