Joe Grades General Manager Jason Licht For 2016
January 3rd, 2017
Yes, Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht had an eventful 2016.
The official NFL league year began in March, but Licht’s campaign began with a massive decision in January.
Who should he hire to be the next Tampa Bay head coach?
Licht made the right call on Dirk Koetter and gave him free reign to hire expensive defensive coordinator Mike Smith and assemble a staff.
But it became clear quickly after Koetter was hired that the personnel show was 100 percent in Licht’s lap after dealing with the powerful but sporadic influence of Lovie Smith.
So in the spirit of Licht clears and present power as a third-year GM, Joe thought it was appropriate to grade Licht’s performance.
Joe’s grade is B+ — and that has nothing to do with Licht signing off on the production of JoeBucsFan Jason Licht Ale, Tampa Bay’s best craft beer.
The Job
First, Joe sees a general manager’s job as the following, very simply stated:
- Sign and draft good players that fit the systems in all three phases: offense, defense and special teams
- Provide solid depth at all positions
- Inject the roster with the talent necessary to improve from its previous season
- Manage the salary cap to set the team up for success the following year, aka prepare for the future.
- Work successfully with the head coach
That’s it, folks. GM’s don’t coach, catch passes, call plays, make tackles or commit personal fouls. Yell and scream and bitch all you want, but Licht’s job, at its core, is stated above.
Licht largely hit those benchmarks while the Bucs hurdled from 6-10 pretender to 9-7 contender.
Two Giant Fails
So why not an “A” grade for Licht, since he met criteria above, as the Bucs and locked down their first winning season since 2010?
Two simple answers: second-round draft pick Roberto Aguayo and dropping the ball on receiver depth.
Aguayo struggled mightily in August, September and October, and he struggled on Sunday. Kicker is a position that shouldn’t require development or much of a learning curve. But Aguayo was a costly mess from Day 1 and overall his season was a bust.
Dirk Koetter eloquently stated that Noah Spence and Vernon Hargreaves were no longer rookies come December because of their experience. Well, the same had to go for Aguayo, even more so given his position.
Poor receiver depth burned the Bucs in 2015, and the same darn thing happened again this season.
Bad luck with injuries to veterans Vincent Jackson and Cecil Shorts? Sure. But the reality is Jackson was flat out terrible before he got hurt in Week 5, and Shorts was signed so late (September) that his learning curve for the offense was very steep, by his own admission.
Plus, Shorts, who had a history of injury before arriving in Tampa, popped his hamstring on his first Bucs reception in Week 2. Not exactly a surprise.
Banking on Kenny Bell, Donteea Dye and injured Louis Murphy in training camp? Regular readers here know Joe was against that long before it happened.
The receiver chickens really came home to roost in the form of defenses putting Mike Evans on lockdown because the Bucs had zero threat opposite him.
Watch Licht correct the receiver situation boldly and swiftly this offseason, which will further illustrate Joe’s 10-month long point.
Free Agency Heroics
Look at the success of the Bucs defense, the best third-down defense in the NFL in 2016. That’s fact, not Joe’s opinion.
New free agent signings, starters Robert Ayers, Daryl Smith and Brent Grimes, were all successful.
Please name another GM who goes out and signs three big-money starters, all over 30 years old, and nails all three. Good luck with that. Stunning work.
That trifecta represented a monster free agency turnaround for Licht and an upgrade to the team at each position.
Punter Bryan Anger, yeah a punter, was a true impact signing. The guy was money over and over and over again. And good job by Licht re-signing him last week to a multiyear deal. Keith Tandy was a wise re-signing last winter. And Jacquizz Rodgers certainly was a home run, though the credit on him must go to Dirk Koetter.
No, Joe will hang guard J.R. Sweezy on Licht as a significant negative. Sweezy never practiced and was paid $9 million in free agency. So why not blame Licht? Simply stated, Licht was ready with depth behind Sweezy in the form of Kevin Pamphile, a guy he drafted in the fifth-round in 2014.
Now if Licht plans to count on Sweezy for 2017, then count on Joe having a fit.
