Not Trading DJax Last Year
March 12th, 2019
Bucs GM Jason Licht.
So malcontent wide receiver DeSean Jackson got his wish yesterday: He got traded from the Bucs and his new team, the Eagles, even tossed him a contract extension.
NFL wide receivers are starting to learn if they bawl like sick babies, the spoiled brats eventually get what they want, and more. Must be nice.
Now Joe has noticed Bucs fans piling on Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht tearing him to shreds for not trading Jackson last season at the trade deadline.
Most of this hollering is pure revisionist history.
Yeah, in a vacuum on paper using rear-view mirror logic, it would have been smart to trade Jackson. At the time of the trade deadline, it would have been totally reckless. People seem to forget the Bucs were 3-3 at the deadline. A wild card run was not an impossible thought the way the offense was humming.
Sure, Jackson wanted a trade because America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, was reinstated into the lineup. Joe has never seen a wide receiver try to Pearl Harbor a franchise quarterback like this, maybe not even that petulant child Terrell Owens.
But still, Bucs types realized a few things as the trade deadline approached: Coaches knew they had to have a winning season or they were likely toast. Shoot, then-offensive coordinator Todd Monken even admitted later in the season in one of his weekly press conferences that coaches were trying to win games to save their jobs.
Licht, too, was in hot water. At the time, it sure looked like he also needed a winning season as much if not more so than Dirk Koetter and his staff.
How do you win games if you are desperate? Well, to start with, you don’t get rid of talented starters for draft picks. Joe has yet to see coaches put together a winning team holding future draft picks in their hands. They put together winning teams with talented players on the field (good coaching sure helps).
If Licht would have traded Jackson, with the team at 3-3, he would have basically set off a smoke bomb throughout One Buc Palace. The coaches would have erupted; the players would have had an insurrection. Licht himself may have sabotaged his own career since he’s the one who signed Jackson in the first place.
It’s very easy not quite a year later to rake Licht over the coals for not unloading Jackson last fall. At the time, it may have been the worst move imaginable for many people collecting checks from Team Glazer including suits, coaches and players.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:05 am
Licht’s job is to make those tough calls….I guess DJax showed him he was serious about wanting out and Licht should have seen the big picture especially considering DJax’s history…that and the public only got the sanitized version of DJax’s behaviors…water under the bridge now…I would have traded him
March 12th, 2019 at 10:07 am
Packers Expected to sign za Darius smith and Amos
Another decent safety off the board
March 12th, 2019 at 10:07 am
I don’t know if trading jackson sets off a smoke bomb… could of galvinized the team. Team meeting that we believe in #3 and Godwin and if you aren’t here to win, be a team player ect… we ship you out. Those in charge at one buc are a little to weak or didn’t believe in #3. Keeping Djax all year just promoted a split locker and dysfunction!
March 12th, 2019 at 10:07 am
I have a feeling they wouldnt have gotten much more for him during the season. They still got something for him so its better than nothing
March 12th, 2019 at 10:10 am
It’s kind of a myopic take…on the topic. The 3rd rounder that Licht would have obtained (when we had leverage at the trade deadline with calls incoming) AND the $10 million savings, could have BOTH been immediately re-instituted in obtaining a STUD STARTING RB down the stretch to “win games”, to “set off a smoke bomb” that the Bucs’ front office was seriously about striving to make the playoffs, savings jobs, etc. OR….those same resources to obtain an IMMEDIATE FIX AT RG to plug the Benenoch fiasco. BOTH scenarios, were options.
THAT….^^^ is a much more diverse and fair look at what Licht DIDN’T do by sitting on his hands. There was NO ACTION. And, that…is a fair look back at it.
Go Bucs! Land Quinnen!
March 12th, 2019 at 10:10 am
I agree Joeypoppems. People thinking the Bucs would get a 3rd round pick are living in a fantasy world.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:11 am
I actually think this article is revisionist history. Most Bucs fans were calling for the trade then, with DJax having a couple good games with Fitz and then meh. Add on top of that his poor attitude and the Bucs looking like a sinking ship even then, Bucs fans could see the writing on the wall and wanted some value for a misused and aging DJax. Setting off a bomb?? Coaches erupting? Player insurrection???? Highly doubtful. He would have left with a fizzle and a fat paycheck.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:16 am
Apologize Joe, but your analogy doesn’t pass the smell test.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:19 am
Wausa — I totally agree… I doubt it is our fanbase alone but people seem to not understand the proper value on players. ZERO CHANCE Jackson would have gotten a 3. I immediately stop reading the rest of the comment as soon as I see this stuff it is laughable. We are lucky we got anything at all for him.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:20 am
And break up one of the best offenses in NFL history according to
Licht Weight ? Not a chance!
