Even though the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have their franchise quarterback in the former No. 1 overall pick Jameis Winston, it isn't ready to do away with former starter Mike Glennon. According to a new report, despite having full faith in Winston — who was invited to this year's Pro Bowl in place of Tom Brady after a stellar rookie year — the Bucs want Glennon to stick around.
"I would hate to be in a position where your quarterback goes down for however many games it is and then you're basically throwing the towel in, like a lot of teams did this year," Licht said via PewterReport.com. "It wasn't because they wanted to throw in the towel, that's just the way it happened, without naming teams. Those were the same teams, a lot of them, that were inquiring about Mike Glennon at the time."
Glennon, at one time was considered to be the Bucs' franchise guy. He started in 13 games during 2013-14 season, however after leading the Bucs to a 4-9 record and throwing for just 2,608 yards and nine interceptions as a starter, the Bucs lost confidence. So once the 2014 season rolled around, the Bucs went with Josh McCown as the starter. Glennon played in only six games during the 2014 season. McCown has since been traded to the Cleveland Browns, but Glennon remains in Tampa, serving as Winston's back up. They intend to keep it that way, at least for now.
"Mike Glennon is just so valuable to us right now while we have him, while he's under contract, I feel like we have two starting quarterbacks with him and Jameis," Licht said. "If you just go out and get a mid-round pick for him, the chances of the mid-round pick working out or drafting a quarterback and that pick working out, the odds aren't in your favor. Unless there's [an offer] that blows us away, I think you lean towards keeping him and having him on your roster."
Winston didn't miss a game the entire 2015-16 season, but having a back up with Glennon's experience is a good position to be in if Winston does go down with injury.
Holding on to young quarterback talent makes a ton of sense. Just look at what's happened in Washington — the Redskins refused to trade Kirk Cousins even though they had RGIII, who at the time was the team's QB of the future. Now, Cousins is the man, and RGIII is likely headed out of town.
