Smear Victim Jason Licht
May 14th, 2025
Assaulted.
So thousands of local Bucs fans were assaulted by a smear campaign on Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht.
It came during Rock Riley’s Saturday morning show on WDAE radio. Joe can only imagine the amount of stunned faces from Largo to Lakeland and beyond.
Riley always has interesting football chatter on his show and he shared a recorded interview with Raiders beat writer Hondo Carpenter.
While most Bucs fans just thought, “Who?” Carpenter is legitimate and has been around for decades.
Not only does Carpenter’s “Las Vegas Raiders Insider” YouTube channel have many millions of views, Carpenter travels to NFL events and attended this year’s Super Bowl, NFL scouting combine and NFL Owners meetings. SI.com lists Carpenter as “editor and publisher, and beat writer for our Las Vegas Raiders Insider and the NFL coverage.”
Of course, Riley asked Carpenter about new Raiders GM John Spytek, the former Bucs assistant general manager.
That teed up Carpenter to unleash a smear job on Licht.
“You know, around the NFL for years, the talk was, in Tampa, [Spytek] did so much for general manager Licht that he really was the de facto general manager,” Carpenter said. “Now I’m not being disrespectful [of Licht], but [Spytek] did so much. I mean, I have friends in the [Bucs] organization, people I know that coached and played there, and they talked about Spytek much more than Licht.
“There was a feeling around the league that [Spytek] was kind of [Tampa Bay’s] guy. So when the Raiders got him, they were able to just steal him, literally just steal him. I think it severely hampered Tampa Bay. I think it hurt them. He’s a keen eye. He’s very smart.”
So Spytek was the de facto Bucs general manger? That’s nonsense Spytek himself would laugh at. (Joe and Ira Kaufman sat for half an hour with Spytek at last year’s combine talking about Bucs front office operations.)
Carpenter wasn’t finished, and he was escalating.
He insisted Spytek and Tom Brady had such a bond that Spytek was the key to the Bucs signing history’s greatest quarterback.
“If it were not for Spytek, Brady would have never come to Tampa. He came because of John,” Carpenter said.
Of all the past stories told of Brady signing with the Bucs in 2020, Joe has never heard Spytek mentioned. In fact, it was Licht who worked six years with the Patriots — five with Brady on the roster.
And Licht had multiple stints in New England. In 2009, Bill Belicheat re-hired Licht and elevated him to director of player personnel.
Carpenter explained that he met Spytek 20 years ago when Spytek was a Lions intern and Carpenter was a Detroit beat writer. He said Spytek was known as “The Wiz Kid” at Lions headquarters and was perceived as “a booming star.”
Joe shared the Carpenter quotes with some important folks inside One Buc Palace (not Licht) and they were met with disbelief.
Joe was told that while Licht has always empowered his staff, he absolutely calls the shots and ultimately everyone runs all decisions by him. It was speculated to Joe that an agent or a player possibly got a wrong impression about Spytek’s role and power because he was a point person on a specific contract negotiation or a recruitment.
Joe also was told that Brady and Spytek had no significant relationship before Brady got to Tampa.
Man, it sure stunned Joe to hear Carpenter call Spytek the de facto Bucs general manager. That’s a mighty ironic take considering Carpenter gave the Raiders a “B” grade for hiring Spytek in one of his YouTube videos. “I will never give anyone with no experience on a job an “A,” he explained.
May 14th, 2025 at 9:35 am
So ?
May 14th, 2025 at 9:41 am
Is this football or prom?
May 14th, 2025 at 9:42 am
You can & should judge a manager by the people he has working with him.
And, looking at this draft…we don’t miss Spytek
May 14th, 2025 at 9:43 am
Silly Season arrived early this year!
May 14th, 2025 at 9:46 am
Other than one or two brain sturgeons around these threads, no one is gonna believe that , and this icehole just cemented his future ability to have any relationship with Licht, or anyone Buccaneer.
Typical attention-whoring dooshbag.
May 14th, 2025 at 9:48 am
Licht is the brains behind the operation- I’ll never be convinced otherwise. He’s either brilliant at his job or brilliant at finding people to do their jobs and both skills are hugely important.
