Jason Licht: Bucs Can Be 'In This Sweet Spot For A Long Time'

The Bucs have reigned atop the NFC South for the last half-decade due to the approach they have taken when it comes to team-building. General manager Jason Licht is calculated when making moves to put all of his chips on the table, as he and the team did just that during the Super Bowl-contending window they had with legendary quarterback Tom Brady.

Since then, Licht has overhauled the roster with young talent, which has put them in a healthy cap and draft capital position.

Based on his comments this week at the NFL Combine, he likes being in the thick of contention and will continue to be measured in evaluating which players are brought in to be a part of a culture that has been in place for a long time.

Jason Licht Believes Bucs Are “Ascending” And Does Not Want To Jeopardize A Promising Future

The Bucs have only two players 30 years old or older officially on the roster for next season in wide receiver Mike Evans and defensive tackle Vita Vea, who just turned 30 in early February. Inside linebacker Lavonte David is still weighing whether or not to return, but regardless, the rest of the team is filled with talented young players.

Jason Licht sees the young core in place as being on the upswing and right where he wants the organization to be.

In the sweet spot.

“Right now we have a handful of very good veterans,” Licht said. “Mike [Evans] and Lavonte [David], let’s say. The rest of our team is pretty young and we’re ascending. We can ascend for a long time. When I say ascending, that doesn’t mean we’re not out of the realm of competing for a Super Bowl championship.

“You can ascend, keep drafting well and making responsible signings. We can be in this sweet spot for a long time. If you make too many of those splash things and give up your future picks and cap room, then that sweet spot goes away quickly.”

After a transitional year in 2023 with Tom Brady’s retirement putting Tampa Bay over $80 million in dead cap charges, the work of Licht and assistant general manager Mike Greenberg to navigate those waters has left the team with a more promising outlook this offseason and looking ahead to future seasons.

Do not expect them to ruin that for the sake of making moves, especially as it has taken a lot of hard work to be in this position.

“It forces you – in the position we’ve been in the last few years – to really draft well and rely on young players and some cheap labor to step into big roles,” Licht added. “It forces us as scouts, as coaches, as an organization as a whole, to dig a little deeper and turn over more rocks and to be a little bit more open to giving other players opportunities.

“The proof has been there for a lot of teams, like you said, and we’re very proud for the way that we’ve come out of this with a young team and ascending.”

Jason Licht Has Learned From Misfires, Weighing Which Free Agents To Sign

Building through the draft and making shrewd free-agent signings has become the bread-and-butter of the Jason Licht-led Bucs, and it’s hard to argue with the results. It’s an imperfect science adding big-name players, no matter how productive they might have been during their previous stops.

After making big, splashy moves early in his general manager tenure that did not pan out, Licht has learned his lesson and recognizes now how difficult it is to make a new piece fit into the puzzle.

“You put a person in a new city, new coach, new friends, new environment, new stadium, new locker, new house or apartment, everything’s going to be overwhelming and it can affect them on the field,” Licht said. “All of a sudden they have a lot of money, but they have no one to share it with because they’re in a whole new environment. It takes the right person, and it’s hard to judge above the neck in all instances.”

It’s not about playing it safe per se but being responsible.

With a locker room full of leaders and one that does not tolerate distractions, the team wants to keep that in place.

“Once you build – we’ve done a great job building a culture with coaches too and Todd [Bowles] plays a big part,” Licht added. “They police themselves, they keep the culture going. If there is somebody unhappy, they’re kind of side-looked because everybody else is pulling for the same thing.”

This is not to say that Jason Licht is fully against making a splash, and there is a strong argument he needs to on the defensive side of the football. Before Licht does so, there is much more to weigh when considering his experiences.

Licht has seen both sides of the token with big-time moves flaming out and leading to a Super Bowl victory. Getting to the next level means adding more high-end talent, but the Bucs are happy with adding more young pieces, relying on internal development, and strengthening the culture to make progress and remain a contending team.