Bucs were frustrated with inability to trade earlier

[Jaxson De Ville]

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It was natural to wonder whether the technological challenges of the stay-at-home 2020 NFL Draft might preclude trades, the actual reason there were fewer at the top was the old fashioned kind.

Teams kept wanting to take players they wanted.

Buccaneers General Manager Jason Licht began to realize his efforts to move up to draft an offensive tackle were complicated by the fact the team ahead of him all had targets of their own and didn’t want Licht’s extra picks.

With Peter King of NBC’s Football Morning in America virtually embedded in the Bucs’ draft room (via a tablet in Licht’s house), he got a peek at the dealings.

After a round of 30 pre-draft calls, he had a sense of how things were going to go, and the way the first six picks in the draft fell, it became clear it was going to be tough.

The Panthers were set on taking defensive tackle Derrick Brown, with Bucs director of pro scouting Rob McCartney telling Licht “I don’t think they’d deal even if we offer next year’s one.” Likewise, the Cardinals wouldn’t take Licht’s call, content to choose linebacker-safety Isaiah Simmons. They then offered a third- and a fourth-rounder to Jacksonville to move up to nine, but the Jaguars preferred to sit tight and take cornerback C.J. Henderson. With the Browns and Jets clearly looking for tackles themselves, calls were made, but the reality was they weren’t likely partners.

While batting offers back and forth with the Raiders, the Vikings called with an offer to trade back to 22, but Licht quickly shot that down, and then got shot down by the Raiders so they could take receiver Henry Ruggs.

“Everybody was looking at each other on the videoconference, kind of putting their hands up, like, I don’t know what the hell’s going on here,” Licht said later. “Nobody wants to give us their pick. I was getting a little bit antsy, I should say.”

Ordinarily, Licht might have stayed put, but called the 49ers because he had heard left tackle Joe Staley was retiring (which he did, which led the 49ers to trade for Trent Williams).

Finally with a minute and 31 seconds left during San Francisco’s window, the 49ers accepted their deal, a fourth-round pick with a seventh-going back the other way. That enabled them to take tackle Tristan Wirfs. It was a long process, but after the draft, Licht was a fan of the process.

“I gotta be honest with you,” Licht said. “I loved it. I loved it! I was still able to have the conversations I need to have. The private conversations. There are times when the GM and the head coach need to have private conversations. Normally I would walk out of the draft room and I would say, ‘BA [Bruce Arians], got a second?’ Instead of walking out of the room, we’d mute ourselves. Or I’d text him and he’d call me back.

“Here’s what’s crazy: I’m almost at the point where I like working this way, I’m getting so much done. And going back to the office . . . it’s going to be different. It’s amazing how much we’ve been able to get accomplished working this way.”

But it wasn’t without a lot of prep work, and a lot of beating his head against a virtual wall.