Seeing as we have wrapped the first week of NFL football, I decided that every Wednesday for the next ten weeks I would bring you, the fans, the trades that had severe impacts on Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This week we look back at a trade that altered not only the fate of the Buccaneers for the 90s but for the San Francisco 49ers as well.
Yes, I am talking about the trade involving an up-and-coming Steve Young to the San Francisco 49ers for, get this, a second and fourth-round pick *cue facepalm*. In all fairness, the Buccaneers had no way of knowing Young would go on to win three SuperBowls, two MVPs, and become a Hall of Famer.
During his first two years in the league with the Buccaneers, Young was largely considered a bust, as he went 3-16 in his first 19 NFL games and largely underperformed. With Vinny Testaverde waiting in the wings of that years draft, the Buccaneers were positive that they would get their franchise quarterback in Testaverde and decided to deal Young to the 49ers, who were in desperate need of a backup. The rest is history.
Young would go on to lead the league in passer rating six times after the trade, an NFL record. Some other achievements include leading the league in touchdown passes for three seasons and having only 107 interceptions in his 15-year career. Oh yeah, did I mention that he won three SuperBowls? Oh, I did? Well, I just wanted to remind you.
As for Testaverde, he wouldn’t fare as well as with the Buccaneers. Although he would go on to have a largely successful NFL career, Testaverde’s Buccaneers tenure was filled with underachievement and interceptions. In fact, Testaverde has more INT’s with the Bucs during his six years in Tampa Bay than Young had during his entire NFL career.
It would be hard for Bucs fans not to think about what could have been if Young had stayed with the Bucs. In my opinion, nothing would have changed, as it’s clear that the team at the time had no structure and was largely relying on the QBs to bring them to the promised land, with no help whatsoever.
Next week we will look at one of the most aggressive trades in NFL history, and that also won us a Superbowl a couple years later.