The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost another game on Sunday. Quarterback Jameis Winston threw four interceptions on the day, including two on the Buccaneers final two possessions. One of those ended as a pick-six for the Saints. That brings the grand total to 18 interceptions on the year for Winston. All this got me thinking. With the multitude of weapons Tampa has on offense, how good could this team be with a competent quarterback? Which then got me to thinking, how much would Bruce Arians give up in order to get his former QB Ben Roethlisberger?

Let’s face it, Bruce Arians isn’t getting younger. At 67 years old, he doesn’t have a lot of time to draft and develop a new signal caller. With a decent defense, and so many skill players on offense, might Arians be in an “all in” type of mood for next season? As of right now, the Buccaneers sit at 3-7, and would have the sixth pick in the NFL draft. Would a top ten pick be enough to get Kevin Colbert to budge? No?? How about if they throw in embattled tight end OJ Howard? Reports out of Tampa say he is wearing out his welcome with the Bucs. Howard was benched Sunday after he bobbled a pass in the first quarter that was eventually intercepted. Still no? Let’s try this. What if they offered a first, a third, and Howard. Would that move the needle? A first and a second? Hell, the Broncos got two firsts and a third for Jay Cutler. Granted, Culter was more than ten years younger then Ben Roehtlisberger is now when the trade happened. The point is there is no limit to what a desperate coach/franchise will give up for the possibility of acquiring a quarterback that they think can win them a Super Bowl.

The likelihood of this trade ever going down is pretty slim. The plan all along for the Steelers is to ride out Roethlisberger’s last few seasons in the hopes they can squeeze out one more Super Bowl run with him. The Steelers have been loyal to Ben through his retirement threats, his coaching objections (see Todd Haley), and the whole Antonio Brown saga. There is little to no chance they would move on from him now. The Steelers should at least be concerned however about the prospects of a thirty nine year old quarterback coming off major elbow surgery. If, hypothetically, a team were willing to throw a boat load of assets for that player, they should at least be willing to listen. Hypothetically of course.