Jump In The Pool!
December 6th, 2016
Being pimped for major NFL honor.
Joe has already stated Dirk Koetter should be considered for NFL “Coach of the Year” after taking a moribund team riddled with injuries and turning it around on the fly in midseason for a postseason run.
Well, good guy Peter Schrager of NFL Network has one-upped Joe.
He believes Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht should be named NFL “Executive of the Year.”
Speaking on “Good Morning, Football” this week, co-host Schrager says it is a no-brainer because no NFL general manager had done a better job this season than the pool-jumping Licht.
“Jason Licht, the general manager, has to be up for Executive of the Year for what they are doing,” Schrager said. “Noah Spence was a second round pick no one wanted to touch because of off-the-field issues. He played 45 snaps [Sunday] and he was all over the field. Vernon Hargreaves was a lock down corner they got right out of the gate. And then you have guys like Cameron Brate, who no one knew of, Adam Humphries – Freddie Martino?! – find me a Freddie Martino football card! These are the guys who are contributing along with, obviously, the franchise guy, Jameis Winston.
“Jason Licht, right now, if I have to pick an Executive of the Year, Jason Licht is my guy because he has built [the Bucs ] into not only a competitor but one that can go into your building and beat Philip Rivers and they don’t know any better.
“I mean, Jameis is too young to know you are not supposed to do this.”
If the Bucs do wind up in the playoffs, Schrager may have an excellent case. Yes, the Bucs have had an insane amout of injuries to offensive skill position players and guys off the scrap heap are contributing.
Who finds and signs these guys? Licht’s crew, that’s who.
December 6th, 2016 at 10:09 am
Glad all these dummy calling for lights job, know nothing about football and that’s why they are here and not in a football program making things happen like licht and coach k. I’m glad our owners were smart enough and had the balls to fire love and hire these guys. Best thing the bucs have done since gruden.
December 6th, 2016 at 10:12 am
Licht not light
December 6th, 2016 at 10:21 am
Can someone give me some numbers on the arena league guy we signed. And is he practice squad? Thx
December 6th, 2016 at 10:23 am
Hard to win executive of the year when your other 2nd round pick is performing like he is. Great other moves, that one not so much.
December 6th, 2016 at 10:27 am
@ Dewey They are merely working him out… 161 catches for 2020 yards and 58 touchdowns for Jax Sharks in 2016. Ballin
December 6th, 2016 at 10:28 am
Name is Joe Hills btw
December 6th, 2016 at 10:31 am
dallasbuc is going to blow a gasket on this one lol…
December 6th, 2016 at 10:31 am
i just don’t think the writers who vote on this will see it that way. they will continue to give too much credit to the guy they know best, and not acknowledge the deep flaws of the lovie smith era in personnel, scheme, coaching assistants, and game management philosophy
December 6th, 2016 at 10:34 am
thank you, I must of read something wrong.
December 6th, 2016 at 10:41 am
Yeah but he traded up to get Aguayo in the second round. That makes any other accomplishment null and void.
December 6th, 2016 at 10:44 am
pick6 – I think you make a solid point. A good number of those same people likely still think that Lovie being let go was unjustified, so they probably won’t acknowledge that this year was an exercise in overcoming Lovie mandating that the cupboards be stocked with bad players that fit his archaic scheme.
December 6th, 2016 at 10:46 am
bucsfaninchina Says:
December 6th, 2016 at 10:28 am
Name is Joe Hills btw
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Very good football player. Orlando Predators called it quits. No surprise as team had been deteriorating for years. Jax Sharks was a well-managed AFL team. Shame AFL finally had to fold.
December 6th, 2016 at 10:51 am
Jamies and his ability to carry this franchise…most yards passing for a 22 year old in NFL history….covers a lot of Licht’s botches. He certainly has done some good things as well…but this seems premature.
December 6th, 2016 at 10:58 am
#perspective
December 6th, 2016 at 10:59 am
Quick search shows that Joe Hill ran ~4.28 40 at his pro day…
Now, granted, most pro-day times are slightly inflated, but even if that translates to a sub 4.4, that could be some of the speed we need. Even if he doesn’t work out to get some serious paying time this year, he could possibly have the inside track for next year….
While it wouldn’t stop me from signing a WR in Free Agency, it might allow us to NOT have to draft a WR in the first round and maybe address it in the 2nd or 3rd.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:02 am
He deserves it. What he has done in a couple years in turning over this roster has been fantastic. Some people will always harp on the negative though. Every single GM has some bad pics or free-agent signing’s, it is inevitable.
