Jason Licht Had 2023 Green Light To Gut Roster
August 25th, 2024
A rare peek here at the involvement of Team Glazer into the Tampa Bay roster.
So Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht was reflecting on last season early this month on the Sports Day Tampa Bay podcast and explained that blowing up the roster after Tom Brady left was on the table.
Licht thought a lot about going there but said he couldn’t; the roster had toomuch talent and it wasn’t the right play for his coaches and front office staff.
“Going back to last year in the offseason, I had many meetings with the owners. They’re great. The Glazer family is great. They give me everything that I need. I think Bruce [Arians] and Todd [Bowles] would tell you the same thing,” Licht began.
“They were like, ‘Listen, we’re going to let you work and we know that you made this [salary cap] situation [during the Tom Brady years. So we don’t have expectations that we’re going to the Super Bowl here. We know what we’re up against.'”
Licht added the Team Glazer would have approved of him completely reworking the team before last season but he couldn’t stomach that approach.
“We knew that we had some good players under contract,” Licht said. “We had some good young players and I just couldn’t look at myself, saying, ‘Hey let’s just [gut the roster and start over].’ You know, I’d wake up every day. ‘I’m not going to do this. I’m not going to just tear this down. … And I didn’t want to do that to our coach, coaches, the staff. “
He also emphasized the plan became Dollar Store shopping for veterans, including a quarterback, and drafting perfectly.
The result, as fans know well, was the Bucs’ third consecutive division title following a Super Bowl victory. You can thank Licht’s confidence and vision for making that happen.
August 25th, 2024 at 4:12 pm
This roster is a 12 win roster, talent wise.
Can coaching make the most of the talent?
August 25th, 2024 at 4:28 pm
I find it odd he said how he couldn’t do it to his coaches, staff and front office but didn’t mention how he couldn’t do it to the fans. I don’t necessarily care that he left us out of that sentence, but it seems like the fans should be a driving force behind most decisions in this business. Just find it interesting.
August 25th, 2024 at 4:31 pm
One of the best. He helps get the Bucs back to the Super Bowl in the next 2-3 years, Glazers will be erecting a statue of the man.
August 25th, 2024 at 4:34 pm
@Timbo Slice, unfortunately I don’t think any company cares about the people or fans anymore. People are reduced to $. Only way these businesses take the people’s opinions into account is if the bottom line is really hurting.
August 25th, 2024 at 4:34 pm
Now i would like us to release our extra QB & sign a young prospect to our practice squad.
August 25th, 2024 at 4:38 pm
I suspect that some other GMs in that same situation would have F’ed it up real bad. Maybe Licht would have also had it happened early in his career as GM.
What Licht and his staff have done in recent years, including their shopping at the Dollar Store, has been exceptional. They’ve been building a team that can go deep into the playoffs while digging themselves out of salary cap hell.
August 25th, 2024 at 4:39 pm
Timbo: I think Jason is talking about people losing the jobs and maybe their careers. That in comparison to having a bad year for fans. How would you chose…. your job your income and your need to relocate to a new town or have a down football year?
Jason did a great job…why question his motivation?
August 25th, 2024 at 4:43 pm
A winning record, division title and playoff win with a roster that was put together with 33% of the cap tied up in dead money. That is master class.
August 25th, 2024 at 4:48 pm
K2 couldn’t agree more! There are a lot of fans that are very hard to please. We’ve got a GM that’s been able to win while rebuilding this team. Very few other teams have been able to accomplish this.
August 25th, 2024 at 4:59 pm
lol gut the roster after 3 years with Brady? Apparently the roster was full of key free agents AND Brady was the gm if that was even a conversation. I thought the talent is what attracted Brady to the Bucs???? Licht talks too much!!
The only issue this team had was Byron leftwich and dead money which is why we won the division with baker
August 25th, 2024 at 5:09 pm
Anyone listen to Sirius XM Radio? My favorite program is Moving the Chains with Pat Kirwin and Jim Miller…recently they have been getting a rash of caller’s saying their team is going to be 12 win team.
PK is starting a 12-5 list for his caller’s…LoL
Not everyone can be 12-5…so, don’t go negative and blame the coaches if 12 wins can’t be achieved. Take it one at a time, start with the Skins. We were up and down early until we put together towards the end of last season. Hopefully we come out hot under Coens O and the D plays solid with the new pieces and upgraded responsibilities. 2 weeks to go. Let’s go Bucs.