Doug Martin needed to be re-signed in March. Joe loudly wanted to franchise tag him at the roughly $11.5 million, one-year cost. Licht opted for two years at roughly $15 million total guaranteed. Joe might have held Licht accountable for Martin, but stuff happens, and now the Bucs are off the hook for Martin’s contract because of his drug-use suspension. Also, Rodgers was a quality fill-in.
Draft Dodging
Aside from the unique Aguayo situation, it’s early to judge the Bucs’ 2016 draft, though second-round pick Noah Spence (5 1/2 sacks while playing injured) and first-rounder Vernon Hargreaves had solid seasons for rookies.
Trying to move fourth-round pick Ryan Smith to safety is a project Dirk Koetter said he will abandon in 2017, sending Smith back to cornerback. The Bucs believe fifth-round pick guard/tackle Caleb Benenoch is legit, and Tampa Bay got plenty of snaps from undrafted rookies on defense.
Again, Joe is pretty neutral right now on the 2016 draft because it’s just too early to judge.
The Future
Nobody can deny the Bucs are incredibly well positioned for 2017.
Yesterday, Dirk Koetter threw around “$70 million” as a figure for available salary cap for this coming season, among the highest in the NFL. And that number can jump higher when some nearly dead weight is cut.
That’s a team and a GM ready to swing, as Koetter says, a big mother f&%$^’n stick.
Joe’s ready for Licht to take these Bucs to the next level, by far his most challenging task to date, outside of watching Josh McCown quarterback his team.
January 3rd, 2017 at 11:57 am
Joe, I’ve been thinking. Say Sweezy actually starts and makes an impact next year. Pamphille should kick over to RT and we draft some developmental lineman in the draft or sign a depth guy in Free Agency.
January 3rd, 2017 at 11:57 am
NFL GM Licht gets an A+++++++, just for that phone call last January telling coach my scheme that “he needs to come to the office tomorrow morning”!!!!!
Huge team upgrade the allowed this team to finally leave the Basement!!!!!
Second in the Division!!!!!!!!
Huge Coaching Upgrades across the board!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:02 pm
B- for me on the strength (weakness) of the Aguayo pick, J.R. Sweezy miss (and dodging the questions), and failing to have a better plan on the inevitable Vincent Jackson injury.
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:03 pm
Idk Joe you def giving him the benefit of the doubt. The way I see it the offense was a patch work of udfas and 3rd string talent sans marpet and dsmith76.
1 skill player drafted all others undrafted sans Shep a ST’er. Pretty pathetic job of building a team and providing weapons.
I think I’m just salty he couldnt sign Boldin instead he got shorts who didn’t belong on the field. No FB, Stocker has lost it if he ever had it to begin with. The list goes on and on …..
And he STILL HASNT TRADED GMC. 👎🏽 Lol
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:06 pm
C-
Not sure even Tom Brady could win with this offensive line-up.
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:16 pm
Actually next to trading up for Aguayo and not having him compete for the job with a veteran, the next most costly signing had to of been Huff. Those two guys I swear cost us 2 games at least.
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:18 pm
It sure does feel like we are about to experience a repeat of the success from the late 90’s. Bucs fans deserve it!
In Licht we trust!
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:19 pm
And he STILL HASNT TRADED GMC. 👎🏽 Lol
That time will come. you can count on it. the soft serv era needs to come to an end.
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:22 pm
Tmax
I can feel it in my bones and my crystal ball never lies. They can go ahead and cut Jude -I lost us the raiders game and could never cover anyone EVER – adjei barimah
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:23 pm
Koetter was putting together an offense with bandaids. Licht knows we need fire power and I have confidence that he will come through on that this offseason. If not, he needs to have his head examined.
Speed on offense and pass rushers. Period. Those two things alone wold have equaled two more wins for sure. Also, admit the kicker mistake and move on if he sucks again in the offseason.
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:24 pm
Joe is there anyone from the old Smith/Jaguars defensive coaching staff that would be available/qualify to be our new DC?
