Jason Licht: Lack Of Depth Does Not Mean Weak
August 29th, 2024
Explaining depth vs. weak.
Last week Bucs coach Todd Bowles said the Bucs are not a deep team. He noted Bucs teams of the past since he came to town in 2019 have been deeper.
This sent shockwaves throughout the Tampa Bay region as Bucs types had trumpeted how so many draft picks the last two years have been retained by the team.
So yesterday when Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht stood at the podium in the Bucs’ media studio to field questions about his roster, Licht was asked to square things for reporters.
How could the team holler and yelp like David Lee Roth’s mating calls in “Everybody Wants Some” over the roster when the head coach dismissed having depth?
Licht didn’t disagree with what Bowles said in general. Licht did have an issue with those equating a lack of depth with a weakness.
“You could be coming off back-to-back Super Bowls and you’re going to think you’re thin in some areas,” Licht said. “Todd [Bowles] has been a part of some very deep teams, so to say that this isn’t the deepest team doesn’t necessarily mean that we think we’re weak in areas.”
OK, fair. And yeah, the Bucs are deep in some areas but deep with what? The Bucs like to make sure fans know the team is deep at outside linebacker, but none is a proven top-shelf edge rusher yet.
Inside linebacker may not be weak but after Lavonte David and K.J. Britt, it’s thinner than two-ply toilet paper.
Thin may not mean weak, but it sure doesn’t mean deep, either.
August 29th, 2024 at 5:57 am
I doubt many head coaches ever think that their team is very deep. You’ve got 53 players with 33 of them being used for offense, defense, and special teams. Throw in a defense like Bowles uses and your regular rotation is 14 to 15 players. Add in a few offensive twists with double TEs and four receivers sets and now you’re up to over 40 players being used in every game for certain. Add in the kicking, punting and receiving specialists and now you have 10 or fewer “backups” on game day for depth. Yeah, I’d say the same thing. HFCs are paid to worry about every scenario. GMs are too. One has to worry about game day. The other has to worry about replacing injured players for the next week and improving for next year. They both have to capable tacticians and strategists with the HFC being more focused on “today’s” plan and the GM focused on tomorrow.
August 29th, 2024 at 6:21 am
OHBucFan Says:
August 29th, 2024 at 5:57 am
Well said Oh Buc well said
August 29th, 2024 at 6:26 am
What he said sounded bad. They can’t change it. He said his team is not the deepest and scoffed at the idea as if it’s super obvious. I find it to be telling. Almost like if we suck he’s already got his excuses.Yikes….You can’t turn this around and white wash it.
August 29th, 2024 at 7:09 am
I like our depth. Alot of young guys, excited to see what they can do. Rather have hungry unproven guys than pay Julio Jones 9 million to be hurt all year.
August 29th, 2024 at 7:29 am
Commons sense – we had AB as. WR3 – Gronk, Suh, JPP and Shaq and still had Brate, Nelson etc that were starters that became back ups
Todd was part of the 2 deepest teams in Bucs history bar none
Stop overreacting to what he said – it’s just facts
August 29th, 2024 at 7:31 am
I’ve always said they could use some more depth on the team. If the Glazers aren’t gonna go out & sign FAs. They’d have to it in the draft then & that’s why they need their draft picks.
August 29th, 2024 at 7:32 am
I think the team is on the way up. If Bakefield and Co. make a good solid showing this near the next will be top tier. Plan 9 will be in orbit for good.
August 29th, 2024 at 8:27 am
Has anyone heard the chatter, the 9ers want JTS in a trade for next year’s 6th rd pick. That’s pure rumor. –Joe
I know number nine has not lived up to his first round hype. But the guy does do a lot of the hustle work might not get sacksat high clip. But he gets a lot of rushes and hurries on the qb with occasional sack. Still not sure it’s worth the six round pick considering our own lack of depth. Curious about the rest of bucks Nation thinks either way, let’s f****** go Tampa Bay ….
August 29th, 2024 at 8:37 am
Okay thank you Joe, I have seen a ton about it from the bucs sites through niners to the NFL but never saw anything to confirm it until now…. So excited for the season to start hard to wait this one more week to go let’s go…
August 29th, 2024 at 9:03 am
Oh BucFan that was a nice breakdown. Then there are a couple special teamer’s that could help you get through the rest of a game lb, s, cb, rb, wr. te, and you pray that you don’t lose multiple linemen during a game. As for us if Baker goes down three quarters of our fans wouldn’t even need to see the rest of the season. I think that if Trask was to come in and play through getting used to split second decisions he would be a lot better than what we saw in the Cowboys the other day. 5 int’s and the 49ers were going to start him. Lynch would have gone down to the field on fire. Another reason to save is to have, because you never know. But the Glazers would say find someone and give em the money.
August 29th, 2024 at 9:58 am
Depth is a funny thing. It might look one way on paper then a star goes down and some young guy replaces him and shocks the world with his performance…or not.
August 29th, 2024 at 10:22 am
What we’re really saying is we don’t have TB12, Gronk, AB, Suh, or JPP. Got it. Still like our chances.
August 29th, 2024 at 12:23 pm
Yeah, the Bucs are deep at OLB… deep with 2nd string caliber OLBs anyways. Not sure we have a single real starter outside of YaYa, who is injured…
August 29th, 2024 at 1:37 pm
The Bucs may not have a lot of proven depth but young depth is better, by and large, IMO.
August 29th, 2024 at 11:14 pm
it seems like weve hit on more of the draft picks than i thought we would, allthough the jury is still out a little. 2021 draft pulls total to the mean of the draft being on average a 50/50 in comparison to other teams after the first 20 picks or so.
the 2 free agent qbs (brady and baker) being successful really helped so we didnt burn draft capital there while getting high level performance and at times incredible value.
5 things we need answered
1. britt
2. cody mauch
3. logan hall
4. devin culp or payne durham
5.tykee smith