August 25th, 2024 at 5:15 pm
Timbo- I can see why you would say that and you have valid points. But I don’t necessarily think just because he didn’t mention “fans” that he never thought about the fans at all. With the type decision he had to make, I feel like you can’t make it without thinking about how every single aspect of the team would be affected, fans included. Overall, Licht and company did an amazing job creating an opportunity to have a competitive roster with the cards they were dealt. Not many GM’s would have been able to do what he did.
August 25th, 2024 at 5:20 pm
As a fan since 1976, blowing up something that can still win would have sucked. It’s about time the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fans get to live thru many consecutive years of division titles and deep playoff runs. Winning 2 super bowls really helped with all those very lean years. For those who haven’t been around as long, you don’t understand the meaning of SUCK unless you lived thru the culverhouse years. The Glazer family has been a blessing as has Jason Licht. Thank you Jason and keep this train a rollin’ Go Bucs!
August 25th, 2024 at 5:33 pm
In Licht We Trust!
August 25th, 2024 at 5:50 pm
We should probably thank the rebuilding Panthers, Falcons & stinking Saints for contributing to the Bucs winning the NFC South with sub-optimal records the last couple years.
Winning the NFC South with 8-9 & 9-8 records in 2022/2023 could only occur if the rest of the South were even worse than the baseline AVG Bucs.
Not ready to boot lick Licht & Co for being otherworldly good at their jobs just yet.
Had the Bucs been in any other division, they’d been watching the playoffs from their living rooms, just like Bucs fans.
What I do give him credit for is getting Baker in on a dime & it working out.
But that is also prop to Baker.
August 25th, 2024 at 6:11 pm
Division teams Def played a role in us having success last year…but…Jason Licht is the best GM this team has ever had. Rich McKay cannot ties his shoes.
August 25th, 2024 at 6:24 pm
The Bucs went 20 years with one double-digit winning season. Thanks to Dungy and Gruden the Bucs had several years of success with one Super Bowl. After Gruden, the Bucs went ANOTHER Decade of losing. I think fans should sit back and enjoy
August 25th, 2024 at 6:34 pm
Yeah – the last time they blew it up, we got Dumforknik, who gave us Raheehaw and then Schiamoron. We had Josh Failman and Kellan WinSlow, Michael Clayhands and Lumplestiltskin. We had Michael Bennett, who was allowed to walk. So many horror stories before Catatonic Lovie came in and set a new low. The only good things about all that was LVD and Gholston, and the hiring of Jason Licht.
The true best franchises of all time don’t blow things up, they re-tool, or re-load. We are in what can be a golden age to be a Bucs fan.
Is the head coach up to it?
August 25th, 2024 at 7:10 pm
It’s good to be Mr. Licht rite now. Thats one heck of an endorsement from team glazer that’s for sure. The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades!
August 25th, 2024 at 7:37 pm
This past draft was loaded with QBs.maybe one of thes best classes ever all said and done.
If the Bucs win another nfc south this year, licht will earn my respect for not tanking. If the Bucs don’t make the playoffs, last years 9-8 wasn’t worth it.
August 25th, 2024 at 8:06 pm
The re signing of Michael Clayton still pisses me off.
August 25th, 2024 at 8:29 pm
7 to 9 wins incoming with a +/- 2 game swing based on luck or lack of. Unless our pass rush improves tremendously, our pass defense will likely get exposed – especially in man-to-man.
It’s a good thing the NFC south is one of the worst divisions in football right now. Last year the Bucs only beat 2 or 3 teams that had winning records, one of those being the Eagles who were on a 5 or 6 game losing streak at the time.
Good to see optimism in the comments, but feel like we’ll see people flip flop and call for Todd Bowles head after we lose some games like a coaching change is what’s holding us back from being in the superbowl, when that isn’t the reality at all. The quality of our roster is average to above average.
August 25th, 2024 at 8:46 pm
By the average power ranking, the team should end up about 9-8 if we beat all of the lower ranked teams, and lose to all of the higher ranked teams.
But, I think that the power rankings are way off. As division winners, the system matches the team against other division winners in the divisions where we do not play all of the teams. So, that should make for some tough games.