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:28 pm
Aguayo really hurts. Beside that Wr depth was suspect but the offense was supposed to be
A healthy non drugged Doug, sims, VJ, Evans, Murphy, ASJ. We got instead
Rodgers+barber, evans, brate, hump, and shorts/dye/shepeard/martino
He rolled the dices on Bell and he lost.. I’m sure he learned
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:45 pm
I won’t say you’re wearing Jason Licht Ale beer goggles. But I won’t say that you aren’t. You can’t deny the quality of Grimes/Ayers & Anger…
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:50 pm
@Joe(s): Will there be grades for the coaching staff, too?
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:52 pm
A very good and well articulated article Joe. You sure Ira didn’t write this? LOL
I agree with pretty much everything you said – The grade of B+ for this last year – and the 2 primary reasons it wasn’t an “A”.
I wanted us to draft Aguayo – but not until the 4th round. If we were going to jump up into the 2nd like we did, then it should have been for Vonn Bell.
And yet we still got two 1st round talents/starters in VH3 and Noah Spence in this year’s draft – along with 2 good developmental prospects at OL and CB in Benenoch and Ryan Smith.
As I stated in the Licht confidence poll thread:
“Just look at the difference in young talent on this team now vs 2 years & 11 months ago when Jason Licht stepped into the building. Nuff said”
January 3rd, 2017 at 12:53 pm
wasn’t it a Tues night 2 days after the regular season ended Lovie got fired? i remember jumping up an down like a school girl and woke up the whole house. Them were the days.
January 3rd, 2017 at 1:07 pm
I could be wrong but I don’t remember Mark Dominick being grades…..I’m curious as to what grade he would be given using the same criteria.
As for the B+……I’m dropping him to a B because I think the lack of WR depth was a glaring mistake……far greater than Aguayo…….and that jury is still out….he couldn’t really know about Sweezy except if he knew he needed a “procedure” Licht could have addressed that to some degree with his contract.
No….the WR problem was a 2-year problem that he should have known to fix in year 2 after being burnt in year 1…….we all saw it coming.
January 3rd, 2017 at 1:08 pm
B or B+ sounds good to me.
I trust in Light. He makes mistakes. So do all GMs every year. If not for the Aguyao blunder, and maybe signing a Rishard Mathews (we may have tried for all I know) and using the Aguayo picks on D-line depth or O-line or WR; he’d get an A++.
January 3rd, 2017 at 1:10 pm
That’s a fair assessment Joe. Overall, you’d be hard pressed not to find optimism in this team’s progress.
January 3rd, 2017 at 1:12 pm
I agree with you Joe …Licht has done a pretty good gm job..there were some slip ups but all in all this team seem to be headed to being a playoff team for a while with also some very good young players My biggest concern is…were the bucs unlucky with injuries or do we need to replace the head trainer.. not sure if Licht would have any input on that or Koetter
January 3rd, 2017 at 1:13 pm
Not quite as generous as you are Joe (with your overall B+), but I like your logic trail. I think Licht gets an A for his moves on defense, and a C (at best) for his moves on offense. ST is probably a B overall (Anger has been phenomenal and Roberto is coming along and will be fine I think, although still don’t like using a #2 pick for him). I’d say an overall grade of B- would be about right for 2016, but I’d expect much better next year with the cap money that we have.
You noted WR lack of depth, but didn’t mention the OLine at all. We had the bodies, but our OLine needs major upgrading (2 positions) to be competitive next year and most importantly to better protect Jameis. TEs also ended up being a position of relative weakness, and I really hope Licht signs a legitimate lead-dog RB with elite talent.
January 3rd, 2017 at 1:17 pm
A- from me. Waayyy too many successes to mark him too low for the Aguayo and WR issues. His undrafted FA signings alone make him the best we’ve ever seen, and that’s not even getting to his (mostly) home run drafts.
January 3rd, 2017 at 1:26 pm
I think there gonna hit offense hard in free agency. Who wouldn’t want to catch balls from Winston and play opposite of Mike Evans. At the end of the day the bucs have gone from 2-14, 6-10, 9-7, keep it up and were in the playoffs next year, should have been in next year but keep the team in this upward trend and we will be playing ball this time next year.
