The early years of Jason Licht’s tenure as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ general manager had a few hits, but far more misses in the NFL draft.
That has changed in a big way in more recent offseasons, as Licht and his front office team have built a perennial contender that’s looking for a fourth straight NFC South title and a fifth consecutive trip to the playoffs.
How have the Bucs made such marked improvement with their draft results over Licht’s tenure?
The GM credits his staff, and the continuity throughout that group, as the biggest reason for their growth in building a consistent winner.
“We’ve had a lot of stability here with my staff,” Licht said at his annual predraft press conference. “I think more stability than any other team, in terms of people staying here – which is a great thing. We all know each other very well. I think we’ve done a great job – I’ve done a better job, myself, as well – of going after the right kind of guy and avoiding the temptation to go after the talent and not necessarily the whole person. I think we’ve done a great job – my staff has done a great job of identifying that with our character grade. We put a lot of stock into that. When you see players getting in trouble, suspended, whatever, I’ll look it up and, yep, we had a ‘do not touch’ grade on them. It’s been phenomenal in that regard.”
Licht’s all-star team that includes Mike Greenberg, John Spytek, Mike Biehl, Rob McCartney, and Jacqueline Davidson (among others) has clearly developed a cohesive process, culture and philosophy that has led to the on-field results Bucs fans have enjoyed over the past half-decade.
Don’t be surprised if it continues next week with the 2024 NFL draft.
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