News surfaced on Wednesday morning that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have made the decision to bench quarterback Josh Freeman, who has shown no signs of improvement since becoming the team’s starting signal-caller, in favor of rookie Mike Glennon.
Now that Tampa Bay is ready to see what they have in the first-year pro, they can seek out a potential trade partner for Freeman.
Albert Breer of the NFL Network said that the team is “very open” to trading Freeman, who reportedly had asked for a trade before the start of the regular season.
I'll say the obvious here: Bucs are very open to trading Freeman, but won't give him away. Organizationally, they'll get a read on MG now.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 25, 2013
On a Freeman trade: You need to find a team that's "win now" AND needs a QB, in a place where he would be an upgrade.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) September 25, 2013
One potential trade partner for the Buccaneers could be the Minnesota Vikings, who have watched Christian Ponder struggle and have only Matt Cassell as a capable back up.
The problem is that Freeman is in the final year of his rookie contract, so teams may just be willing to wait until the offseason to give Freeman a shot.
Whether or not Freeman remains to get traded is yet to be seen, but the NFL is crazy so anything can happen. However, we wouldn’t put any money on the Bucs finding a team that is willing to take on the first-round bust.