Is Suh headed to Tampa?

There seems to be little doubt that Ndamukong Suh will be the first overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi

Now that the NFL regular season is over, what we have is a high stakes No Limit poker game for teams to draft the highest rated draft prospect, Ndamukong Suh of Nebraska. The St. Louis Rams have the best chip, the overall number one pick, but the Tampa bay Buccaneers have the most chips three picks in the first two rounds. It looks like the Detroit Lions will have to sit on the sidelines as this one gets decided.

The Bucs covet a player like Suh, who will remind them, their fans, and most of all their opponents, of another Defensive Lineman one Warren Sapp. The Bucs front office have been known to be proactive on draft day, they traded up last year to get their QB, and they can offer St. Louis the third overall pick and the third pick in the second round, to move up and take Suh.

To be perfectly honest one player is not going to cure the ills of the Rams. They, like the Lions, need to make deals for additional draft picks if they hope to crawl out of the NFL cellar. The Rams are going to have to seriously consider dealing that pick away.

Since the Rams also need a QB, and there currently is no consensus on a QB worthy of the first overall pick the Rams may be looking to deal that pick away. On top of that the Rams have been burned in recent drafts by DT prospects, and already have a ton of money invested on their defensive line.

The fact here is the Rams would still get a high quality player at three, and pick up an additional second round pick, if they were to make a trade with the Bucs. At the moment that seems the best way to get a Rams rebuilding effort off the ground.

There have also been some rumblings that the Rams may look to deal away RB Steven Jackson. The idea is sound, deal a player for additional picks, but this one seems far fetched. With Jackson they were a 1-15 club, and were it not for the Detroit Lions they would have gone winless in 2009. Without him they are a listless franchise with no players to build around.

Most years it is nearly impossible to trade down the first overall pick, given the financial commitment involved to sign that player. However this is not most years and there are several teams who covet Suh. Currently the Bucs are in the best position to make a deal for draft picks. The same cannot be said of the Lions who need all their picks, and as many more they can get in deals in later rounds.

It seems pretty clear, here on January 3rd, 2010, that Suh will be the first player drafted, but which team actually drafts him remains to be seen.

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