I wonder if the Bucs are the darkest of dark horses in the Le’Veon Bell Sweepstakes ? Awfully quiet on that front…
March 12th, 2019 at 10:21 am
I don’t think so, Joe. I’m not going to sit here and claim I was one of those people suggesting the team trade DeSean Jackson, but **many** Bucs fans were saying they should as the team was approaching the trade deadline.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:22 am
Geez come on. Virtually everyone on this board knew MeSean should have been traded at the deadline because MeSean himself came out with “I want to be traded!” 3-3 giving up over 30 points a game. This team with or without MeSean was not going to make the playoffs. Licht had the opportunity to move him last season for probably more than what he got yesterday. This is what separates the good GM’s from the meh guys. While teams like the Patriots are playing chess the Bucs are still in checker land.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:23 am
I laugh at people that think he would have got a three. That’s what brings comedic relief to this board amongst this team stinking, reading the posts from clueless fans who believe things like that. Please keep them coming.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:23 am
And IDOTS…that are less enlightened, or idiots…can join @Bonzai in the food court. Yup!
Cause there were “5 different teams” according to Adam Caplan calling Licht at the deadline, confirmed by Mike Silver.
Idiots. Shhhh. 🙂
Go Bucs!
March 12th, 2019 at 10:23 am
well, during the season when i read on a philly’s sports blog that philly did leak the rumor that djax wanted to be traded back to them, folks(joe) shot it down….lol…..
i think had we traded him during the season, in which during those first few games he was balling, we couldve gotten a 3rd…..once i saw AB only went for a 3rd and 5th i knew we were screwed…..
#REALISTKNOWSNOTHING!!!!!!….GO BUCS!!!!!
March 12th, 2019 at 10:26 am
Sure, Jackson wanted a trade because America’s Quarterback, Pro Bowler Jameis Winston, was reinstated into the lineup.
———–
Hard STOP 🛑 end of story.
If I had more time I’d break it down for you but just look at the trades during the deadline.
Amari Cooper 1st round pick – absolutely ridiculous
Golden Tate- 3rd from the EAGLES
D. Thomas – 5th round pick.
And in week 6-7 we’d already been blown out by 30 and 38 points at half-time by the Steelers and Bears and probably more! There was no winning season to be had. We didn’t even have a QB until week 12. Gimme a break dawg.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:27 am
How? What team gave up or was shopping a stud running back last year at the deadline? The Bucs got a sixth round pick for Jackson. What else were they supposed to throw into the pot to sweeten it to the point they were going to get a “STUD STARTING RB” in return?
March 12th, 2019 at 10:30 am
Like I predicted……this is the first of many Djax articles that will be coming…..along with countless references to the “malcontent” WR…….
This is what you get when you disrespect Joe’s favorite QB…..and, yes I know,
“Joe writes what interests Joe”…….
March 12th, 2019 at 10:30 am
NONE of those receivers had Jackson’s baggage, though Tate is known for being a clubhouse lawyer. You don’t think other teams knew about Jackson’s nonsense with the Bucs, didn’t see him on national TV wanting the Bucs to bench Jameis? There’s a reason the Bucs could only get a worthless six-round pick for the guy.
Man, people’s value of this Jackson is so twisted by PlayStation. smh
March 12th, 2019 at 10:33 am
Be happy we got anything from this malcontent. Good riddance, We can use his 10 million dollars on someone who wants to be part of a team, not an individual.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:34 am
Seeing a lot of free agent activity, none of it Buc positive.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:36 am
Jason is a scout and a below average one at that
He isn’t switched on
March 12th, 2019 at 10:38 am
DJax would be happy as a Buc clam if he had a QB that could hit him in stride….