It is like the fan looking back three drafts and saying we could have drafted this person instead. WTF does that mean? Every GM for every team can say that year after year. The bottom line is they need to keep him and Dirk around for a long time.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:05 am
All of lichts move when injuries have occured is enough for him to win gm of the year. A stat was showed that we have the most players on ir. We are still maintaining. Obviously many of you are still bu++ hurt from they aguauyo pick, but the reality is no gm is perfect. His good definitely outweighs one or two bad picks.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:13 am
I think we need to pump the brakes a bit when it comes to Licht and Executive of the Year talk. Again, it seems with some of you that every move which worked out Licht is considered a genius and every move that didn’t work out was Lovie’s fault.
Wasting a 2nd round pick on Aguayo was a bad move. Licht never prepared for the inevitable VJax injury. Our depth at WR is terrible and it’s a fair criticism of Licht. How good would this team be if we had a real #2 wide receiver?
How’s that JR Sweezy signing working out?
December 6th, 2016 at 11:17 am
Licht is doing a fantastic job!!
He has drafted 8 current starters in 3 drafts (Evans, Pamphile, Winston, Donovan Smith, Marpet, Kwon, Vh3 and Aguayo) + future starters Noah Spence and Caleb Benenoch – also Charles Sims whose big play capabilities everyone seems to have forgotten. Add in FA finds off the scrap heap like Humphries, Brate, Quizz Rodgers, Hawley, Cherilus and Jac Smith – along with this year’s $ FA signings of starters Ayers, Grimes and Daryl Smith…..
and also starters Clinton McDonald, Chris Conte and Logan Mankins from 2 years ago
That’s a lot of good football players acquired in only 3 years.
Have there been some signings that didn’t work out? Sure. Anthony Collins, Michael Johnson, ASJ – and all were released as soon as it became apparent they were not a fit for this franchise.
Great job Jason Licht & Co. – keep it up.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:24 am
@drome
It seems to me the wrs are stepping up and playing like #2 receivers whenever their names are called. I am sorry you missed that. Jameis production has not fallen off. You talk about sweezy who hasnt played, but you give no love to licht for rogers, barber, caleb, brate, humpries etc. all diamonds in the rough he found? You are going to say the sweezy signing outweighs all of that? GTFOH
December 6th, 2016 at 11:29 am
You know who’s name you never hear? Kevin Pamphile, and I think that’s great.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:30 am
I agree with D-Rome…but the Licht Fan Boys are out in full force. Whatever…Go Bucs!
December 6th, 2016 at 11:31 am
Not so fast!! As long as we keep winning they can name him anything they want but lets be real here people. They haven’t done anything special yet and either has Licht. Lets talk about this at the end of the year and see where we are at.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:31 am
Web
How about Alex Cross? The kid can block and he made an amazing 270 degree catch on Sunday that was quiet impressive.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:40 am
Precisely what Dave said.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:45 am
Webster,
I’m not going to run the gamut of all of Licht’s misses because there are a ton of misses. You cannot convince me you’re OK with Russell Shephard, Freddy Martino, Dontaae Dye, and Cecil Shorts (who’s gone) as #2 wide receivers moving forward. Most of the wide outs on this team were undrafted free agents or weren’t even playing in the NFL in week one. In other words, not good enough to be one someone else’s roster. It doesn’t matter how they are playing now the fact remains that Jason Licht didn’t get a viable #2 WR and it’s something that has been ignored throughout his tenure. Adam Humphries is not a #2.
I’m not saying Licht is a bad GM. What I am saying is that he did not do a good enough job finding a viable #2 WR threat moving forward. That is a fair and accurate criticism. Missing on Sweezy is a fair criticism. All the free agency and draft misses over the past two years belong to Jason Licht. The Bucs recent success is far more attributed to the coaching staff’s abilities to work (darn near) miracles with these players.
December 6th, 2016 at 11:55 am
Licht is the reason the Bucs have turned around. He was mentored by some of the best the NFL has to offer and is becoming perhaps the best GM in the league. Need proof?
HC: There is NO way the Glazers decided to fire Smith on their own, Licht’s input played a big hand in that decision. It likely came down to continuing with Lovie but losing Koetter as another team’s HC, or kicking Lovie to the curb (and his terrible defense) and keeping the OC that connected so well with Winston. Dah, that’s a no-brainer.
