BUCPOWER.COM Every player, every game and every detail in Buccaneer history THE 20 BEST TRADES IN FRANCHISE HISTORY as featured on this site in 2004 1 1996 - Traded TE Harold Bishop to the Cleveland Browns for a 2nd round pick Who was Harold Bishop? Exactly. He was the Bucs' third-round pick in 1995 who played a handful of games as a rookie and never caught a single pass that season. Somehow, someway, Rich McKay convinced the Browns that Bishop was going to be the second coming of Ozzie Newsome and hence managed to obtain a 2nd round pick in the 1996 draft for his services. With that pick, the Bucs took Mike Alstott. Sorry, but if there is a bigger steal in NFL history than this one, I've yet to see it! Click here for his profile 2 1976 - Traded a 1977 7th round pick to the New York Jets for LB Richard Wood The Buccaneers have done pretty well with their trades involving linebackers over the years and this was by far the best of them. Just prior to their first game, the Bucs were able to acquire a former Jet back-up who had played for John McKay at USC. Richard "Batman" Wood merely went on to start at linebacker for most of the first decade of the franchise's existence and led the great Tampa defense to three playoff appearances in five years. Click here for his profile 3 1989 - Traded a 7th round pick to the Buffalo Bills for LB Eugene Marve Before the inspirational arrival of Hardy Nickerson in 1993, the Buccaneers were desperate for a cerebral middle linebacker to lead their defense. The Bills had a linebacker surplus to requirements and hence Eugene Marve, one of the classiest people ever to suit up for the franchise, arrived to spend three and a half seasons calling the signals on defense. Buffalo's use of the 7th round pick was interesting - safety Brian Jordan who went on to an All-Star baseball career with St.Louis. Click here for his profile 4 2002 - Obtained Jon Gruden from the Oakland Raiders for four draft picks So why isn't this trade No.1? After all, the Buccaneers would not have won Super Bowl XXXVII without Gruden. My view on this is that the deal is not yet complete. In a couple of years, this may well become the best trade in franchise history, but right now, the jury still has to stay out until the effect of the four Raider draft picks is known. Two first-rounders and two second-rounders was a big price to pay, but this deal can only go up in the future rankings. 5 1992 - Traded LB Ervin Randle to the Kansas City Chiefs for a 5th round pick It is 1992 and Sam Wyche is undergoing the usual house-cleaning exercise that all new coaches do when stepping into a new NFL job. Ervin Randle had played seven good seasons in Tampa but wanted to move on, this being before the days of full free agency. The Chiefs offered a 5th round pick which Wyche and the Bucs jumped at and promptly drafted DL Santana Dotson. He merely became Rookie of the Month in September 1992 and led our pass rush for four good seasons. Click here for his profile 6 1976 - Traded a 3rd round pick to the Baltimore Colts for CB Mike Washington Prior to their first season and indeed their first draft, the expansion Buccaneers were given two additional selections in rounds 2 through 5 of the 1976 draft. They sent one of their extra third round picks to the then-Baltimore Colts for a young cornerback. Mike Washington went on to play nine seasons in Tampa, starting nearly 100 games and recording 28 interceptions in his career, the third-highest in franchise history behind Donnie Abraham and Cedric Brown. Click here for his profile 7 2003 - Traded WR Marquise Walker to the Arizona Cardinals for RB Thomas Jones Only a year ago this one and boy did we take the Cardinals to the cleaners over this deal. Walker's contribution as a rookie in 2002 was to be inactive for four games and then to be placed on IR with "an injured hand". Stories of his terrible attitude and work ethic abounded. The Cardinals wanted to unload a disgruntled Jones and we gave them Walker in return. The latter was promptly cut by both Arizona and Cincinnati within weeks of signing, whilst Jones merely rushed for 627 yards in only three actual starts. Click here for his profile 8 1993 -Traded a 3rd round pick to San Diego for 3rd and 4th round picks Another draft day deal done to help another team move up a few spots, this one from the 1993 selection meeting. The Chargers wanted to move up from 82 to 64 overall within the third round to choose G Joe Cocozzo. The Buccaneers agreed in return for San Diego's 4th round pick and promptly chose a baseball-playing safety from Stanford (John Lynch) and a speedy receiver from Miami (Horace Copeland). Even just one of these picks would have been good but to hit on both - excellent. Click here for his profile 9 1995 -Traded two 1995 2nd round picks to the Cowboys for a 1st round pick The Bucs had already done one big deal earlier on draft day 1995 when they traded down with the Eagles and wound up with Warren Sapp. Now it was time to move back up. The Bucs had the 14th and 27th picks in the 2nd round (46 and 59 overall) and offered them to the Cowboys for their first round pick (28th overall). Dallas agreed and wound up with RB Sherman Williams and TE Kendall Watkins. The Buccaneers selected an under-sized linebacker from Florida State named Derrick Brooks. Nuff said. Click here for his profile 10 1987 -Traded a 2nd round pick to Buffalo for 2nd and 4th round picks A draft day deal that came about when the Buffalo Bills wanted to move up in the 2nd round to take CB Nate Odomes. The Bucs were happy to oblige and in return for swopping picks 29 and 36, the Bills donated their 4th round pick. All Ray Perkins managed to do with these two selections is draft CB Ricky Reynolds and TE Ron Hall, both of whom played several successful seasons in Tampa Bay. Ray may have been a tyrannical coach at times, but the 1987 draft will remain one of his better moments. 