Draft Not A Popularity Quiz
April 18th, 2017
GM denies ticket sales and cheerleaders influence his picks.
Yes, the draft is next week — next week!
For Joe, it can’t come soon enough. Sifting through the river of rumors and who dozens of analysts believe will be a fit for the Bucs or who will be a better pro, well, Joe is about tapped out.
And as much as AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht loves Bucs fans, he’s not inclined to monitor your favorite Bucs site on the interwebs trying to appease the masses.
“I can promise you that we love our fans, I think we have the best fans in the NFL, but we are not going to pick a player just based on how we think our fans are going to react and how we think we are going to sell tickets in the short term,” Licht said. “It’s going to be the best player to make this team better to win championships down the road.”
In other words, build it and they will come, Licht believes.
Build a lasting contender, and fans will be happy to cheer on the Pewter Pirates.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:09 am
As it should be.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:13 am
He was sending a message about Cook there.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:15 am
If he’s targeting a RB, I think it isn’t Cook.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:22 am
Any GM that listens to fans should be fired on the spot. Also, I agree with you Buccaneer Bonzai. He’s definitely sending a message about Cook or about drafting any RB in the first round.
Best player available, as it should be.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:24 am
Well if that is true then why did he draft Hargreaves so high? Florida Gator, HS in Tampa…and was not best player available at the time
April 18th, 2017 at 9:32 am
Any GM that makes picks based on fan perception shouldn’t be the GM. The scouting department is who gets paid to give the GM the proper info on prospects. If Licht listened to the fans (thank God he doesn’t), I’d lose a lot of respect for the man. Keep doing your thing Jason.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:41 am
How do any of us know that? Who says he’s wasn’t the best player? Mel Kiper? We don’t have access to what the draft strategy was for the 2016 draft. What I’m saying is that perhaps of all the players the Bucs scouted that Hargreaves was the highest rated player available at that spot. Besides, who else taken after Hargreaves in the first round was markedly better than Hargreaves?
April 18th, 2017 at 9:41 am
@Dusthty Rhothdes you do realize you are proving your own point. It is your opinion that he is not the best player at that time. Your opinion as a fan is worth 0.
Just because he is from here doesn’t mean the decision was based on short term sales. And nobody has a crystal ball to see *exactly* who the best player is at the time.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:42 am
On a side note, just read that Jude, Brate, Humphries, Martino & Glanton all signed their exclusive rights contracts, and that Ryan Griffin signed his restricted FA contract. I know it was probably just a formality, but still, good news. Jack Smith still hasn’t signed unfortunately, but has until the end of the week to do so apparently … after that he’d be considered a hold-out I guess. For a DE with his injury-history, I’d think that he’d be happy to know that the Bucs want him.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:44 am
Any reasonable person not blinded by deeply seated biases already knew this.
That being said it still felt good to hear it directly from the GM.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:49 am
Duh.
April 18th, 2017 at 9:53 am
Licht better listen to me or else…
April 18th, 2017 at 9:58 am
So fans are dumb now. Two years ago we all lamented for a QB and some offensive line help. They went out an got it. Last year everyone cried for CB and a DE they went out and got that. This year a large group of us want a particular RB stay tuned and watch it play out right before your eyes. Ya see many of us don’t come here and post like we are experts because we are not. We are regular folks with common sense. That common sense tells us we will be greatly improved the minute we acquire that special RB.
April 18th, 2017 at 10:00 am
You ain’t got to be in the building to know your run game sucks and needs an upgrade. Gil’s article from last Saturday nailed it. As far as I can see improving that area quick fast an a hurry will improve the play of every other aspect of this team. Again fantastic job Gil.
April 18th, 2017 at 10:03 am
Like how dumb would the man sound and look in front of his peers saying publically “man we wait an see what our fans wants before we make decisions on players”. C’mon man.