January 3rd, 2017 at 1:38 pm
B- for me for not addressing WR more aggressively and Sweezy not playing. That hurt us, and the few guys he signed at WR shouldve been told no, just NO! But it couldve been worse. I think the Coach’s and players turned things around on D for 3 games or so. Still missing that beast DE who requires double teams …cough, Derek Barnett.
January 3rd, 2017 at 1:42 pm
A lot of people don’t like Licht because he’s not great getting big name FA’s. But he sure as hell can pick up guys off the street and get UDFAs. Bryan Anger, Quizz Rogers, Josh Robinson,Peyton Barber among others in his previous 3 years. +B
January 3rd, 2017 at 2:01 pm
C+
The lack of talent at receiver, the Roberto pick, the depth at LB and ol are unforgivable
January 3rd, 2017 at 2:03 pm
LOL pickgrin!
Agreed SOEbuc, Licht has been absolutely masterful with the smaller names / UDFAs that he has found.
January 3rd, 2017 at 2:04 pm
@Tony, how many different positions do you think you can fill in 1 offseason? Realistically?
January 3rd, 2017 at 2:05 pm
No love on the Josh Robinson signing? Major contributer on special teams, even awarded a game ball I believe.
January 3rd, 2017 at 2:17 pm
Passing on Laremy Tunsil a huge need in the draft and getting VH3 was a negative in 2016, and then not addressing the safety and #2 WR spot are other dings, Reggie Nelson was available as well as DJ Swearinger and both playing at high levels, the sweezy thing, not sure on that, but if he was hurt before we signed him then thats terrible, but he did hit on ayers, mikos husband and anger and BRATE and his CFL running back aquisitions, hope he doesnt try and get to cute in the 2017 draft and FA, and get winston protection and a legit #2.
January 3rd, 2017 at 3:08 pm
lets be real.. wasted 2 picks on a kicker, no wide out ,no speed , no dominant linemen … nothing but average at best ..lack of talent on this team showed and this is Mr.Licht job..C at best !
January 3rd, 2017 at 3:12 pm
Was thinking awhile ago Joe that maybe folks are giving Jason Licht too much credit for this year’s improvement to a 9-7 record, and not enough to Dirk Koetter. Granted he hired Dirk Koetter, but I seriously doubt that Mike Smith would’ve come onboard if Dirk wasn’t the HC. Looks to me like Dirk hired his own coaching staff (many with whom he and Smitty had previous experience). And that coaching staff has turned out to be exceptional.
Bucs scored 20 or fewer points in HALF of our games, yet we won 5 of those … thanks to the defense standing tall. Any of those 5 wins could’ve easily gone the other way, and we could’ve ended up with as bad as a 4-12 record instead of 9-7. In other words, improvements on defense were critical to our final record (obvious I know). There were really only 3 major improvements in terms of talent brought in on the defensive side of the ball: Grimes, Ayers & Darryl Smith. All of them are 30 or over (experienced) and 2 out of the 3 had previous experience with Mike Smith and Dirk Koetter. (On the offensive side so did Jaquizz Rodgers, Antone Smith & Joe Hawley far as I know). Jason Licht signed them all for sure, but would he have if it hadn’t been for Koetter’s & Smitty’s previous relationships with them? I doubt it.
The biggest improvement this year was in coaching, especially on the defensive side of the ball. A number of guys really stood up (guys like Keith Tandy) and that’s a huge credit to the coaching staff in terms of player development and how they used them. Even if Smitty leaves, I’m convinced that the Bucs are in excellent hands with this coaching staff. Also convinced that we have a better handle now on the priorities of what positions we need to upgrade, and that Jason Licht & his staff will do an even better job this year.
January 3rd, 2017 at 3:12 pm
B..cause perhaps there was only so much available at the WR position. I haven’t re-visited it yet.
I would have franchised Doug too and clamored for it, but I guess it all shakes out in the end.
Aguayo I have no idea wtf he was thinking on that one. I hope he wasn’t listening to JW, but then why so high in the draft. Like I always say I’m a Nole and scratch my head on that one all the time. I want him gone ASAP.
