CBS Report: “Ownership” Pushed Aguayo Pick
August 14th, 2017
“Jason, I don’t want to be a noodge, but I can’t handle another year of Kyle Brindza and Connor Barth.”
Now here’s a juicy one from a reputable source.
Prickly Pete Prisco, senior NFL writer for CBS Sports, who spent multiple days at One Buc Palace this spring, took to Twitter with a powerful proclamation this morning.
Prisco felt compelled to tell the world that general manager Jason Licht is not the only one to blame — if he’s to blame at all — for the drafting of Roberto Aguayo.
Here’s the Tweet.
You can blame Jason Licht all you want for Aguayo pick, but league personnel say it was ownership who pushed the pick
— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) August 14, 2017
Well, there’s a tasty can of worms on the Bucs buffet.
So are we to believe Team Glazer pulled the trigger on Aguayo and has a hearty say in late second-round draft picks? Even Joe’s wild imagination can’t absorb that one.
However, might Team Glazer have given a strong blessing — even hearty encouragement — to draft Aguayo, if he was available late in the second round, or in the third round? Sure. Joe could see that. And Joe could imagine general manager Jason Licht advising Team Glazer, in advance of draft day, that he liked Aguayo and the owners responding with a an exuberant, “Yes!”
Lot of smoke in Prisco’s Tweet. Where the fire is, Joe does not now.
If one does accept the premise that Team Glazer made the call on Aguayo, then one has to wonder what other second- or third-round picks might have been influenced by Team Glazer through the years.
August 14th, 2017 at 2:27 pm
Sounds about right from some fellas who prefer soccer…
August 14th, 2017 at 2:27 pm
The Glazers are not football people. So I don’t think it was their idea at all. But I can see them most certainly giving their blessing as it was explained to them by Licht. When they fail, they are held responsible. But, the Glazers typically give their coaches autonomy to make their own decisions.
August 14th, 2017 at 2:30 pm
At the end of the day, what difference does it make. The Buccaneers made the pick and Roberto failed them. They made a bold move that didn’t turn out. I applaud the effort and idea and then also the decision to cut ties. It speaks to an an organization that has a clear vision of what they want and the guts to make it happen.
August 14th, 2017 at 2:33 pm
I said this month’s ago and stated that I had some inside info on this. I was widely ridiculed for it at the time. At least it is nice to be vindicated now.
What vindicated? Prisco Tweeted a whole lot of nothing.–Joe
August 14th, 2017 at 2:36 pm
” league personnel say it was ownership who pushed the pick”
So much ambiguity in that statement.
“league personnel” eh? Well that covers about everyone from King Goodell down to the groundskeepers and cafeteria workers now doesn’t it.
“pushed the pick” could also mean almost anything.
From an owner directly telling Licht in the draft war room to “move up now and get the kicker” – to nodding in general approval at the idea when they talked about drafting a kicker kinda high weeks early – or literally anything in between.
So yea – “juicy” news in the sense that the vague idea is titillating but there’s no meat on that bone whatsoever.
Nice job Pete!
August 14th, 2017 at 2:36 pm
BucTired, the Buc’s football people didn’t want to take Aguayo that high.
August 14th, 2017 at 2:36 pm
Doubt it. I’m sure they gave a blessing and maybe even excited endorsement but Light had way too much to say about that pick to not take the blame. We know for a fact we had our scouts spending a lot of time on him..
Oh well F7ck it. I’ll take a terrible draft pick on a kicker if the offsetting benefit is a GM who found 15+ starters or big time role players in just draft picks or young hidden post-draft gem signings the last 4 years:
QB: Jameis Winston
LT: Donavon Smith
LG: Kevin Pamphile
C: Ali Marpet
WR: Mike Evans
WR: Adam Humphries
WR: Chris Godwin
TE: OJ Howard
TE: Cam Brate
RB: Sims/McNichols
MLB: Kwon Alexander
SLB: Kendall Beckwith / Devonte Bond
CB: VHIII
nickle CB: Javien Elliot
DE: Noah Spence
This isn’t counting Justin Evans/Ryan Smith/Caleb Benecoch/etc
Seriously – if he nails a D-line draft and RT he basically rebuilt the whole f*cking team top to bottom in a 5 year window. That’s pretty insane.
August 14th, 2017 at 2:41 pm
How would they know it was the blazers? Not from Jason because he would have been fired for letting that out…this is just here say…moving along
August 14th, 2017 at 2:41 pm
Joe, c’mon, you really didn’t hear about this long ago? I mean I heard about it 11 months ago. You spend time talking to Bucs management and coaches on a regular basis. Nobody even whispered anything off the record?