May 14th, 2025 at 9:52 am
“Joe also was told that Brady and Spytek had no significant relationship before Brady got to Tampa”…. They were roomates at Michigan for two years and TB has mentioned they talked every week his last 2 years in Michigan and deep level of trust in Spytex b4 comong. “Roommates?” LOL. Brady was the senior starting quarterback when Spytek was a freshman. They were at Michigan for one season together.–Joe
Also interesting, yesterday Jason said in an interview he was set to draft carlos Henderson in the 3rd rd but denver drafted him 2 picks before us and he reluctantly took godwin. Henderson last 1 yr in the nfl
You mean the Godwin who Licht was higher on than the rest of his staff? Don’t take Joe’s word for it; listen to Spytek.–Joe https://www.joebucsfan.com/2025/02/winning-with-jason-licht-part-iii-a-victory-lap/
May 14th, 2025 at 9:56 am
everyone in bucs land knows spytek is and was damn good…
and now he gets a fresh start in a higher position, with what seems to be in recent years, a dysfunctional front office…to say the least…
i’m sure he will right that ship or at least try to…
but come on……..big dog licht is a darn good gm…!
and if he wasn’t, he certainly has grown into one with seasoning…
just remember people….once licht got rid of that “ron burgundy sports coat” he was off to the races as top gm in the league 🙂
May 14th, 2025 at 9:57 am
i’m sticking to the sports coat theory until i die 🙂 🙂 🙂
May 14th, 2025 at 10:14 am
It’s like the Belichick made Brady vs Brady made Belichick debate. Both can be true.
Spytek is great and did great things here. If Spytek and Brady were roommates for 2 years, he played a huge part in getting Brady to come here. They weren’t roommates.–Joe
Having said that, Licht is also great and deserves credit for the organization, hiring Spytek and other great executives and letting the Bucs thrive.
I hope both do well and Bucs meet the Raiders in the Super Bowl to see who has built the better team.
May 14th, 2025 at 10:14 am
PSL Bob … ‘Silly Season arrived early this year!’
Agree totally. What some Vegas media type named Hondo Carpenter says about Jason Licht or John Spytek doesn’t change a single thing in Tampa Bay. We know who Jason is & what he’s capable of. Sounds to me like Carpenter’s trying to blow his GM’s horn at the expense of ours. Good luck with that Hondo; we’ll save you a seat at the Super Bowl.
As an aside Joe, there were some excellent discussions here yesterday about defense. Would dearly love to see more of those that spin off from JBF pieces like yesterday’s ‘Jamel Dean: He’s Going to be OK’ or your ‘Bucs Defensive Coaches: Seven Picks is Intolerable’. Both resulted in lots of really good comments. Please run more pieces like that, as well as more on our offense (I’m starting to get concerned that many are assuming we’ll come out of the gate at least as hot as we were last season; may not be the case initially at least).
May 14th, 2025 at 10:24 am
There are some legit criticisms on Licht
Not good at drafting CB’s, drafting a Kicker
Lacking foresight on roster building (Drafting Trask vs drafting a CB or OL)
Over paying his draft picks (Winfield, Carlton Davis & Dean)
Being complacent with success (Didn’t add any significant players post Super Bowl)
But he’s been the head guy here since Lovie was rightfully fired, all the failures of Dirk and post Brady success are his. Comments of this ‘Insuder’ sounds silly
May 14th, 2025 at 10:28 am
@joe… i stand corrected on the roomate thing, my bad!
BUT, you can listen to the jason Licht interview yesterday with Beau Allen and Jason himself said he wanted rogers… those are his words!
Joe saw the entire interview and plans to write more about it. Godwin was a late third-round pick. Obviously, the Bucs liked other receivers more in that draft. No crime there, just like they liked other running backs more than Bucky Irving last year. As Joe wrote, per Spytek’s comments, it was Licht who was much higher on Godwin than the rest of the Bucs staff early in the 2017 draft process and throughout it.. –Joe
May 14th, 2025 at 10:37 am
So essentially hes saying Licht is a brilliant man who hires incredibly competent people and empowers them to do their jobs. Hes hired two offensive coordinators in a row who’s become head coaches. This guy is just hyping up Raiders fans and blowing smoke. Spytek is awesome but he didn’t cut the checks big boss did.
May 14th, 2025 at 10:37 am
Spytek has gotten a lot of good publicity over the last few years and rightfully so but until I see otherwise, Licht is my guy.
People don’t remember the dysfunction before Jason on this team. Our last 2 GMs were total trash and because they were trash, we constantly had inconsistent drafts, free agents and coaches.
May 14th, 2025 at 10:37 am
A Raider jagoff broadcasting bs simple
May 14th, 2025 at 10:41 am
Tampa used Brady as motivation the past 2 years you weirdos all said Baker was better than Brady and this and that Brady didn’t say nothing he let the Tampa fanboys run around and be happy then when it came to the playoffs Baker choked Brady is a unicorn
May 14th, 2025 at 10:42 am
He just said that Spitek was the de facto GM!? But gave a B because of “No experience”!? What a terd!
