The Fourth Commandment Of Drafting: Know Thy Coaches
April 20th, 2022
Bucs GM Jason Licht
So who will Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht add next week?
We can only guess.
The past three drafts, Licht had the luxury of picking the best athletes. Why? Because he knew his team’s coaching staff, led by former Bucs Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians, would coach up talent.
That wasn’t always the case for Licht. In a superb article about the Ten Commandments of Drafting, Sheil Kapadia of The Athletic noted the Fourth Commandment is knowing your coaching staff’s ability.
4. Properly assess the abilities of your coaching staff
… But there are a lot of really good college coaches who are excellent teachers. And the NFL is not a meritocracy. Coaches don’t get to the pros because they’re the best in the world. They get there for a number of reasons, including luck, politics and timing.
Teams will often point to a prospect’s lack of production and say things like, “Wait until he gets in our building and our coaches get their hands on him. We believe his best football is ahead of him.”
That might be true. Or it might not be true. That’s why it’s really important to evaluate the coaching staff’s track record. Is there a specific assistant who has a history of developing project-type prospects? Where has the staff done the best job of developing players relative to their draft slots? Teams need to be careful and realistic when the key to their evaluation is better coaching.
Of course, Joe’s mind spring to Licht’s first years with the Bucs when he was drafting for lousy Lovie Smith and his band of misfit coaches (sans Leslie Frazier). Licht pretty much had to draft players who were NFL-ready on Day 1 like Mike Evans. Most guys who needed coaching to realize their potential would have been (were?) hopelessly wasted under that regime.
Joe can imagine a guy like Licht coming from the Belicheats and the Cardinals (when Arians and Todd Bowles were there), and then seeing the Bucs coaches he had to work with and saying to himself, “What the hell did I get myself into?”
This didn’t get a whole lot better when Mike Smith was wrecking the defense (after his first season with Dirk Koetter and the Bucs).
This is an excellent “commandment” and it likely signals why Licht made some of the picks he did. Why burn a pick on a guy at a certain position and doom his career when you know your position coach will botch the kid’s skillset?
To this day Joe thinks Mike Smith ruined Ryan Smith by bouncing him from position to position as a rookie and a second-year player.
Coaching matters. Always has. Always will. Don’t let the stat geeks tell you differently.
April 20th, 2022 at 4:56 am
“Of course, Joe’s mind spring to Licht’s first years with the Bucs when he was drafting for lousy Lovie Smith and his band of misfit coaches (sans Leslie Frazier).”
Lovie hired Warhop to be his O-Line coach in Houston. It’ll be interesting to see if they get the band back together of Anthony Collins, Oneil Cousins, and Garrett Gilkey.
April 20th, 2022 at 5:44 am
So this sounds like the Bucs have never had a very good QB coach as they”ve never really developed a QB in the past 45 years. The closest they’ve ever come is probably Doug Williams or maybe Vinnie Testeverde.
April 20th, 2022 at 6:16 am
Look at QBs that left the Bucs Doug Williams, Steve Young and Trent Dilfer all SuperBowl champs. With exception of Dilfer you could say the Bucs almost ruined the careers of Williams and Young. The true measure of the GM and his coaching staff is when Brady leaves. Are they truly grooming his successor like Bledsoe did with Brady sure doesn’t look like it. You think Licht would have learned that when he worked for Belicheat.
April 20th, 2022 at 6:29 am
I DO NOT MISS THE DAYS WHEN OUR COACHING STAFF COULDNT DEVELOP A FREAKING WATER BOY LET ALONE COLLEGE PLAYERS. THANK YOU JASON N BA FOR FINALLY DEVELOPING PLAYERS
April 20th, 2022 at 6:37 am
So if this is true, Bucs should not draft a Tight End. Not sure who the TE coach is but he has not been able to develop a tight end in what, 3 years now?
Same for drafting a player for kick return duties. Epic fail.
April 20th, 2022 at 7:41 am
Cameron Brate was undrafted, I’d say they developed him pretty well.
April 20th, 2022 at 10:01 am
If these coaches can develope players how come Darden couldn’t stay on his feet.. once, twice, no about ten times he slipped on natural grass!! If so, he should tare up the League this year!!
April 20th, 2022 at 10:05 am
Scotty in Fat Antonio Says:
“… drafting a player for kick return duties. Epic fail.”
.
.
BA is to Keith Armstrong, as
Koetter is to Mike Smith
We could have hired Rich Bisacchia this off-season. 😐
April 20th, 2022 at 10:07 am
That was the Koetter staff, I believe. They actually did pretty well with tight ends. That’s about it. Tight ends. A couple of the tight ends the BA staff released are still in the NFL.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:30 am
Scotty in Fat Antonio Says:
April 20th, 2022 at 6:37 am
Sometimes people should get a phouecking clue before speaking.
Develop a TE? They didn’t bring in any new players to develop at the position…
Gronk didn’t need development, nor did Cam Brate. OJ Howard is a case of injury and inconsistency that I don’t think reflects on his coaches. So, did we draft a TE or sign a young TE to develop in the last 3 years? Nope. No draft picks. No significant young talent to work with.
Cody McElroy is still around. Tanner Hudson couldn’t block to save his life, so they let him go.
The TEs coach has been Rick Christophel who has been promoted to Senior Offensive Assistant. The new TEs coach is John Van Dam.
April 20th, 2022 at 11:31 am
Irishmist Says:
April 20th, 2022 at 7:41 am
To be fair, Brate developed during the Koetter years.