August 14th, 2017 at 2:42 pm
How would they know it was the glazers? Not from Jason because he would have been fired for letting that out…this is just here say…moving along
August 14th, 2017 at 2:42 pm
Ali Marpet= A+
Donovan Smith= B
ASJ= F
Aguayo= F
Justin Evans= undetermined
Noah Spence= undetermined (need 2-3 years to judge)
3 seasons with Licht. 6 2nd round picks.
Very nice average of 2 per year, which I believe in.
However, Licht really needs for Evans and Noah Spence to become starters. His 2nd round overall grade is very low. He needs to be more conservative the next 2 years of drafting in the 2nd round.
But keep trading back into the 2nd round! Its a very important tactic!
August 14th, 2017 at 2:46 pm
It seems there is a huge trend on all the bad licht moves that are pawned off as someone else’s picks and then he gets ownership of all the good moves, bottom line he is the GM and should get both positive and negative for all of the moves since he has been here ie, letting penn roll and then drafting marpet
August 14th, 2017 at 2:55 pm
Uh Dusthty, if you want to implement a plan as a manager, are you going to go through with it if the owner of the company tells you to do something else. Now if Licht, was both the owner and the GM ala Jerry Jones, then you would have a point. In this instance your argument doesn’t hold up.
August 14th, 2017 at 3:18 pm
More fake news…
August 14th, 2017 at 3:23 pm
teacherman777 – Smith is an A+, if you can get a starting left tackle who has played every play in the 2nd round and have him on a rookie contract for 4-years – that is an A+. ASJ is more like a C – the kid had great talent and showed it on the field, he was really really good when healthy and on the field. While the guy had some flags, there was nothing at all that made anyone take them off their draft board, and the pick was a value pick. Spence appears to be a very solid pick thus far he still has to prove it over the course of a season. Roberto is an F because of the value of the pick, although all rumors had the Saints taking Roberto which is why the Bucs traded up to get him. Roberto, to his credit, didn’t lose any games for the Bucs and actually won special teams player of the week against the Chiefs were he made what, 5 field goals? Still you have to give an F, even if I think Roberto ends up kicking in the league for a decade still.
August 14th, 2017 at 3:26 pm
Touchdowntb
Good stuff. I didnt see when u said that, as i cant deal with some of these commentors at times. Thats the kind of stuff i come here for tho. Sounds like you see the big picture too, rare. It never crossed my mind there was a shot the glaziers had a hand in that. Makes sense now tho. I couldnt quite grasp licht trading up. I could see the kicker but not near that high. I preferred javon hargrave and malcolm mitchell over aguayo then and still now lol. Or Joes boy yannick n. Picks are precious. At least now the glaziers will stay out of it. , i hope! Go Bucs
August 14th, 2017 at 3:30 pm
Speaking for Pablo
“Pablo table dances regularly for the Glazers. Pablo promised the Glazers that if Pablo’s Bucs drafted Aguayo Pablo would buy season tickets for his entire family….and Pablo has many childrens……Now that Aguayo is gone….Pablo is off the hook this year because Pablo was waiting to see if Roberto made it. Pablo and his childrens enjoyed the games last year…..it cost Pablo $18,755….Pablo makes good money….but that was rough on Pablo’s budget”
August 14th, 2017 at 3:37 pm
Yeah, the person that gave me this scoop is extremely tight lipped when it comes to the goings on at OneBuc. However, one day I was lamenting Aguayo’s struggles and this person stated almost verbatim what Prisco tweeted out. Guys like Rod have bought into the Orange man’s notion that all news is fake. However, a nationally know reporter is not tweeting out something like this without having solid sources behind it. He is not talking to groundskeepers and random NFL suits from other teams for information like this. I trust he has it on good authority.
August 14th, 2017 at 3:44 pm
TDTB says:
“this person stated almost verbatim what Prisco tweeted out”
“extremely tight lipped” – usually you mean right? – I think we’ve found the mole…
August 14th, 2017 at 4:11 pm
Ok to push the pick, but who’s idea was it to trade up? Just dumb! #smdh
August 14th, 2017 at 4:13 pm
JabooBuc For The Win!
Exactly! How long are we going to spend whining over spilt milk in the draft.
It’s not just Aguayo and the fact that he was a “KICKER’ selected in the 2nd.
No it rears it’s ugly head all the time here! I’ve already read folks who have written of our Safety pick of Evans…
Hindsight is 20-20. Mistakes are made all the time in all NFL team’s drafts.
I applaud cutting our losses and moving on.
August 14th, 2017 at 4:37 pm
So glad you hat the “Aguayo” saga is over but I can not figure out why they let Barth go in the first place . He was always very solid and the teams best kicker percentage wise in team history . Maybe eating his contract the year he was injured playing B-ball was to much to swallow but the team has yet to recover from Barthes dismissal .