If I had to revisit Dom, he’d more than likely get an F. So progress is certainly there and anything higher than an F from you posters works for me. If you grade him a C…you should be thankful right now.
Go Bucs and bring on any team, I mean ANY team on next years schedule.
January 3rd, 2017 at 3:15 pm
Oops, need to add that when I said ‘talent brought in’ I was talking about FAs. Obviously drafting VHIII & Noah Spence last year had a huge impact on our defensive turnaround.
January 3rd, 2017 at 3:24 pm
Didn’t draft a WR, didn’t pickup a decent WR in Free Agency . Signed Josh Huff off waivers, but passes on Taylor Gabriel when he was on waivers. Drafted a PK in the 2nd round when we had a thousand other needs. But he did signed Robert Ayers and Brent Grimes. I thought we should have drafted Laremy Tunsil, Michael Thomas and Vonn Bell. I would give him a C.
January 3rd, 2017 at 3:25 pm
And Bryan Anger was a solid pickup.
January 3rd, 2017 at 3:29 pm
JBF, you’re too generous with your grade. C at best for Licht. ASJ, Licht’s other 2d round blunder and Martin were the bookends of “me first” drama. LB Smith will probably retire and was a one year fill in the gap player. The gross negligence of Aguayo knowing full well the need for WR and Oline is unforgivable. IR Sweezy is still a huge question mark. Quezz was due to Koetter more than Licht and Conte and Hey Jude are probably gone. He better nail the draft and get a couple of starting FAs.
January 3rd, 2017 at 3:53 pm
This will be Licht 2nd season of full control of the Bucs Football Operations. He get a pass his first two seasons, because he shared responsibilities with Lovie. This upcoming season we should see a Much-Improved Jason Licht, he should be better at Drafting, Free Agency, Waivers Claims. Bucs fans are expecting a solid roster this season, with quality players at every position.
January 3rd, 2017 at 4:32 pm
All you guys criticizing Licht for not getting a receiver. You do realize they brought back VJax don’t you. If healthy he would have been a quality #2. Nobody can predict who will get injured and when. There are only so many roster spots. If VJax had been cut and they drafted a guy that got hurt would you blame him for not drafting 2 WRs? You guys and your 20/20 hindsight is comical.
January 3rd, 2017 at 4:37 pm
Joe I agree with your piece but I might have bumped him up to A-
Here is the problem with the vast majority of analysis I see on this thread.
People are grading Licht on THEIR desires not on what is realistic. In reality life is graded on the curve. You are always compared to your competition. Could we have had a better GM? Really?
OK list the other GM”s and their draft picks and grade them all out. Then you might eliminate a lot of the emotion that has ruled some posters. Facts are actually good.
Perhaps one of our poster with a bent for analysis…Bonzai? can reveiw the other GM”s and their draft picks and FA’s. Then we might get a realistic grade.
Because here’s the truth. The NFL does not care what we think in terms of talent evaluation…they only care about results and what they see on video.
And so I would say that if I believe about half the posters here TL gets a D…I would add a large bwaaahaaaahaaaah.
2-14…6-10…9-7…lets’ see…from year one to two triple the number of wins and in year three a 50% improvement from the year before. Cmon MAN
Name me a job you’ve worked where the manager posted triple the results in one year and followed it up with another 50% improvement.
Again what are the records and the DIRECTION OF THE TEAM under the other 31 GM’s. I’m not saying Licht is the best but I would like to see him compared among his peers honestly by results not just opinion.
January 3rd, 2017 at 5:11 pm
Joe, great article. I agree with everything you’ve said but the grade.
Aguayo: what else needs to be said. Not to mention using 2 picks to get him when there was so much talent on the table. Would have loved to have gotten an OT or DT; Ayers won’t be here forever.
Sweezy: injury aside, it was another example of Licht vastly overpaying a FA.
Draft: hated us trading back in the 1st rd for only a 4th rounder – would have like to have seen a lot more gall.
Special Teams: We were clamoring at the beginning of the year (for the 100th consecutive season) for speed at returner. We got Ryan Smith and a flag football star in Bell. Weak.
Slot Receiver: Insert same argument from special teams (sans Ryan Smith).
