Cashing In At The Dollar Store
October 1st, 2023
Bucs GM Jason Licht.
Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht entered this season with one hand tied behind his back thanks to a record amount of unspendable salary cap dollars because the team lost that cash by overspending during the Tom Brady years.
Licht flexed and dropped a great quote before the season.
“It makes you go out and have to get real deals – shop at the Dollar Store sometimes you find a real gem,” Licht said in July. “And we’re hoping that’s the case. We’re cautiously optimistic that we found some real gems, not just in the draft but in free agency and after the draft.”
As regular Dollar Store shoppers know, some items are “big ticket” at $5.00.
Joe will put Baker Mayfield into that category, but Licht’s team is cooking with Dollar Store purchases like receivers Deven Thompkins and rookie sixth-round pick Trey Palmer stepping up today with touchdowns.
Licht also is seeing contributions from inexpensive free agent defensive tackle Greg Gaines and emerging third-round pick YaYa Diaby on the defensive front. Left guard Matt Feiler, another offseason bargain purchase, has been quite consistent.
Undrafted free agent rookie Christian Izien has played over his head at nickel cornerback and Zyon McCollum has turned into a legitimate starter at cornerback after being a fifth-round pick last season.
Joe could go on to detail Licht’s overflowing bargain bin, which includes the thriving kicker and punter, who won Special Teams Player of the Month for September.
As Joe has mentioned previously, if the Bucs win the division this season, Licht’s 10-year résumé as GM is 100 percent worthy an eternal spot in the Buccaneers Ring of Honor.
October 1st, 2023 at 6:07 pm
Bench Tryon he got mauled, Yaya looked violent !
October 1st, 2023 at 6:09 pm
I haven’t seen anything yet from Greg Gaines….looked like the Bucs stopped using him after the 1st quarter.
October 1st, 2023 at 6:13 pm
I respect Jason a lot.
October 1st, 2023 at 6:14 pm
He can be in the ring of h9nor once he finds a solid RB in the draft… Jones, Vaughn, McNichol….
Fournette is still better than anyone on the roster
October 1st, 2023 at 6:15 pm
Right now Licht looks like exectutive of the year, Bowles coach of the year, and Baker Mayfield come back player of the year. A solid argument could be made for all. Add to the mix Dave Canalas hot new O.C. rising star. Bucs got the makings of something.
October 1st, 2023 at 6:16 pm
Agreed Joe. Licht goes on the ring
October 1st, 2023 at 6:17 pm
This won’t put to rest the couch GM’s, but I’ve seen enough including a Super Bowl championship to know I’m glad he’s our GM!
October 1st, 2023 at 6:19 pm
If our OC can make dollar tree quarterbacks look good then he deserves a head coaching job next season
October 1st, 2023 at 6:19 pm
Yaya deserves to start trade JTS he is garbage
October 1st, 2023 at 6:20 pm
Great draft, great offense coordinator hire, feel like arians pointed out baker for licht
October 1st, 2023 at 6:22 pm
Gotta give Licht a lot of credit. I thought this would be a lost season.
October 1st, 2023 at 6:24 pm
agreed Licht has excelled in the last 4 years or more!
October 1st, 2023 at 6:33 pm
Joe, you gonna do a story on the one throw that was almost as satisfying as the Bucs winning??? Put the replay up maybe??😂
October 1st, 2023 at 6:41 pm
Jack Clark doesn’t know ball.
October 1st, 2023 at 6:42 pm
Licht has done a great job. For me jury is still out on Mayfield. I do like his toughness. Maybe he will grow on me. But as far as the late round and free agent pick ups licht is finding some good players. Really like izien and mccullum
October 1st, 2023 at 6:45 pm
Spot on, compare this to the Rams who basically broke the cap for a SB run. They are struggling and not nearly as competitive as the Bucs. Impressive job from Licht
October 1st, 2023 at 6:51 pm
When we deploy the secret weapon against Detroit it is goingto be reallyExciting around here….. get healthy on the Bye Young man, this injury might be a blessing in disguise for the late push, maybe he won’t run into the rookie wall. Kid will be a monster!
October 1st, 2023 at 7:16 pm
The Licht House baby!!
October 1st, 2023 at 7:21 pm
Yaya in, Tryon out.
October 1st, 2023 at 8:04 pm
So are we really going to put McCullom on the bench when everyone is healthy? He’s been and upgrade
October 1st, 2023 at 8:06 pm
Love to see more quarterbacks step up in the pocket to the waiting arms of Vea
October 1st, 2023 at 8:28 pm
Ya-Ya looked good today👍. JTS not so much 👎
October 1st, 2023 at 9:14 pm
JL definitely deserves a raise!! He and his staff did one hellava job with this year’s money situation! I enjoy seeing him smiling on the sideline. That indicates things are going good 👍!
October 1st, 2023 at 9:20 pm
Developing 1st Rnd picks to get a high dollar 2nd contract is probably 50-50 odds at best. Doing the same with 4th & 5th & 6th Rounders must be infinitely harder.
