NFL Draft Rumors: Tampa Bay Buccaneers looking to trade down

The 2014 NFL draft is now nine days away and teams are sending out smokescreens and plenty of rumors are hitting the Internet and social media, especially with the draft moved back two weeks, but the latest rumor making the rounds is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are reaching out about trading down in the draft, according to Pat Yasinkas of ESPN.com.

"“That’s definitely something we’d look into,’’ Tampa Bay general manager Jason Licht said. “We’ve already reached out to teams. If our player isn’t there, we’d be open to conversations about moving back.’’"

Their player could be Mike Evans or Johnny Manziel, both of whom have been linked to the Buccaneers. Both could be available for Love Smith’s team or both could be gone inside the top five picks, so Licht is making sure he’s doing his due diligence prior to the May 8 first round and if a player is there that interested another team more than their own, he’ll move back and build through the draft after spending lavishly in free agency.

"“It’s the flavor that they want,’’ Licht said. “If a team loves a player around where we’re at and they don’t want to miss out on him …the bottom line is we’ve got to find a trade partner.’’"

Tampa Bay has six picks in the draft, so moving down a few spots, possibly with a team looking to trade up for a quarterback like Blake Bortles to get ahead of the Minnesota Vikings at No. 8 could be something to monitor.