Jason Licht On His Bold Statement About Bucs’ Offensive Line
February 26th, 2026
Explains o-line comments.
At least in Joe’s mind, Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht made a bolder than bold statement about his team this week.
When Licht took to the podium at the Indiana Convention Center, the beehive of the combine in downtown Indianapolis, Licht declared his offensive line to be the best room on the Bucs.
“We have an offensive line who I think, we think, is very, very good,” Licht said. “It’s one of our strongest rooms in the in the building, if not the strongest.”
This from a general manager of a team that has a wide receiver room of Mike Evans (if he is re-signed), Chris Godwin, Emeka Egbuka, Jalen McMillan, Tez Johnson and (if he is re-signed) Sterling Shepard.
So when Licht appeared later the same day on the “Ira Kaufman Podcast,” Joe admitted to Licht to being taken aback by Licht’s statement.
Oh, Joe agrees with Licht that the line is damn good — when healthy. But holy cow, how deep is the Bucs’ receivers room? Joe has never seen a group this deep.
Hell, Tez Johnson could likely start for Arizona or the Raiders. And he’s at the bottom of the food chain for Bucs receivers.
Licht responded and detailed why he said what he said. And Licht admitted he may be a bit subjective because he is an old offensive lineman.
“I certainly didn’t mean to take anything away from anyone else or any other room,” Licht said. “And we certainly have an outstanding receiving room. Thank you for giving me an opportunity and a platform to clarify that.
“Being an ex-offensive lineman, I just am very proud of the way we as an organization have assembled that room and the chemistry that they have and the importance of that room.
“If you don’t have great offensive linemen, you are maybe not going to be able to realize how good your receiver room is with their protection and ability to produce in the run game as well. For me saying that … I think everything on offense begins and ends with the offensive line.”
Well, Joe totally agrees that without a good offensive line, it’s like having a leash on your offense. Can’t dip into the full playbook without time to throw.
And Joe does think Licht makes a good point. One reason the Bucs receivers are so great is that when the line was healthy, they allowed Mayfield to create plays.
February 26th, 2026 at 4:11 pm
Agree with his thought processs to an extent, the OL starting 5 is a really solid group. However, the depth outside of Chukwuma could all easily be replaced with no drop-off in performance. Don’t think the same can be said for the WR room.
February 26th, 2026 at 4:13 pm
To clarify, think all but one of the OL backups are replacement level or below guys. Not the case for WR’s.
February 26th, 2026 at 4:34 pm
Jason Licht … “We have an offensive line who I think, we think, is very, very good.”
I could easily agree with JL IF he’d said … ‘ Our STARTING offensive line is very, very good, but our DEPTH is circumspect’.
Our starting 5 OLinemen can play with anyone, but as we all saw last season, we didn’t have the DEPTH that it takes to truly compete with the big dogs.
February 26th, 2026 at 4:36 pm
Agree with JL . Also, it’s nearly impossible to be 7-8 deep on thr oline. There will always be some drop off when you sustain injuries 4 out 5 starters. Adding a quality guard would nr nice however.
February 26th, 2026 at 4:41 pm
“when healthy” – the same can be said for the WR room.
February 26th, 2026 at 4:46 pm
“Look at me I’m just so great and always make the best decision”. – Bud Licht
Nothing but hot air coming out of this balloon.
He’s a huge, and I mean huge, Todd Bowles fan.
As Joe has said, the boss loves money from home playoff games.
On that measure Todd has delivered three out of four years.
From the fans perspective, we would like home NFC title games.
Not one and done or none at all. That Eagles playoff win was a fluke at best.
Bowles will never reach a SB as a HC. Every year with him is an absolute waste of time.
February 26th, 2026 at 4:53 pm
The offensive line has been the strength of Jason Licht’s entire tenure with the Bucs. We have drafted, signed & traded for excellent OL.
February 26th, 2026 at 4:58 pm
Be curious to hear the Bucs results from the NFLPA survey when you guys get the info.
February 26th, 2026 at 5:05 pm
FlBoy84 ☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️ agreed.
February 26th, 2026 at 5:47 pm
I don’t agree. A significant part of building any group of players is to have a group deep enough to rotate based on injuries and ‘blows”. Did he develop one – -no! He’s joined at the hip with TB. When we sink out of the playoffs again they both need to go.
From a fan converted to a troll
February 26th, 2026 at 5:59 pm
I wouldn’t have an issue with the Bucs taking a beastly offensive lineman with the first round. I think we need to out score the opposition because there’s no evidence that our defense under Todd will improve regardless of who we draft. Let’s keep Baker upright and we may be able to compete
February 26th, 2026 at 6:08 pm
Licht really needs to be talking about the catastrophic job he has done drafting and signing FAs on defense. He needs to be fired for gaslighting everyone about players on defense. Why doesn’t anyone in the media hold his feet to the fire on the defense and totally inept DC. I guess the local media are just his lapdogs.