“We Do Have The Best Scouting Department In The NFL”
March 31st, 2021
General manager Jason Licht and his staff won an award recently, and Licht and two of his comrades went online to accept it.
Inside The League is a networking company designed to help people employed inside the NFL. Joe has seen them working their magic at the NFL Scouting Combine. If you want to advance your front-office career, for example, they can help.
What Joe did not know is that Inside The League CEO Neil Stratton awards a Best NFL Draft award annually, and the Bucs won the honor for last season recently.
Licht, along with director of college scouting Mike Biehl and director of player personnel John Spytek, joined a non-profane YouTube recording to thank the academy.
“I’m biased, but I feel like we do have the best scouting department in the NFL,” Licht said.
Licht went on to praise the pandemic leadership and creativity of Biehl and Spytek finding unique ways to evaluate players from home. Pro Days were cancelled, scouts couldn’t travel and the Bucs succeeded by focusing on the tape and picking the right players.
Spytek also praised the scouting department’s preparation and creativity for last year’s draft, and he said it was all a byproduct of how well the team was prepared before the pandemic changed everything.
“They make my life easy,” Licht said of his top executives.
So let Joe add this up. Licht just won a Super Bowl, has the best scouting department in the NFL, and has been universally lauded for historic salary cap management this offseason. When is Team Glazer going to give this guy a raise?
March 31st, 2021 at 8:12 am
Wish i could work for them…..that would be a dream job. But they know who id like us to pick since i promote it heavy here….been on a pretty good roll 4 years now.
March 31st, 2021 at 8:13 am
When is Team Glazer going to give this guy a raise?
________
Maybe if we kick ass again this year?
I think “backing up the Brinks truck with Glazer loot” would be a bit premature at this point.
Why do you always do this Joe?
March 31st, 2021 at 8:39 am
Backing up the Brinks truck is one thing…paying somebody what they’ve EARNED is another.
Licht has clearly EARNED any $$$ the Glazers pay him.
Use the “buf for” legal argument. But for WHOM would we not have had a SB.
Obviously Brady gets the lion’s share but in terms of what actually happened there would be NO BRADY without Licht.
There would be NO BA without Licht. The entire coaching staff because of Licht’s connection to BA.
Licht has impressed me because he doesn’t need to feed his ego. He has maintained modesty in the face of WILD success. Taking an historic loser and winning an SB? That’s amazing if you think about it and again…
I love Brady…all the players and coaches but NONE of this happens without Licht.
March 31st, 2021 at 8:44 am
Add TB12 to your scout team, his influence got you a SB ring.
March 31st, 2021 at 8:55 am
When a team has a positive mindset like the Bucs from ownership, office staff, coaching, players and everyone There are no limits on how great this team can be. With another great draft – lookout NFL. Positive attracts positive -it’s the Universal Law of Attraction.
March 31st, 2021 at 8:58 am
The Bucs are going to get raided so bad next year by other teams.Ouch! Coaches, Office personnel, but that is the price of success I suppose.
We are deep as you can get in player depth – no weaknesses except for KR. That is due to finding talent and coaching them up. Good job Mr. Licht! Hope you don’t loose too many people next year.
March 31st, 2021 at 9:02 am
“Focusing on the tape” now there’s a novel concept! It took Covid to figure that out huh….
A front office had success scouting without the underwear parades? Inconceivable!
March 31st, 2021 at 9:13 am
Team Glazer gave Licht a last chance ( when few if any owners would have ) to hire another coach under his tenure…after having a 33-35% winning percentage to date. It worked out unbelievably well with BA and then The GOAT. Another solid draft and season and an extension/sweetener is likely.
March 31st, 2021 at 9:14 am
Lets face it Licht’s had a lot of bad years drafting & FA than good. Just because he & BA hit on the draft & TB a couple of years does not make him the Savior. Lets hold off on the raise & see how things progress. Also don’t forget Mike Greenberg had a lot to do with the Bucs success. And no I’m not related to Greenberg. Just saying.
March 31st, 2021 at 9:16 am
I’ve always supported JL, I just think Joe is ALWAYS too eager to reward anyone in the organization for immediate success.
You’re paid to win. To make the right decisions. To do your job.
If JL can sustain his current success then by all means, a nice raise and contract extension should rightfully be his.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it just a year or two ago that Team Glazer extended JL’s contract even after several disappointing seasons?
Many of the geniuses on here were shouting for his termination, but the ownership stood by him and gave him another chance.
Does that not account for any thing?
March 31st, 2021 at 9:26 am
What a difference a year makes. All that was posted last year was how awful the glazer’s and Licht were. I guess it goes to show what have you done for me lately…
March 31st, 2021 at 10:08 am
Been saying Licht is a great scout for years. We obviously just didn’t have the pieces until Brady arrived.