March 12th, 2019 at 10:40 am
Have you seen Moneyball? A good GM can oust a bad player like that and send a message to the team. I think you’re looking at this through a closed-lens, Joe. Mainly because we could have gotten a contributor in the bye week instead of a draft pick. And if not, we have plenty of targets and Desean couldn’t connect with Jameis. If Jameis is our franchise guy and he can’t connect with an expensive whiney receiver then best bet is to get rid of the guy dragging the team and locker room down (Desean). We don’t know the full extent of Jackson’s locker room antics, but for me I’d be more likely to lose morale and cause an insurrection if I had an old vet and star badmouthing the team all day and skipping practices than if the front office put their foot down and sent him away. Them keeping Jackson on the team looked desperate to me personally.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:44 am
Most of this hollering is pure revisionist history
Lies!!!! Fans were saying the exact same thing when the news broke that d jack didn’t want to be here, why want him anyway. Yes they were 3-3 but the losses were ugly ones and the 2-0 start was a mirage to everyone except the Bucs.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:47 am
Joe Says:
March 12th, 2019 at 10:27 am
ND the $10 million savings, could have BOTH been immediately re-instituted in obtaining a STUD STARTING RB down the stretch to “win games”, to “set off a smoke bomb” that the Bucs’ front office was seriously about striving to make the playoffs, savings jobs, etc.
How? What team gave up or was shopping a stud running back last year at the deadline? The Bucs got a sixth round pick for Jackson. What else were they supposed to throw into the pot to sweeten it to the point they were going to get a “stud running back” in return?
“Stud” is a relative term. It’s a figure of speech.
Here’s what he could have done (according to reports out then at the time):
1) Take the 2019 3rd rounder obtained then for DJax (fron any 1 of the 5 teams calling), package that and a 2020 5th round pick, and sent those to Buffalo for LeSean McCoy who was being discussed. If necessary, possibly sweeten the pot with Brate at TE because Clay went down early on in the season on and off, and the young QB Allen liked to use the TE a lot.
2) Keep the 2019 3rd rounder obtained for DJax, and send either Brate at TE straight up for Mike Davis in Seattle (unused then), because Russell Wilson utilizes the TE spot a ton, and they were hurting at the position. If not Brate, then send a 2019 5th rounder to Seattle for MIKE DAVIS—-the guy that THIS GUY was talking up into FA, which BTW….WAS JUST SIGNED YESTERDAY, on the FIRST DAY of FA, by the Bears. Gee…..that seems awfully coincidental.
3) I can go all day fools….I can go ALL DAY.
Licht coulda, shoulda done those. And more.
Next??
Go Bucs! Land Quinnen!
March 12th, 2019 at 10:47 am
Yeah, the clear-colored lens of people who (rightly) thought their careers were in danger if they didn’t win games, which they publicly admitted to. Once again, it’s hard to improve your current team’s odds of winning immediately when you trade away talented players for future draft picks.
Look, from what Joe knows, he would have ran off Jackson before the 2018 season. If people want to bang on Licht for not trading him, a year ago was the time to unload him, not the middle of the season when the team was desperate for wins. If Licht is guilty of anything, it was not dumping Jackson last March.
March 12th, 2019 at 10:50 am
Wonder…what Rachel Watson thinks of @Joe…
Go Bucs!
March 12th, 2019 at 10:53 am
Lesean McCoy / Mike Davis weren’t what the team needed to get over the hump in 2018. IMO
Vastly improved D via coaching / scheme / talent
Better coached lines / red zone / commitment to Barber
Commitment to your franchise qb
March 12th, 2019 at 10:54 am
My suspicion is that Licht would have been fine with trading Jackson last year but Koetter was in a job-saving mode and probably strongly objected……the problem was that Jackson wasn’t coached well (if he is coachable)……also there were many very bad decisions after the Bucs missed the playoffs…..that’s the perfect time to develop players like Rojo, Cappa & Watson…..didn’t happen.
Koetter wanted every single win he could get……during that stretch after the 3-3…..Koetter failed with his QB shuffle…..
So….Licht doesn’t get a complete pass on the issue…..but he does get to share the blame with Koetter.
March 12th, 2019 at 11:01 am
AB went for a 3 and 5 and people think DJax would bring a 3.
When did smoking weed become legal in Florida?
March 12th, 2019 at 11:07 am
^^^^ I guess when marrying your sister in South Carolina did…
🙂
Go Bucs! Land Quinnen!
March 12th, 2019 at 11:24 am
How true !! These things are easy to second guess !!!