August 14th, 2017 at 4:47 pm
Who cares? At this point, he came, he sucked, he gone!
August 14th, 2017 at 4:49 pm
Even if so, and yes was a horrible move & pick considering needs elsewhere & available players, it’s not like Ryan Leaf was picked! This won’t doom the franchise for a decade or more. Mistake made, accepted and corrected, need to just move on!
August 14th, 2017 at 5:03 pm
Turn in your draft keys Joel and Bryan
August 14th, 2017 at 5:36 pm
This is totally believable. The glazers had good kickers like bryant and gramatica and they wanted another one. Also he played at an in state school. They thought it would be a good move. They own the team. They are entitled to make a pick here and there. No big deal because he is gone
August 14th, 2017 at 6:16 pm
rumor has it that Joel Glazer is the one who pushed for ASJ
August 14th, 2017 at 7:02 pm
AGUAYO 11-11 at first bears practice!
August 14th, 2017 at 7:55 pm
People can say you never take a kicker that high, but Sebastian Janikowski turned out okay 😀
August 14th, 2017 at 8:41 pm
Sounds like agent speak to me. Let’s no not forgot Jason livht is in a contract year I believe.
August 14th, 2017 at 10:43 pm
I don’t buy it. !icht took a chance and blew it. Big deal. Dominick blew all but one pick.
August 14th, 2017 at 11:57 pm
Janikowski was a mid-1st round pick and missed 10 kicks (68.8%) his rookie year compared to Roberto missing 9 (71%). In fact Janikowski has had 3 seasons (2000, 2005, 2013) worse than Roberto had last season.
If you had Twitter in 2000 Janikowski would have been cut.
August 15th, 2017 at 3:26 am
Wow, what a joke. Someone is trying to deflect the blame off of Licht on making the worst draft pick of the modern era by blaming it on ownership?! ROFMAO. So you’re telling me the Glazers, who historically have minimal say over personnel decisions actually goaded Licht into trading UP into the second round for the noodle legged flake? Are you serious?
And to Rod Munch, the last Aguayo apologist on bad-kicker-island, Janikowski was 1-4 on kicks 50 or more yards his rookie year, meaning A. He made a FG over 50 yards which the noodle legged one was not able to do B. Made several FG’s over Aguayo’s career long of 43 yards include 4 attempts over 50 to Aguayo’s 1 C. Did not miss an XP until his 4th year in the league D. Is not some sterling example of a great 1st round pick or HOF kicker as he’s made all of one pro bowl in his career.
If anything Janikowski and Mike Nugent should have been warnings to the meathead scout, not examples to follow. But despite what some apologists think, that pick is ALL on Licht, who is paid to “buy the groceries” as Bill Parcells would say. If Licht had some great reservation about Aguayo he could have easily sat on his hands and not traded up for him.
August 15th, 2017 at 3:35 am
In fact. does Pete Prisco’s league source know if ownership also pushed Licht to trade for Kyle Brindza or why owners would feel so compelled to replace kickers that were successful on 82% of their kicks the year prior? Seems odd that owners like the Glazers would be so “inside baseball” on a position of the team that was not considered a weakness prior to the Brindza trade. Not only did Connor Barth make 82% of his FG’s for the Bucs in 2015 but he nailed 3-5 over 50. You’re telling me ownership was pushing to replace him because they were focused on his kickoffs? LOL
August 15th, 2017 at 5:18 am
One huge positive is that Napoleon Dynamite and Pedro are reunited in Chicago.
August 15th, 2017 at 9:46 am
LOL, Tom do you have a job? If so, do you personally call the owner of the company and tell him what you’re going to do come hell or high water? Licht answers to the owners. If the owners tell him to do something he doesn’t have final say on the decision. It seems like you don’t have a firm grasp on reality. In your mind how does this play out? Glazers say trade up and take the kicker, Licht voices his concerns, Glazers say thank you for your input but we are firm on this stance, make the move and take the kicker. If that is how this went down, then what is Licht supposed to do? Stomp his feet? Quit as a sign of protest? Most of us have had issues with managers or company mandates from time to time, but we had to do it because we didn’t have the final say. I am curious as to why you still blame Licht if what Prisco is saying is true.
August 15th, 2017 at 6:47 pm
Actually Tom I’m OK with the Bucs cutting Roberto, I was just giving some perspective for those dolts who say it’s the worst pick every or the dolts who pretend they know anything about the NFL. Rookie kickers, highly ranked ones, often do poorly in the rookie years in the NFL – it happens a lot. Those same kickers also generally go on to kick for a very long time. Mike Nugent, who was picked higher than Roberto, was called a bust and yet has kicked 11 years in the league so far, including in Tampa where he was awful, yet the next season he went to Cincinnati and was actually very good for most of his run and was there for 7 years.