SAN DIEGO -- Tampa Bay Bucs general manager Rich McKay, a man who knows a little bit about trading draft choices for a head coach, said Tuesday that the NFL's moratorium issued last week and precluding such moves has been misinterpreted.

"I have no doubt that, if a team wanted to trade draft picks for a coach and the terms were reasonable, the deal would go through," said McKay, who is the chairman of the NFL's influential competition committee. "Every trade has to be approved by the commissioner. And basically, that was reiterated in the memo, that's all."

McKay said the memo was intended more to limit the movement of assistant coaches and front offices personnel who are under contract. He emphasized that, over the last few seasons, even support staff members such as the video directors, trainers and equipment men have become "contract employees."

A source at the league level confirmed McKay's interpretation of the memo. The source termed the memo "purposely vague" and denied it was intended to keep the San Francisco 49ers from trading head coach Steve Mariucci to the Jacksonville Jaguars for draft choices. At it turned out, Mariucci had no interest in the Jacksonville vacancy.

"What the league was saying was, let's freeze this for a short time, and take a look at it," McKay said. "They asked (the competition committee) to look at it, and we will. We'll make a report to them."

That report likely will be presented to the league in March, at the annual NFL meetings, which will be held in Phoenix. McKay said it was premature to predict what the competition committee would recommend.

The Bucs, of course, traded a pair of first-round choices, two second-round picks and $8 million to Oakland so the Raiders would release Jon Gruden from the final year of his contract. McKay acknowledged that Gruden has been worth the high price tag.

"(But) I think the question is, where does it stop?" McKay said, referring to last week's league memo. "For us, it was the price of poker. It's what it cost us to do business. But I consider the coach the CEO of the football team. ... From that standpoint, it's the most important hire you're going to make."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.