When you look back and extract value of a player , trade , draft pick there is an in printed line / slope in the NFL . The great GM s / Coaches are way above the avg/ median line and the other half are below and the records of each organization will follow suit .
Licht is never ahead of the curve and constantly drafts guys that play / perform two rounds later than they were drafted , same w his free agents , Jpp was good but he pigeon holed himself by getting cute w Robert Quinn. Actually both of them should have been on the roster last year to help the D
March 12th, 2019 at 11:28 am
Joe Says:
March 12th, 2019 at 10:47 am
“Look, from what Joe knows, he would have ran off Jackson before the 2018 season. If people want to bang on Licht for not trading him, a year ago was the time to unload him, not the middle of the season when the team was desperate for wins.”
It’s this phrase…(“Look, from what Joe knows”)….what @Joe THINKS…not “knows” thinks. And it’s just that.
Go Bucs! Land Quinnen!
March 12th, 2019 at 11:30 am
I see lots of excuses for Licht by Joe. Which is exactly what you need to do when your trying to defend a garbage 27-53 GM who misses the playoffs every year and can’t find his head out of his a__.
If it helps Joe any we could look at Licht’s decisionmaking over the past 5 seasons and find at least two DOZEN worse calls by Licht than not dealing DJax prior to the offseason.
The only thing worse than having Jason Licht as your teams GM is having hacks try to defend him and an ownership that can’t think to fire him.
March 12th, 2019 at 11:31 am
“If Licht would have traded Jackson, with the team at 3-3, he would have basically set off a smoke bomb throughout One Buc Palace. The coaches would have erupted; the players would have had an insurrection. Licht himself may have sabotaged his own career since he’s the one who signed Jackson in the first place.”
Yeah, it would have been so bad the team might have only won 2 out of their last 10 games.
March 12th, 2019 at 11:45 am
Agree with @Tampabaybucfan
I mean the writing is on the wall with this. We know for a fact the coaches were coaching to save their jobs. They knew a regime change would come if the season failed as it did.
Licht may not have even known his own job security either.
And that’s never a good situation – coaching hardcore for “win now” to save jobs – but that was the situation.
That’s why Koetter was playing the panic game at QB and so scared to give Rojo any touches or do things that are better for the long term outlook of the team while still trying to win now. These weren’t Glazer decisions obviously because we’re still committing to Winston now.
The only way a trade goes down is if everyone is on the same page on it which they obviously weren’t. I still don’t know what was going on between Koetter/Winston/Jackson and that dynamic.
It is what it is.
March 12th, 2019 at 11:48 am
It’s about winning games and quality players and coaches who can win those games for you. It’s about drafting and developing the right players who can assist in winning those games. It’s about signing the right mixture of FA at the right price that can get you over that hump and get you to that point until your young players can become good enough to perform at an optimum level to win games. It’s about development of players and retention of those players after you get them to a point where they are contributors to your system. That’s where the BUC’s fall short. We don’t resign our good players before they hit the open market and make a ton of money – THAT WE CAN’T MATCH – BECAUSE WE DON’T LOCK UP OUR GOOD PLAYERS! I am not talking about DJax because he was one of those experiments that we used to try to get us over the hump until Chris Godwin was ready to go. I am talking about the Alexanders and the Humpries and others that we developed for other teams to enjoy the fruits of our labor and heartaches. That’s where Jason Licht comes in. He should have been gone with Dirk but we kept him because he is soooo good at locking up our valuable players. It’s about knowing which players to keep and which ones to jettison to some other team because they are limp, lame and lazy – like Donovan Smith. Thanks Licht for another season in the cellar of the NFC South.
March 12th, 2019 at 11:59 am
HELLO! Calling all idiots. L. Bell is not coming to the Bucs. Enough already.
March 12th, 2019 at 12:01 pm
At LC
Yep…..for all Koetter knew a 7-9 season may have saved him…..he had no idea….up until the very end….he tried to get a win.
I recall when he threw the challenge flag and admitted he knew he was out of timeouts at the time……totally out of frustration…..he was so done….he wasn’t even medium-well….he was burnt.
March 12th, 2019 at 12:33 pm
PlayStation- good one, creative and original.
Haven’t played in over 10 years I’m a recovering videogameaholic, it’s a thing.
Wait for the day Licht is able to get any player for a 6th round pick.