11 1977 -Traded S Cedric Brown to the Oakland Raiders for 6th and 9th round picks This trade took place in May 1977 and saw the Bucs send a back-up inexperienced safety to the Raiders for a pair of draft picks. Cedric Brown didn't make the Raider team and was signed back by the Bucs as a free agent where he went on to start nearly 100 games for the Buccaneers. The two draft picks turned into Larry Mucker, the first decent Tampa receiver, and one of the picks used to acquire QB Gary Huff who started the first two wins in franchise history. Not a bad deal on the whole then! Click here for his profile 12 2000 -Traded two first round picks to the Jets for WR Keyshawn Johnson Any mention of #19 will now always be tainted by his actions that led to him being suspended and then traded to the Cowboys. But would the Bucs have won the Super Bowl without him? Keyshawn on the field was a serious influence on the Tampa offense and he came up with some big plays often during his Buccaneer career. To give up two No.1s was risky but the Jets' selections of John Abraham and Anthony Becht don't exactly send Mel Kiper running to the hills screaming in praise. Click here for his profile 13 1982 -Traded LB David Lewis to San Diego for 3rd and 4th round picks Lewis had fallen out with the McKay coaching staff after four pretty good seasons starting at linebacker for the Buccaneers. Indeed he had even gone to the 1980 Pro Bowl. But this was one of these "get something for him" trades and the Bucs acquired a 3rd round pick in 1982 from San Diego which became long-standing defensive tackle John Cannon, and also a 1984 4th round pick which was then used as part of the trade to acquire Steve DeBerg from the Denver Broncos. Click here for his profile 14 1988 - Traded QB Steve DeBerg to the Chiefs for Mark Robinson, 4th & 8th round picks It's April 1988 and Ray Perkins has decided to hand the reins of the offense to second-year QB Vinny Testaverde. Right or wrong as that decision might have been, Steve DeBerg was surplus to requirements and Perkins went looking to see what he could get for him. He struck gold with the Chiefs who needed a veteran QB and gave the Bucs S Mark Robinson who went on to four successful seasons in Tampa, and two draft picks that became G John Bruhin (three years) and RB Anthony Simpson (never played for the Bucs). 15 1998 - Traded 1998 2nd round pick to San Diego for a 2000 1st round pick There's an important page in The Beginner's Guide to NFL drafts - if you want to make a killing, take advantage of Bobby Beathard. The former San Diego GM decided he really wanted to take Mikhael Ricks in the 2nd round in 1998 but didn't have a pick to use. Cue him offering a 1st rounder in 2000 for the chance to draft Ricks. The Bucs simply said thank you and walked into 2000 with a pair of first rounders that were then used to acquire Keyshawn Johnson. 16 1995 - The Eagles 1st round and pick and two 2nd rounders for the Bucs 1st and 3rd round picks This was the deal that ultimately brought us both Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks. The Eagles wanted to move up from 12 to 7 in the first round to take Mike Mamula (nice one Ray Rhodes!) and hence offered us two additional 2nd round picks too. We then ultimately traded them to Dallas (perhaps appearing later in this list?) and we took Sapp at No.12 as he fell down the list on draft day because he had dared to insult Mel Kiper's hairstyle. Click here for his profile 17 1984 - Steve DeBerg from the Chiefs for a 1984 4th and 1985 2nd round pick At least John McKay's final QB trade paid better dividends than the one that brought DeBerg's predecessor to Tampa. Steve replaced Jack Thompson during the third game of the 1984 season and led the Bucs' offense to its best ever statistical season until the 2003 squad matched its 10th overall finish. With the two picks given up, the Broncos acquired S Randy Robbins and WR Vance Johnson, but I know who I'd rather have had out of that equation. DeBerg was one of the best Bucs ever. Click here for his profile 18 1994 - S Thomas Everett from Dallas for a 4th round pick This was one of Sam Wyche's better deals, but also a typical Jimmy Johnson deal in obtaining something for a player that was surplus to his requirements. Everett had been a solid starter for the Cowboys but was not part of the hairstyled one's plans - the Bucs needed a veteran presence in the defensive backfield to team with the inexperienced Marty Carter and Tony Covington and hence the deal worked for both parties. With the pick, the Cowboys drafted WR Willie Jackson out of Florida. Click here for his profile 19 1987 - QB Steve Young to San Francisco for a 2nd and 4th round pick and cash This one can be viewed as either a great trade or a terrible one. The two picks that this trade provided, brought LB Winston Moss and WR Bruce Hill to Tampa in the 1987 draft. But of course Young went on to win a Super Bowl with the Niners having sat and watched Joe Montana for three seasons. Would he have done so well in Buc land? Moss and Hill were both successful starters in Tampa hence the balance of opinion has to shift towards this being a positive deal for the Buccaneers. Click here for his profile 20 1992 - Obtained LB Jimmy Williams from Minnesota for a 9th round pick This was a 1992 deal done by Sam Wyche with the Minnesota Vikings that brought veteran NFL linebacker Jimmy Williams to Tampa where he started 24 games over the next two seasons. With their pick, the 227nd overall that year, the Vikings took a young Florida State QB and groomed him especially for the Bucs to win a Super Bowl 10 years later - Brad Johnson! Click here for his profile