But, the team was by no means outclassed by Detroit last year. If the team goes 50-50 with those higher ranked teams and run the table with the rest, we could go 13-4; 11-6 really seems to be in reach.
August 25th, 2024 at 9:13 pm
That’s a pretty interesting nugget of info, considering Bowles was going into year 2 after what was a well known disappointment in his first year.
Was Team Glazer going to give him a few years of a pass while they rebuilt, or make him the fall guy / scapegoat after gutting the roster?
Very interesting…
August 25th, 2024 at 9:26 pm
When GM’s and franchises make decisions to keep fans happy, failure looms!
August 25th, 2024 at 10:12 pm
Biff Barker – just the mere mention and memory of Clayhands gives me PTSD.
Remember “check is in the bank?” Dumforknik The Brilliant gave him a $25 million contract! And he did nothing. One catch from Leftwurst against the Cowboys on a bomb. Raheehaw getting all up in it “tell me he’s not a great WR” LOL.
And then he got cut and he weeped “I think I’m still a helluva receiver.”
That was his problem. He thought he was great. After his rookie campaign, he quit getting better. On purpose. Too bad he can’t be deleted from the Bucs data bank.
August 25th, 2024 at 10:15 pm
Bowles is the consummate fall guy. He worked a miracle last year to push the inevitable down the road a year or so. Average roster with 60 mil dead cap restricting talent. He’s an average coach struggling to be 9 and 8. The Glazers will let his contract run as it coincides with the cap being resolved. The coaches we’ll be looking to hire will then be enticed by the young talent and the ability to wheel and deal for free agents. Bowles has a chance to change their minds and ours with a deep playoff run. 7 and 10 puts him in the hot seat or unemployment line, albeit somewhat unfairly to Todd.
August 25th, 2024 at 11:31 pm
Todd needs to win 10 to be sure to keep his job.
9 is questionable.
A losing record is a resignation on his part, Bucs wont fire him, they will reason it out. Jason gets to hire the next great NFL head coach with cap room returning and a stacked roster of young players and a QB who everyone but a few abject morons on this site loves.
August 25th, 2024 at 11:37 pm
Mr Pear, very nice words brother. The Bucs have had some pretty good players a lot of years and just couldn’t figure out how to get maximum effort out of them. I like what Coen has going on with the running game so far, they were killing me last season with all the run up the middle crap, like we got Earl Campbell back there. For a first time play caller Canales did pretty good in the passing game with Baker. Go Bucs!!!!
August 26th, 2024 at 12:02 am
Right in, Jake.
LFG!
August 26th, 2024 at 5:43 am
It helps when you have players like Evans who took less to stay. He had to pay the young stars like Wirfs, and Winfield. Don’t be surprised to see Godwin take less next year to stay. David is another one. Makes Licht’s job easier, having team first players.
August 26th, 2024 at 5:44 am
we have quietly become one of the best run organizations in football…it’s crazy, but it’s true…
sean payton bailed outta the division while he still had a chance…
and it’ll be nice to lay an “L” on him in week 3
August 26th, 2024 at 6:19 am
I doubt we get 12 wins with that first place schedule. I figure ten would get us the division. Gotta beat the Falcons twice to almost guarantee us the title. We would have gotten the Chiefs and Cowboys anyway, but that schedule landed us the Ravens, 49ers and Lions. It’s an exciting schedule, but a tough one.
August 26th, 2024 at 8:48 am
Each new nugget of info reveals just how good a GM Jason Licht is.
August 26th, 2024 at 9:57 am
Awesome! We are blessed when we have a playoff run in a year that could have been a roster reboot. Great work GM!
August 26th, 2024 at 11:19 am
The schedule does have a brutal stretch, but if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. Bring it.
August 26th, 2024 at 12:17 pm
Dave know it all pear I wud say there r alot more than a few abject fans on Mayfield side it seems where ever Mayfield shows up at it is a good time to be there so I think I r full of turds u can spell it the legal way or my way u buddy suck & don’t know spit about real football
August 26th, 2024 at 1:37 pm
JL is THE ONLY thing that Lousy Lovie did RIGHT
August 26th, 2024 at 6:41 pm
I agree that we the fans deserve a winning team and without us you would need to move the team. Welcome to corporate America were the fans and customers are an afterthought until. Bucs fans know all to well about owners who could care less about winning.
August 28th, 2024 at 5:06 am
In J.L. I trust, LFG.