Yes some of these draft picks like Diaby, McCollum & Palmer were good selections by JL, but what impresses me more is that Todd Bowles & his coaches have been able to get guys like that (plus Izien, Delaney & others) playing at a very high level in a very complex defense in relatively short time. Bowles has said many times that he prefers assistant coaches who are teachers. I’d say we’ve got some very good teachers on this staff.
October 1st, 2023 at 9:46 pm
“reLOADing” is what Bowles phrased it as. Whatever it is, it’s darned impressive—unlike LAST year, nearly every bargain basement free agent JL signed is punching WAAYYY above their weight. I’m seeing 10-11 wins, (prolly nowhere in playoffs) NEXT year, we free up a gazillion $ and fix the REST of out shortcomings, and hopefully beat the Phillys and Niners
October 1st, 2023 at 9:49 pm
Yeeup. Ole JTS is runnin’ outta time. He’s obviously, not very smart… He doesn’t even understand the concept of “INSANITY.” He makes the exact same mistakes over and over, and again and again… To no end. It’s like continuing to beat your head into a wall… The SAME Wall. It’s seriously, just like watching a cartoon. LoL The. Same. Cartoon. Over and over, again and again Lmao. Like, the QB is “Roadrunner,” or something!!!! Just Absolutely, Cartoonish.
October 1st, 2023 at 9:52 pm
And, he doesn’t even seem to care. Doesn’t bother him in the least. Wonder if it would if he were benched and lost his job for a minute!? Hmmmmm…
October 1st, 2023 at 9:55 pm
Great one Joe!
Agree 100%
LFG!!!!!
October 1st, 2023 at 10:05 pm
Yall just dont know hahaha….my man Mr Licht knows how…..we hit and we miss, its all good….just want him to realize we’re set at QB….we need that TE Brock Bowers next draft…..
October 1st, 2023 at 10:15 pm
Imagine if only some of his top picks panned out.
October 1st, 2023 at 10:20 pm
May be the best story line of the season. Jason Licht. So many levels. The guy is just knocking it out of the park.
October 1st, 2023 at 11:17 pm
Wow, after four weeks of NFL, Bucs defeated all the team with losing / non-wining record and lost to one with the winning record. Go toilet bowl with trash Baker.
Great accomplishment.
October 1st, 2023 at 11:36 pm
Man a couple of you are just determined to be miserable huh?
Bucs are 3-1 and winning division currently. Crying because we’re not 4-0 is ridiculous.
October 1st, 2023 at 11:59 pm
David,
Bucs have been dogs for every game so far. Yet they won. That means the smart money thinks the Bucs are worse than those teams you trash. Yet they’re not.
Take you genius and rare insight to Caesar’s palace. My cousin is the head oddsmaker. Just tell her to read your pontification on jbf and you’ll make money money than trask and bake combined
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:17 am
This may be one of the best defensive lines we’ve had in a long time if everyone can stay health. Really excited to see Calijah out there too.
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:23 am
There might be more ‘parity’ in The NFL this season than I’ve ever seen before, & that’s saying quite a bit. It’s been kinda of a weird season so far… Extreme Unpredictability. EVEN, for The NFL!!!! College has been too, this year… With THE SEC being down, So many great coaches in The Big-10, & sheer number of Elite-QB’s in The PAC-12, etc. But, there really, hasn’t been very many ‘BIG-TIME’ Matchups yet, either… LOTS of weak non conference scheduling. Ridiculously, WEAK. Seems to have gotten even worse this year!!!!
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:30 am
Noooo, “MadMax.” We need to trade-up for one of those TWO, “Can’t Miss” Offensive-Linemen… We need to Make SURE we get one of them!!!!
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:30 am
This team is carrying 75 million in dead cap money and 3-1 going into their bye week. That’s impressive. I can wait for the two Pitt guys to get healthy along with the rest of the DBs. I knew I was excited this year but had that little fear I was just being a homer for this young draft built team. The free agent superstar teams of Brady and Co. were fun but it never felt like the underdog Bucs teams I grew up rooting for.
October 2nd, 2023 at 12:49 am
@Melvin, have you seen Brock’s blocking?….i rest my case!
October 2nd, 2023 at 7:06 am
Remember when everyone Licht fired lol good times
October 2nd, 2023 at 8:25 am
With the way Licht has drafted we don’t have to reach too deep in the FA coinflip pool. Living in Jacksonville seeing their GM fail and having to continue to reach and overspend due to drafting so poorly, so glad we have Licht…. GO BUCs
October 2nd, 2023 at 8:59 am
If the Bucs have a winning season and make the playoffs, Jason should be GM of the year.
October 2nd, 2023 at 9:41 am
JTS isn’t a starter in the nfl depth only need to start YaYa he has much more upside and dog in him
October 3rd, 2023 at 6:43 am
We didn’t start getting bargain studs in defensive backs until Bowles came on board. But Licht does good on all positions except def end/outside lb jn a 3 4 defense. The only good defensive tackle is Vea eve drafted. We have drafted def line every year to get rum over by the Eagles. If we had drafted offensive line with those picks would have the best line in the league.
October 3rd, 2023 at 6:45 am
Meant drafted in the 1st round def line every year except Wirfs