QB: Smith brought his hand-picked scrub to the Bucs (McClown) with his asinine belief that defense & special teams was going to win half the games on the schedule anyway, so who needs a quality QB? Licht was smart enough to put the work in early on himself evaluating Winston vs. Mariotta and made the RIGHT choice as Winston is indeed a “once in a generation” QB.
Defense: Despite many prognosticators believing there were better options available to be the new DC, once again Licht made the right choice by picking at op candidate who already had a solid relationship with the new head coach. Koetter’s trust in Smith to build a strong defense allowed him to focus more on Jameis’ development and has accelerated the turn around we are all witnessing.
Draft Picks: The 2014 draft led by Evans who is already a perennial All-Pro, along with Sims and Phamphile. 2015 was widely called a “Grand Slam” where he brought us Winston, Alexander, Marpet & Smith all locks for at least the next decade. And this year’s draft has already payed dividends with the play of Hargreaves and Spence. (Though the jury is still out on Aguayo, I believe he will be quite successful for years to come too so chillax everyone!)
Free Agents: And for those who think he’s only good at the draft but falls short signing free agents, here are just a few of his finds: Cameron Brate, Adam Humprhies, Alan Cross, Javian Elliott & Ryan Smith.
In just a couple of years as the GM, Licht has greatly improved and solidified the QB, WR (2), TE(1), FB(1), OL(3), DE(1), LB, and CB(2) positions. Have there been some misses? Of course, but so has every other GM.
Thanks Jason, you are definitely the GM the Bucs have been needing since McKay left. Sure hope you have a lot of men’s clothing endorsements because you’re going to be taking a lot of dunks in that pool of yours!
December 6th, 2016 at 12:14 pm
Every GM in the league fails every year at some signings and draft picks.
You can only judge him against other GMs. It’s unfair to judge him against anything else really; or hold him to a higher standard than reality.
If i have the time one day I’ll probably do the analysis of his 3 years in terms of the draft vs all other teams. Same with FA.
Although it’s not really fair to blame Light for signing guys like Mike Jenkins/Tim Jennings/Josh McCown who were obvious Lovie moves; when light did not have roster control
December 6th, 2016 at 12:19 pm
@ drome
Baldwin for seattle was undrafted and sherman was a fifth round pick. Lets praise seattle for their late round and undrafted gems, but hate on the bucs for doing the samething. The fact our undrafted guys were not on another roster when the season started is a futher acknowledgement of lichts eye for talent and the belief this staff can/could coach them up. We give belichick credit for undrafted malcolm butler who won the the super bowl on an int. He obviously got better as the season went on. The next year he was a pro bowler. Its called identifying and developing talent. Licht and koetter said before the season they liked their wrs and as the season has gone on, they have been vindicated. You may not have agreed with the gamble, but it has paid off. Jameis is constantly hooking up with 8-9 different receivers per game. How can you critize that?
December 6th, 2016 at 1:09 pm
What PILGRIMS said…
..and the ROOKIE Aguayo who is no scrub like what we said about Jameis…just wait 4 it🤗
December 6th, 2016 at 1:35 pm
CalBucsFan nailed it.
December 6th, 2016 at 2:51 pm
@calbuc
Fyi…..ryan smith was a draft pick this year.
December 6th, 2016 at 3:07 pm
Thanks Buc15, it’s already pretty obvious we will all look back one-day and praise Licht for drafting the best QB and best WR in Buccaneers’ history and it’s exciting to know his work has just begun.
And Webster, you are absolutely right, misread my research. Thanks for the correction.
December 6th, 2016 at 4:30 pm
If it wasn’t for that other 2nd rd pick, I think Licht would be undoubtedly voted for GM of the Year. he still deserves it and I’m a fan of his. I’m sure Jason would like that pick back but as successful as Licht’s picks are shaping up to be and guys like Freddie Martino literally turning our losing franchise itno a winner, we are lucky to have the Licht/ Koetter duo.
When it’s all said and done, the biggest complaints I hear on JBF are about McCoy and Conte (both are immensely needed on defense), so it’s all good in Tampa Bay. Typically, the haters would have a load of bulletin board material to whine about.
December 7th, 2016 at 3:15 am
@Pickgrin you had the absolute best comment
December 7th, 2016 at 8:51 am
Have there been some signings that didn’t work out? Sure. Anthony Collins, Michael Johnson, ASJ – and all were released as soon as it became apparent they were not a fit for this franchise.
Great job Jason Licht & Co. – keep it up.
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And did Lovie pick those FA’s as well or was it Licht? I am inclined to believe it was Lovie, and Licht drafted ASJ.