May 14th, 2025 at 10:46 am
The only reason in my opinion the bucsdid not go back to back is because of Gisele. G I think went to the Rams playoff game which was the last game she ever went to thinking she was watching Brady play his last game she was so happy before the game taking pictures with all the family and everythingnow I’m right about this something happened before that Rams game that made Brady un focused Giselle is known to blackmail I believe she blackmailed I think Leo to get the Costa Rica house do some digging on that I think she did something threatened divorce if you remember after the game they lost his retirement was leaked was that by Giselle something went on
May 14th, 2025 at 10:52 am
“Hondo,” sounds like one of those old farts that didn’t vote for Nolan Ryan in his first year of eligibility for the HOF.
May 14th, 2025 at 10:53 am
I recall TB12 saying he came because of Arians and all the talent on the roster.
May 14th, 2025 at 10:58 am
Smarter than Joe Says:
May 14th, 2025 at 10:24 am
There are some legit criticisms on Licht
Not good at drafting CB’s, drafting a Kicker
Lacking foresight on roster building (Drafting Trask vs drafting a CB or OL)
Over paying his draft picks (Winfield, Carlton Davis & Dean)
Being complacent with success (Didn’t add any significant players post Super Bowl)
But he’s been the head guy here since Lovie was rightfully fired, all the failures of Dirk and post Brady success are his. Comments of this ‘Insuder’ sounds silly
——————-
Smarter than Joe? Bro, you’re not smarter than a 3rd grader. Licht can’t draft CBs yet he drafted all three Super Bowl winning CBs from an excellent defense. Even his busts played for several years in the league (Hargreaves and Stewart). You literally don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:06 am
@Brandon
Drafting Super Bowl winning CB’s doesn’t make them great picks. Drafting Devin White at 5 isn’t a great pick when he didn’t get a second contract.
Bucs secondary is trash right now Dean can’t intercept passes or stay healthy
You sound about as smart as a Mike Smith Defense in the red zone
May 14th, 2025 at 11:06 am
There was a national article about how JS played a big part in bringing Brady here. Something about how they had a prior relationship from playing together at Michigan and that he was the first to bring it up to Licht and Licht doubted they could get him, but eventually he came around to the possibility and even let JS handle the first few meetings with TB when they broke down film together. Maybe it was Breer, can’t recall.
Regardless of what’s true or not,, I think the loaded roaster was the selling point. Good leaders put other smart and talented ppl around them. Licht has a track record and is one of the three best GMs in the sport IMO.
Also curious as to what makes a media member legitimate vs not. Is it an access badge to events? There are plenty of members that throw noodles at a wall. Never heard of this raiders guy but given the track record of Licht it would seem foolish to put this out there.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:08 am
This is complete nonsense. Spytek is great, but Licht is the one that groomed him and helped him get to where he is now. Nothing but respect for spytek. However, Licht is the dude and he proved it with this recent draft.
Acting like spytek was the main guy and completely dismissing licht is a receipt that Licht will keep, use it as even more fuel, and will cash it when its time.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:22 am
@Smarter Than Joe
Devin White served his purpose. He was a major factor in the Bucs winning the super bowl. It doesnt matter that he didnt get another contract, the bucs won a super bowl and got his best out of him when it mattered. Thats why you draft players, to win the super bowl. Devin did that. He regressed yes, but he still was vital in the teams 2nd SB win.
As for the secondary, its not going to be bad for long. Parrish and Morrison are going to be huge for this ball club. The bucs are loaded with talent again and this recent draft is another example of why JL is running an NFL franchise while you are not. Through Cap Hell and a rebuild, he kept the bucs relevant and in the playoffs. Yet another reason why he is a GM of an NFL franchise and you are not.
Has Licht missed on some picks? yes, but hes also hit picks out of the ball park. No GM is perfect. Licht isnt always right by any means, buy your disrespect for him is pretty weak. You dont know as much as you think you do.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:36 am
Not sure why guys are pushing Spytek as the reason Brady came here. That is clearly false.
Licht was responsible for getting Brady here as he was responsible for getting JPP, Suh, and Gronk here.
Spytek has a very, very casual relationship at Michigan – about as good as me and one of the Joe’s.
Spytek has admitted how casual the relationship was. It was here after (not before) Brady got to the Bucs that there relationship expanded.
Any thought that Spytek was the reason Brady considered here is so false. If you want to give Spytek credit for Brady — re-read The Athletic article on it. If you want to believe that fully — it was just that he went to Arians and Licht and said he thought that Brady still had juice left in his arm and could still spin the ball.
