MVP Jason Licht?

June 27th, 2022

“Think about it Jason, Miami had to settle for Tua!”

When you think of an “MVP” you think of a player. You know, “Most Valuable Player?”

There is no such thing as MVGM. But Albert Breer of SI.com believes there should be. Looking at NFL offseason moves, Breer selected his MVP from the front office ranks across the league. And his award winner is Bucs AC/DC- loving general manager Jason Licht.

Why would Breer select Licht over a player? Simple, he explained. When Tom Brady retired and Ryan Jensen, Carlton Davis and Playoff Lenny were about to bolt in free agency, Licht finagled a way to damn near keep the roster that won a Super Bowl two years ago intact.

As internationally famous JoeBucsFan.com columnist Ira Kaufman himself said on his podcast, without Brady, Jensen, Davis and Lenny (and Alex Cappa who did leave), the Bucs were “peering into the abyss.”

Licht prevented that.

No need to overcomplicate this. He had a roster full of win-now talent and no quarterback at the end of January. By mid-March, the greatest one to buckle a chinstrap was back on the roster. And it happened in large part because Licht (and Bruce Arians, for that matter) held the line and made it clear he’d play in Tampa or nowhere. That’ll put the Bucs in the running for a second championship in three years. Being there required one thing above all others, and that was getting Brady back, and Licht facilitated it.

All the talk about Brady going to Miami — even Brady himself didn’t deny it — folks were forgetting one critical element in the story: the Bucs held Brady’s rights. If Miami wanted him to play, they would have had to trade for him.

Licht and Bucs’ former Super Bowl-winning coach Bucco Bruce Arians dug their heels in and wouldn’t budge. Some believe that forced Brady’s hand to return to Tampa Bay.

24 Responses to “MVP Jason Licht?”

  1. BucsfanFred Says:

    Hmmm, not a bad idea.
    Light has done a fine job.

  2. Defense Rules Says:

    ‘As internationally famous JoeBucsFan.com columnist Ira Kaufman himself said on his podcast, without Brady, Jensen, Davis and Lenny (and Alex Cappa who did leave), the Bucs were “peering into the abyss.”

    Internationally famous? So when we play the Seahawks in Germany, we should expect the stadium there to break out in a ‘We want Kaufman, we want Kaufman’ chant? Poor Tom Brady; he doesn’t stand a chance. Come to think of it, will Ira be the one who defends TB12 to the HOF? If so, Tom better be nice to Ira if he expects to have a chance of getting in.

    Sage’s ‘peering into the abyss’ statement is quite telling in all seriousness. JL played his cards the only way he could play the hand he was dealt; he hung his hat on the HOPE that Brady would opt for at least 1 more year. And thankfully for us Bucs’ fans, that HOPE proved to be well-founded. Still, what other choice did he have? No Brady meant no Davis, no Jensen, no Fournette, and probably no Mason. Maybe no Gage or Ryan or Neal. For starters. Yup, ‘abyss’ sounds about right.

  3. German Buc Says:

    There are Bucs Fans here in Germany. And even if we wont chant for Ira, we still know him. So ‘internationally famous’ isn’t too far off 😉

  4. allen Lofton Says:

    I don’t believe TB wanted to be in Miami – I believe this was offered to Brady when he was leaving the Patriots…but ended up deciding to go to the Bucs because he trusted Light, the buc’s roster, and coaching staff…TB saw a winner in the Bucs. Everything else is speculation and postering

  5. Tsmpabaybucfan Says:

    Licht sure done good…that’s for sure.

  6. Hodad Says:

    Bottom line is we’ll have had Brady when it’s all said, and done for three seasons.

  7. Listnfrmafar Says:

    Who is the guy to his right in the picture?

  8. Listnfrmafar Says:

    NO Brady, NO NOTHING! Lichts role overrated.

  9. Joe Says:

    So ‘internationally famous’ isn’t too far off 😉

    Ira has fans from across the seas (we see who visits this site from where), from Europe to the South Pacific and Asia, too.

  10. Chris Tucker@Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa Says:

    Ira is loved here in Brandon, by me and the guys from the Sports Bar!
    LOL, Ira could run for mayor of Brandon, and win!

  11. Lamarcus Says:

    Licht is way overrated and its no knock being a GM in the NFL. But I just forget all the mishaps to be even considered to go there. Outside of Brady, Licht had worse record than Dominick. Come on Joe

  12. '79 Defense Says:

    Maybe I haven’t kept up enough, but is the narrative that Licht really won a battle with Brady to be believed? Is it possible (likely) that Brady just changed his mind and returned to Tampa?