March 31st, 2021 at 10:28 am
Tom Brady can make any coach/GM look like a Genius.
Someone posted that we are gonna get really raided next year if we win again.
Remember what happened to the old Super Bowl team ?
March 31st, 2021 at 11:07 am
Some just don’t get it. Lovie hired Licht…he called the shots on those drafts under him…and couldn’t develop a cold. Koetter was a nice guy, but far over his head…just wasn’t HC material. And again, couldn’t develop a cold. So Licht got one more chance to hire a HC. Amazing some of you can’t see it, but Brady did. A above average HC, loads of underutilized and underdeveloped talent, and a need for a QB that won’t throw games away hand over fist.
Forget the first couple draft years for the reasons stated. Forget the “draft misses” under Koetter who was ready to cut a RB that is competing for a starting job drafted as the fourth pick of the draft, and other guys that were stagnating. He drafted plenty of good players in the Koetter years. Judge him the last couple years…there is the real measure.
March 31st, 2021 at 11:48 am
Thisisouryear!!! … Exactly. Just 2 years ago almost everyone in Tampa Bay was calling for JL’s head to also roll when Dirk Koetter’s was served up on a platter at the end of the 2018 season. Instead, Jason was retained as GM & brought in BA out of retirement to right the ship (which was definitely floundering at the time). My question continues to be ‘Did BA choose the Bucs, or did the Bucs choose BA?’
The 2019 season record wasn’t great (7-9) but it did set the stage for what was to come. We’d had a great 2019 draft IMO (White, SMB, Dean, Edwards, Nelson, Miller are all getting LOTS of snaps), but signing Suh, JPP & Shaq was HUGE. Our young defensive Secondary got some great experience that year, and it paid off handsomely in 2020. Our 2020 draft was just about as good as our 2019 draft IMO (Wirfs, Winfield, Vaughn, Johnson), mostly on the offensive side of the ball, but it was bringing in Brady that really made all the difference. Same question though … ‘Did Tom Brady choose the Bucs, or did the Bucs choose Tom Brady?’
A lot of what’s transpired in these last 2 years has come down to ‘being in the right place at the right time’ IMO, but that also necessitates taking advantage of opportunities as they arise. JL has done a great job of that in these past 2 years far as I’m concerned. His re-signings of our own FAs this year has been particularly impressive, and it’ll be fun to see where this now leads. Hopefully to back-to-back Super Bowl championships.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:29 pm
Chris, I’m not sure that’s accurate. The following are already under contract in ‘22:
VV (assume that option is picked up) shaq, Roches, White, LvD, SMB, Dean, Winfield, Edwards
Brady, Evans, Marpet, D Smith, Whirfs, Brate, Scooter, TJ, Vaughn, Succop
No one is raiding them and that’s a very strong core group. Now decisions will loom for Jensen, Cappa, Lenny, Gronk, OJ, RJ, Suh, Gholston, Davis and whitehead.
I’d expect some of those guys to stay, and the rest will probably see their replacements drafted this year or next.
March 31st, 2021 at 1:47 pm
Jason Licht was all but washed up after his infamous pick of Jameis Winston. So Many questionable picks after that and piss poor results on the field. Licht had one mulligan left and he used it. It was the phone number of Bruce Arians.
March 31st, 2021 at 3:55 pm
I’m laughing. Who do you think really picked Jameis? Lovie Smith did. He was in charge. Licht was his hireling. If Licht had insisted on someone else, in objection to Lovie, he would have been looking for a new job. In fact, until Lovie was shown the door, he was in charge. The Glazers were the only guys with more power in the organization. And Koetter developed who? Nobody. How can you talk about questionable picks? You don’t develop top notch talent, and almost makes no difference who you draft.
March 31st, 2021 at 4:01 pm
You guys act like Licht had a brain transplant. You just don’t seem to get how much a bad HC with all power but for that retained by ownership and a guy that has never been a proven HC, with no track record of truly developing players, can screw up an organization and team. Instead you act like some miracle occurred. It wasn’t a miracle. It was an ownership group telling Licht it was all on him…one chance… to find the right guy that could get the job done, and keep improving the organizational structure and functions.
March 31st, 2021 at 4:23 pm
Mark:
Other way around concerning Jameis. Trust Joe. But Lovie did have final say.
March 31st, 2021 at 5:42 pm
I’ll take your word for that, Joe.
April 1st, 2021 at 1:10 am
Alright, looks like Im gonna have to go DT Daviyon Nixon since its looking like Zaven Collins will be gone by the time we pick. Suh is probably playing his last year or two. Need to keep building the trenches since we dont have dire needs right now. I’ll think about QB next year….although im still all for trading the farm for Trevor if the opportunity presented itself with the Jags….and I wouldnt contact them until the final minutes of that window…this years picks plus next year’s first. QB of the future to learn under TB12! Call me crazy, lol.