But it is not like he was the only one. Geno711 (A known talent evaluator) also wanted Brady here.
May 14th, 2025 at 11:48 am
Here is the perfect example of why and old Falcons coach said if he ever got a brain transplant he would want one from a sportswrier became he knew it would never had been used before. Pa=resent company excluded. This guy is a real homer. Wonder how Spytek is so smart going into the season with nothing but backup QB’s.
May 14th, 2025 at 12:00 pm
The Bucs won a Super Bowl with the top three corners on the roster drafted by Licht. If he’s that bad at corners, how the eff did the Bucs ever win a Super Bowl with them in a passing league?
Surely if they were that bad, Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers or Pat Mahomes would have torched them for 40+ points and beat the Bucs in 2020, no?
May 14th, 2025 at 12:05 pm
Joanie loves chachi!!
May 14th, 2025 at 12:06 pm
Now I’m not being disrespectful [of Licht], but [Spytek] did so much. I mean, I have friends in the [Bucs] organization, people I know that coached and played there, and they talked about Spytek much more than Licht.lol…. I’m not being disrespectful by being disrespectful
May 14th, 2025 at 12:11 pm
Sometimes the harder folks work to get the glory in journalism the less they actually deserve it. We have seen that happen multiple times with those hangers on here in Tampa.
Go bucs!
May 14th, 2025 at 12:30 pm
How embarrassing for Carpenter to go all Jasmine Crockett.
May 14th, 2025 at 12:36 pm
His name is Hondo.
Zero credibility there.
Raiders will be lucky to win 9.
May 14th, 2025 at 12:57 pm
Licht has won zero SBs without Brady.
When he does that he will prove his worth.
For now he’s OK with just the NFC South title.
May 14th, 2025 at 1:04 pm
The smearing of Licht was gratituous but as D.R. points out it’s also meaningless!
As for who gets “credit” for Brady coming to Tampa? Cmon now. I realize personal relationships are very important in all businesses. But Brady did NOT come to Tampa because of a “personal” relationship.
Brady’s own words…”There was a lot of reasons to choose Tampa and I made abut 18 criteria why,” Brady said while holding multiple lists. “There was things from the salary, obviously, to the weather, the facilities, to how great the players were.”
The MAJOR, perhaps singular, reason Tom chose Tampa was because he was laser focused on a 7th SB. I’m not a huge Tom Brady fan based on personal taste. But I absolutely concede he was/is the GOAT. He had a maniacal focus on ONE thing..WINNING! He gave N.E. “discounts” though most of his tenure there so that they could field a winning team despite the cap.
Tom mastered EVERY detail including the buzzword right now, “Mindfulness”.
He was laser focused on each and every play. Laser focused on every detail!!!
The fact that he came to Tampa IS a credit to the abilities of Jason and BA. If they weren’t on top of their game Tom would have gone to the Bears.
Brady came to Tampa for ONE reason and it wasn’t a personal connection. The Bucs gave him the best chance at winning a 7th SB. And as usual with his FOCUS Tom was RIGHT!!!
May 14th, 2025 at 1:17 pm
@KABucs… lucky to win 9? LOL… they have won 9 twice in the last 24 seasons, so yeah.
May 14th, 2025 at 1:30 pm
Yeah, and Vince Lombardi never won a Super Bowl without Bart Starr and Bill Walsh never won a Super Bowl without Joe Montana and Bill Belicheat never won a Super Bowl without Tom Brady and Chuck Noll never won a Super Bowl without Terry Bradshaw (all three coaches were defacto GMs) and Tex Schramm never won a Super Bowl without Roger Staubach… and on and on and on. You could drive yourself crazy with this but why not just give the guy the credit for building a Super Bowl winning team?
How many GMs have won two Super Bowls much less with two different quarterbacks? Two that Joe can think of.
May 14th, 2025 at 1:43 pm
BANG!! Mike Drop.
May 14th, 2025 at 2:15 pm
I do think Spytek was a huge part of our success over the past 8ish years, and that he played a large part in the campaign to bring Brady here. That has been well documented by several sources.
But that article from a few weeks ago (I think it was either Bleacher Report or The Athletic), went in depth about Spytek and Brady’s relationship, and pretty firmly stated they had had almost no contact with each other after that 1 year of college, until after Brady came to Tampa. And that their relationship truly began at that point.
So it seems either Carpenter misinterpreted some things, or he started playing pretty loosely with the facts to create his own narrative for Vegas…