  13. Dooley Says:

    @Lamarcus

    you sir, are out of pocket

  14. Allbuccedup Says:

    In 2020 nfl.com ranked Licht 23rd on their GM list. Whats changed since then Tom Brady. When Brady leaves Licht will be back in the 20’s again. I just hope Licht blocking Brady to Miami is a rumor because after he took us to the superbowl thats not what you call gratitude. I just hope that doesn’t affect his drive to win this year.

  15. Cobraboy Says:

    Eye-Rah is loved in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic.

    I don’t think Brady ever reached out to Miami. I believe Miami reached out to Brady…several times. All Brady did was listen.

  16. Cobraboy Says:

    Lamarcus is hitting the sauce early on a Monday…

  17. OBVIOUS Says:

    It never fails. Not sure what so.e people don’t understand concerning our GM.

    The man is a Super Star. This IS without question. Don’t really care that some have an unusually hard time with basic 50 piece puzzles or they just can’t seem to connect the dots on the children’s menus at a restaurant. They simply can’t do the obvious math. They try to blame others for their personal lack of imagination and or vision.

    I’m going to attempt to keep it simple.

    Ok, here we go.
    No Licht ~ No Bruce Arians
    No Licht ~ No Tom Brady
    No Licht ~ No Current Super Bowl Win (or at the least very unlikely)

    Now I’ll leave it to the imagination why the “Professionals” and admitted dullerds (sp) like me feel that way and you can fill in ALL the in between.
    Has Mr. Licht made some mistakes, well yes just like Every Other human on the planet. And since he is a human the question is ~ did he learn from his mistakes and take all that wisdom and drag the ENTIRE organization out of one of the worst arenas of hell, you know Football Purgatory, stuck in an endless cycle of embarrassment, heart break and ache, almost nothing to look forward to for a Very Long 10 plus seemingly endless Sunday football years. Laughing stock ball club World Wide with THE most loses in ANY professional sport, let me just say it again for the intelligence impaired, WORLD WIDE in All of Sports History, to the TOP of the food chain in Very Short Order.

    Hey List and Lamarcus I mean if you got a bone to pick with him that’s your right of course But at least have the Courage of Conviction to give the man credit for YOU having the Actual Ability to for once in More Than a decade be PROUD of our team instead of Every One you personally know and all the rest of the planet making fun of you because you can’t help who or what team you love ~ support, and no matter what, wear that jersey that declares just that. Unconditionally. You can’t help it. None of us can. You want to be mad at someone? Fine. Licht? That would be a poor choice CONSIDERING.

    Again for dullardds (sp) like me at times…
    No Licht ~ No Bruce Arians
    No Licht ~ No Tom Brady
    No Licht ~ No current Super Bowl win
    No Licht ~ No Respect At All and No Football happiness for probably another Decade!
    And so much more.

    GO BUCS!

  18. Alanbucsfan Says:

    Licht has 3 negatives on his Bucs resume:
    Cutting Revis to placate L Smith
    Drafting Hargreaves 1st round
    Trading up to draft Aguayo in 2nd round.
    I won’t speculate on Trask- there’s no data available yet.
    Otherwise, he and Arians built a Super Bowl team – pretty darn good!

  19. Goatfarmer Says:

    Brady is not stupid. The rumor mongers are however. To even imply that Brady would have expected to be released by the Bucs is moronic lunacy. Of course Brady knew that the Bucs would demand unprecedented compensation for GOAT rights. :facepalm.

  20. Listnfrmafar Says:

    Didn’t Licht hire BA the guy responsible for
    AB demise and retired the best QB of all time?

  21. Buc1987 Says:

    Listnfrmafar…..aren’t you a Pats fan hanging out on a Bucs site?

    Yup!

  22. OBVIOUS Says:

    Hey list you’re right. Licht IS responsible for hiring the head coach that brought us our second Super Bowl win.
    And who knew that you are so personality tight with the GOAT Tom Brady and have all this inside info that is clearly from the King of Quarterbacks him very self Mr. Tom Brady himself told you that!? WOW!
    Well we certainly are blessed with your “on your very own little planet” inside info.
    Man, I gotta say, with you around you SURE make a dullerd (sp) like me look like a freaking genius!
    You’re a Special kind of guy in a short bus kinda way. Thanks bud! 👍👍👍

    GO BUCS!

  23. DRFEELGOOD Says:

    AB has been his own demise for four teams now, one of which he never played for and another for a game or two. C’mon with that!

  24. Buczilla Says:

    No one is doing it better than Licht right now.