April 18th, 2017 at 10:03 am
My point was the best player available last year was an LT that the bucs desperately needed and unless the bucs took laremy tunsil off their board which may have been true, they did not go grab the best player available, and pretty sure there were not any fans yelling for the non-glamour position of OL, which the bucs desperately still need
April 18th, 2017 at 10:07 am
NOSBOS, earlier this AM on espn, they stated that D Cook is a top 5 pick but people are whicpering that he needs to get out of Florida, I want the bucs to pick cook but I am not sure he makes it to 19…and licht can make that statement but pretty sure most bucs fans were screaming for spence in round 2 and then cursing at licht with the K pick, this is a huge draft for licht where he cannot draft these projects like he has and the 2nd round blunder last year
April 18th, 2017 at 10:08 am
Dusty, who was?
According to Bucs scouts he was
April 18th, 2017 at 10:11 am
So now after he picks Cook, he’ll clarify it was because he was the best player available and not just a pick to appease fans. Smart man, love me some Licht.
April 18th, 2017 at 10:11 am
The decision to draft Hargreaves was likely based on picking the best corner available when they pick, and many had Hargreaves rated as the best corner only behind Jalen Ramsay.
April 18th, 2017 at 10:16 am
Smokescreens… watch enough of Jason and read enough of Joe and you’ll catch on to the magic trick happening in front of you… they want Dalvin, problem is everyone knows we want Dalvin, he’s gotta distract everyone somehow
April 18th, 2017 at 10:24 am
Who did so much better than Hartgraves last year after he was picked? You know the player’s picked after him in the 1st round? He was a solid pick in my opinion. Played almost every down! Could he have done better? Sure,but I’ll tack it from a rookie cb.
April 18th, 2017 at 10:53 am
Tunsil was available but was he a greater need than CB? Obviously, the Bucs didn’t think so.
Remember, it’s not just BPA. It’s where BPA meets NEED for the team. It wouldn’t make much sense to draft a QB in the first round when you have what you think is a young franchise QB already on the team.
April 18th, 2017 at 10:55 am
Here’s a couple of players picked after hv3 that could arguably be better:
Sheldon Rankins 4.0 sacks
Jeremy Tunsil – I hear he got that dank.
Keanu Neal – 106 tackles and a bone-jarring highlight reel of a hit on Mike Evans in Primetime. *not cool Keanu not cool at all!
Will Fuller – check that Shep was better than Fuller.
Hargreaves – 1 Int and a raiders game to be forgotten. On the plus side he’s by far our best punt returner.
April 18th, 2017 at 10:58 am
Cook, Ross, Godwin, Njoku, Howard, Taco, Adoree’ Jackson, Mack, Hunt
How many of these will become a Buccaneer?
The following would be another grand slam for Licht. Infamous Dave take note!
Taco
Adore
Godwin
Mack
9 Days….9 Days!!!
In Licht We trust!!!!!
April 18th, 2017 at 11:00 am
lol.
People won’t accept it until the draft pick happens, lol.
April 18th, 2017 at 11:02 am
I’d draft the girl in the lower left hand corner of the picture. The one that’s loud and proud of her glands. ..Heck, draft both of them !
April 18th, 2017 at 11:24 am
“Hargreaves – 1 Int and a raiders game to be forgotten. On the plus side he’s by far our best punt returner.”
Yo DB, don’t forget about those 2 tips that led to Picks for 54 and 51. One of which resulted in a pick 6.
Vernon, just like Jameis, is gonna enter this season with a lot more confidence to be a play maker. And we’ll see the splash plays from his college reel, and from practices/ preseason.
I was there at the Browns joint practice last year, And I think 28 probably deflected 10 balls that day and got at least 3 picks. He has all the tools to do it on game day too. I believe he’ll have the confidence to do it.
April 18th, 2017 at 11:30 am
Blake
True story and a good point.
April 18th, 2017 at 12:09 pm
Man in two seasons QB’s won’t be regularly throwing at VH3.
April 18th, 2017 at 12:12 pm
They don’t throw at him now, tbh.
April 18th, 2017 at 12:34 pm
The inability to see irony is amazing.
“Licht will pick who he thinks is best without being swayed by fans”
“Then why did he pick A instead of my guy B? Huh? Whyyyyy??”
Not sure it’s possible to explain to some people.
April 18th, 2017 at 2:17 pm
VHIII was rated the top CB in the entire draft by most every draft site… but yeah it was a homer florida pick lol