The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Buffalo Bills face off on Thursday Night Football, with both teams eyeing potential bids in the NFL playoffs.
The Buccaneers have the undesirable task of attempting to stop the Bills’ franchise QB, Josh Allen, but did you know the organization assisted Buffalo in landing Allen in the first place?
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The Buffalo Bills and Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2018 NFL Draft
The 2018 NFL Draft carried plenty of intrigue and mystery leading up to the final days before the event that would shape NFL franchises for years to come. There remained a distinct possibility fans could witness five quarterbacks selected in the first round. The NFL Draft hadn’t seen five quarterbacks go in Round 1 since the 1983 NFL Draft.
The 1983 draft is considered by many with NFL ties to be the best crop of quarterbacks ever. That draft went down in history for many reasons, including Stanford QB John Elway’s holdout following his selection by the Baltimore Colts and eventual trade to the Denver Broncos, which changed the course of NFL history.
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Flash forward 35 years, and the 2018 draft class rivaled the intrigue of the ’83 class. There were fireworks before the draft began as the New York Jets traded up three spots with the Indianapolis Colts to No. 3 overall to ensure they could land one of the top signal-callers in the draft.
USC’s Sam Darnold was for a long time considered the front-runner to be selected No. 1. Two days before the draft, rumors began to percolate out of Cleveland that the Browns had their eyes on another quarterback, Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield.
The Browns did indeed take Mayfield with the first pick. Then following the New York Giants selection of Penn State RB Saquon Barkley, the Jets selected Darnold with the third overall selection.
For the remaining signal-callers, NFL talent evaluators had various opinions on UCLA’s Josh Rosen, Louisville’s Lamar Jackson, and Wyoming’s Josh Allen.
Throughout the draft process, Allen was connected with Mayfield and Darnold as the “big three” at the QB position. The Bills were sitting with the 12th overall selection, knew there were QB-needy teams in front of them, and could not stand pat if they wished to acquire the flame thrower from Wyoming.
Buffalo’s front office then made a call to Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers held the seventh overall selection in the draft, and the Bills convinced them to trade down. The two teams made a deal, allowing the Bills to take Allen at No. 7 overall.
Who Won the Trade?
At the end of it all, the trade ended up looking like this:
Bills
- Josh Allen (7th Overall)
- Auatin Proehl (255th Overall)
Buccaneers
- Vita Vea (12th overall)
- M.J. Stewart (53rd overall)
- Duke Dawson (56th overall)
Proehl is an wide receiver for XFL’s St. Louis BattleHawks, while Vea is still with the Buccaneers. Stewart is now with the Texans while Dawson is currently a free agent.
That leaves the trade being a straight-up swap of Vea for Allen. And with that, it’s easy to see who won the trade.