The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have a strong start to the season at 3-0, but the Buccaneers can still improve for the future without giving up any on-field talent.
Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay proposed that the Buccaneers could help the winless Miami Dolphins (0-3) with a trade of former head coach Bruce Arians. The former Super Bowl champion coach stepped down in 2022 as Todd Bowles took the reins, but as Kay pointed out, the Dolphins desperately need to make a change.
In his trade proposal, the Buccaneers get a fourth-round draft pick in exchange for Arians’ rights. That said, Arians has been a senior consultant for the Buccaneers over the past three years and has been part of the team’s success.
Only the front office personnel, such as general manager Jason Licht, fully know how big a factor Arians plays in football decisions with the team. Kay acknowledged that Arians’ contract status also isn’t clear.
“If the Dolphins are serious about winning, they should make Arians an offer to return to the sidelines that he wouldn’t be able to refuse,” Kay wrote. “Trading for a new coach in the midst of a season would break new ground, but the Dolphins don’t have much to lose after their abysmal start. Adding a Super Bowl-winning coach to the mix is their best chance of righting the ship.”
Bruce Arians Ushered Most Successful Era in Buccaneers History
Arians joined the Buccaneers as the head coach in 2019, and he guided the team to a 7-9 record, the beginning of the most successful era in the franchise’s 50-year history. The Buccaneers signed former quarterback Tom Brady as a free agent in 2020 with Arians’ help, and the Buccaneers won the franchise’s second Super Bowl that season with an 11-5 mark.
Tampa Bay then went 13-4 in 2021 under Arians, but the Brady-led Buccaneers came up short in the Divisional Round against the Los Angeles Rams. Arians stepped down after that season, but the Buccaneers haven’t missed a beat under Bowles, the former defensive coordinator under Arians.
Bowles notably received the recommendation from Arians in the move up, and the fourth-year coach has sustained success in Tampa with three consecutive NFC South titles and a playoff appearance every season. The Buccaneers have done it with a high volume of draft picks working out as key players on the roster, and Arians could be part of that success as a front office member.
That said, a fourth-round pick isn’t likely to outweigh the loss of Arians for the Buccaneers. In addition, Arians is 72, and that would make him the oldest head coach in the league.
Trading a Coach Isn’t Unprecedented
If the Dolphins could actually pull off the trade, Arians brings droves of experience besides his Buccaneers tenure. Arians has coached in the NFL every year between 1989 and 2021, except for a one-year stint with Alabama in 1997. He has an 80-48-1 record as a head coach, and he is part of two Super Bowl-winning teams.
Arians wouldn’t be the first coach to be traded. That happened with former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in 2000 when the team traded with the New York Jets for his rights. The Jets received a first-round pick and additional draft picks from the deal.
It also wouldn’t be the first trade involving a coach in Buccaneers history. Tampa Bay acquired former head coach Jon Gruden in 2002 from the then-Oakland Raiders and sent four draft picks plus $8 million west. That resulted in the Buccaneers’ first Super Bowl win in 2003 against none other than the Raiders.
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