I get it Joe gotta stay cool with the brass. We can wait until he’s fired next year to rag on him like mark dominick amirite?
March 12th, 2019 at 12:39 pm
Hey joes, I wrote before if you look at tape Dbag would shut down a gear when JW threw to him. He’s a quitter and the team is better off without him.
March 12th, 2019 at 12:43 pm
Licht is the guy who brought DJax here. Now we have nothing. We could have had Jeffries or Pierre Garson instead of Jackson. Another waste of money by Licht.
March 12th, 2019 at 12:54 pm
Actually- Saying if AB went for a 3rd and 5th is the true revisionism here. At the deadline last year- D Jax was having a great year. There were plenty of WRs that had gone down with injuries and D Jax has that killer speed that not many possess. He easily would have gone for a 3rd. That is until Mr Hanky the talking turd came out in public and stated that he wanted to be traded. THAT, IMO, is what killed the negotiating power we had. AB would have gone for 2 firsts if they traded him at the deadline last year. Instead they got a 3rd and 5th because the best WR in the game got his feelings hurt and decided to go Mr Hanky part 2 and say what he said and did what he did. BTW, the moral of the story is Franchise QB vs any other position on the field…Franchise QB will always win that battle. Yes, JW3 is a Franchise QB whether you like him or not, again compare the first 4 years of the best QBs in the game with JW3…He is right there with them. JMO but Joe is looking at this with his revisionist glasses, no offense Joe.
March 12th, 2019 at 12:59 pm
BTW- I agree Koetter was big part of that decision to keep him, he had to try to catch lightning in a bottle, but as any true Bucs fan could have told you, he was the true problem (this has been my opinion for 2 years if you want to check the archives)
March 12th, 2019 at 2:00 pm
The squatch raked Licht over the coals for not trading Jackson at the deadline last season. Stop making excuses for him, moving Djack last year was a no brainer for the present and future. Bucs went 2-8 down the stretch; meanwhile Mejack hijaked the locker room. He’s a quitter. He quit on routes when he didn’t get the ball. JW better get his crap together too. He needs to figure out how to throw deep, no more excuses dude.
March 12th, 2019 at 2:58 pm
Sorry to be a stickler for facts, but the NFL trading deadline in 2018 was October 30th. The Bucs were 3-4 at that point (not 3-3), and they had just lost to the Cinncinnati Bengals on October 28th, when their “franchise QB”, America’s QB, ProBowler, Jameis Winston got benched after throwing four INTs. IIRC, he did complete a long pass to DJax in that game however.
tickrdr
March 12th, 2019 at 3:02 pm
So Joe, the bottom line question is the only thing that matters:
Besides the obvious payroll payed out over the last 10 games, could the Bucs have gotten more in return for Jackson than what they are getting now, Besides the additional cash saved by trading him before the deadline last year?
March 12th, 2019 at 3:47 pm
To tickrdr’s point, the deadline (Oct 3) was after the team had lost 4 of it’s last 5 games, was 3-4 overall and was largely out of the playoff picture. The decision to hold onto DJax was purely out of self preservation and self interest from a garbage GM and soon-to-be-fired coaching staff that would continue to lose as the season progressed. As with most things in Licht’s tenure: 1. It was entirely predictable 2. Licht chose the worse option.
March 12th, 2019 at 3:49 pm
*(Oct 30)
March 12th, 2019 at 5:31 pm
Not to defend Licht which would make me an outcast on this board but….
Somebody thought he had a great eye for talent. Who could that have been? Perhaps arguably the best team architect in NFL history…Bill Belichek!
From 1999 through 2000, Licht served as a college scout for the Patriots before being promoted to national scout for the 2001 season. He then was promoted to assistant director of player personnel in 2002.
Since Belichik came to the Pats in 2000 that means HE was the guy who promoted Licht. Hard to imagine reading most of the posts on JBF.
Perhaps Licht forgot everything he knew or learned from Belichik.
March 12th, 2019 at 6:27 pm
St Pete
What’s up bud?!?
Here’s a text from my massholle pats fan:
NFL teams spending big on players the Pat’s let walk away.. idiots.. it’s all about the system.. next year we will have new guys that do the same thing. for 1/10 the price.. #mortgagethefuturetohaveachancetoolosetousinthesuperbowl..