Doug Martin: Stop signing guys to so much guaranteed money. Outsmart an agent for once and make it incentive-laden.
WR Depth: what you said Joe.
My Grade, still: a B-
January 3rd, 2017 at 5:12 pm
Welcome to JoeLichtFan
January 3rd, 2017 at 5:15 pm
^^ Adding a final thought:
Safety: I believe we have 3 backups at safety. We need a playmaker in the secondary. I’ve been clamoring for an upgrade there since the offseason
January 3rd, 2017 at 5:41 pm
He seems like an A+ GM and then you see some of the most idiotic moves. Maybe Sweezy was bad luck but no GM is taking a kicker with 2 premium picks. He says he was afraid someone would move ahead of him… lol. Could of had jay howard and a developmental lineman. No Gm is taking a kicker in the 1st 3 rounds, especially a kicker that has an average leg. Kickers are kickers. Then he carries a 3rd qb for no reason which forces us to have one less back up so our sack leader is out covering kicks and blows out his knee in week one. Also, going into the season with the WR depth was inexcusable. Those 3 things were so boneheaded you have to wonder what the hell was he thinking. Lots of solid picks but could do better in free agency. I woulda put a claim in on floyd too, oh well
January 3rd, 2017 at 7:17 pm
You forgot to add proper trade negotiations into the list, Joe.
January 3rd, 2017 at 7:19 pm
I actually give him a c+ on drafting Aguayo. Contrary to what others here think, I believe the kid will be with us for 15 years.
Yes, there will be competition…but it will raise his game.
January 3rd, 2017 at 7:22 pm
My main complaints on Jason Licht have been his free agency record (which he improved on this year), his tendency to bring in or resign injury prone players (which hurt us bad this year), and his seeming inability to get higher than a 6th round pick when not doing it during the actual draft.
January 3rd, 2017 at 8:31 pm
B+ after aguayo and no WRs?
Those decisions likely cost us a playoff berth. When the decision a Gm makes costs you games, that is a huge fail. The good stuff he did, balances it out to about a “C”. Maybe “B-“. If i were in a happier mode.
January 3rd, 2017 at 8:36 pm
Cecil Shorts was cut by the offensive powerhouse that is Houston…
When you’re saying Cecil Shorts will be your starter, you failed at adding depth. Yes VJ went down, Louis Murphy never returned as expected, but we know Murphy might not be back and we knew VJ would probably get hurt – Cecil Shorts was a panic signing because there wasn’t anyone else. Also Cecil Shorts, I get it that people feel bad for him since he got injured as he did, but he wasn’t any good when he played. How many INTs came from passes bouncing off his hands? I can think of at least 2 (and I think Humphries had like 3 of those this year as well).
For kicker, I didn’t like the pick at the time but I understood it – regardless of the morons who learn everything they know from reading bathroom stalls walls, kicker was supposed to be a late 2nd round pick or a 3rd rounder, somewhere in that range. He was taken a few picks before the beginning of the 3rd round. I thought the Bucs should have went after a S or a WR there, but they didn’t. Anywho I do think kicker will have a much better 2nd year… I know kicker haters how dare I hope our 2nd rounder isn’t a bust, he needs to be a bust so YOU can tell everyone that you, and only YOU, KNEW it would happ…zzzzz…
Sweezy to me was the worst pickup of the offseason, and that includes kicker in the conversation. Kicker hit his one and only game winner at the very least – Sweezy did nothing and still has millions coming his way. Signing an injured guy to a fairly big deal is kind of dumb – and when put on top of that that he wasn’t very good in the first place, it’s really dumb. Kicker was the best kicker in college football history. Sweezy was graded by most people as a below average guard who might get a one year prove it deal… instead he got way overpaid by the Bucs, and even if he was healthy his scouting reports all said the same thing, the guy can’t pass block. Hey, just so you know, the Bucs sort of have a franchise passer back there, if Dirk would let him throw the ball then you’d want a G that would pass block.
Ayers was looking like a bust but came on strong – glad to see. I wasn’t sure about that pickup and I thought the Bucs should have overspent for Olivier Vernon since they had more than enough money to do so, and he was young, and as we know – that would have been the right thing to do. But Ayers was a really solid guy, he played really well in the 2nd half of the season when healthy.
Grimes certainly turned out to be solid as well after what I thought was a terrible terrible start of the year. Grimes gets burned a lot… a lot lot… but he makes plays too. Ideally you’d have a corner that you never hear much about – because when you have that it means generally they’re really good since no one wants to throw at them. No one minds throwing at Grimes – certainly not early in the year. We shall see if he has another year left his tank – but Joes thoughts of locking him beyond that… if he’s really worth it just overpay for one year deals. If the team is still needing Grimes to start for them in 2 or 3 years, then the team has really done a poor job drafting and in FA. But for 2016 he was a very good pickup.
Daryl was fine – sort of what you thought you were getting. Not sure I’d want him there next year, and I don’t think he’ll be there, but for this past season he played fine.
January 3rd, 2017 at 8:39 pm
Buccaneer Bonzai – Uh oh… you just triggered the kicker haters with that comment about kicker perhaps not being a bust just yet. They’ll be along shortly to yell and scream and throw a hissyfit and boringly repeat the same thing they say every single day.
January 3rd, 2017 at 8:45 pm
@TDTampabay, it was well known VJax had suffered another knee injury before the season ended last season and everyone knew he was on his last legs…..well, everyone but you and maybe a few others who werent paying attention.
January 3rd, 2017 at 9:48 pm
The problem with saying hondsight is 20/20 is that almost every fan and even the Joes were hammer all off season for the bucs to add another WR. It’s not like we just all of sudden after the seaaon said well darn we should have had another WR. We’ve been saying since free agency began last season! If the average joe bucs fan can see that WR was a need, how couldnt the GM? There was no hindsight. We all had the foresight to see that we needed greater WR depth. We relied on injured players to return and a bunch of undrafted free agents. We all saw this coming!
January 3rd, 2017 at 10:02 pm
Well. A + nuff said. Who else goes 9 and 7 with a team like this??
January 3rd, 2017 at 11:15 pm
@ MadMax – So our GM and the Glazers knew he was injured and decided to pay him over $10M for the year??? Dude just stop. You did not and do not know more than the Bucs front office and the medical staff. Maybe you think you know more than all of those people but I promise you do not. Some guy named MadMax says he was injured so it must be true lol. You do realize that this isn’t play money for the Glazers. They don’t just have over several millions of dollars without doing some research.
January 3rd, 2017 at 11:23 pm
TrueBuc so do you pass on Hargraves and reach for a WR with the first pick? I would say our we needed some help in the secondary in a big way. Second round we addressed the D-line. The pick that KC got from us in the third didn’t even make the team. He has played four games and recorded one tackle with the team that picked him up off waivers. So maybe they take a flyer on a WR in the third. Doubtful that they were going to find a difference making WR in the third round. In fact they may have drafted a guy like Kenny Bell again that couldn’t even make the team. So if you were convinced that a WR drafted in the 3rd or 5th round was going to be better than VJax you definitely need to apply for a GM spot somewhere.
January 4th, 2017 at 12:14 am
He did about a C+/B- job as a GM
Same for Dirk as a HC (more for his play calling)
How did the Bucs win 9 games?
Mike Smith, Mike Evans and Jameis Winston.
The Bucs have two incredible talents that covered a lot of holes that Licht couldn’t fill and Koetter couldn’t adjust too.
Mike Smith’s job as defensive coordinator is a huge reason why the Bucs finished 9-7 and not 4-12.
Panthers (twice)
Chiefs
Seahawks
Saints
All easily could have been losses.
Those 3 guys did enough to overcome that. This team NEEDS a lot of work to be a consistent contender.
January 4th, 2017 at 12:17 am
@TouchDownTampaBay
I like Hargraves, but I fear he’ll just be a really solid nickel corner. I’d rather Licht gambled on Tunsil in the 1st round than gamble on a kicker in the 2nd round.
Michael Thomas was the guy worth trading up for. Either him or Von Bell.
I think Licht will do a good job this off season though.