Jason Licht On Todd Bowles: “He Says You Have To Take The Best Player That Helps You Win Games, Period.”
April 16th, 2026
Bucs GM Jason Licht was in good spirits Wednesday.
Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht gushed Wednesday about his working relationship with his head coach.
Licht reinforced what Bowles has told Joe the past two offseasons: that in the first round a team should pick the best player available, then you address needs in the second round.
A year ago, Bowles told media at the owners meetings that he had zero issue if the Bucs were to go offense in the first round, even though Tampa Bay was crying out loud for an inside linebacker.
The Bucs picked receiver Emeka Egbuka.
At Licht’s annual league-mandated pre-draft news conference yesterday, Licht talked about his study of tight ends. Some in the know think the Bucs will grab Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq at No. 15.
Licht, who is not a good poker player, did not push back on that idea, saying it would be “great” if the Bucs could land an athletic tight end, a true deep threat.
Then Licht began gushing about his strong working relationship with Bowles.
“He proved to me last year where he wasn’t upset with taking Emeka [Egbuka] where he says you have to take the best player that helps you win games, period,” Licht said. “So, I’m very fortunate to have a head coach that feels that way when we work together to make these decisions.
“I feel like I’ve said this every year, you can never go wrong with taking the best player. You’re going to be happy at some point that you did instead of trying to force a pick.”
Licht did drop a doozy of a nugget about Bowles behind the scenes at One Buc Palace.
“He hates the [description] ‘defensive-minded’ head coach,” Licht said.
OK, Joe cannot lay off a big fat fastball coming right down Central Avenue.
Bowles gets ticked that he’s called a “defensive-minded,” coach, eh? Is that because he’s ashamed of his defense?
April 16th, 2026 at 4:23 am
@Joe went yard on that fastball!
April 16th, 2026 at 5:34 am
Remember Joe, Bowles couldn’t spend as much time on the defense last year because he was “helping” the offense. Hahahahahahaha
April 16th, 2026 at 5:59 am
“The best player that helps you WIN games period” is different than bpa. For example, the Titans are projected to take Love & #4, Love is valued as one of the best players in the draft. The problem with this selection for the Titans is, their offensive line is abysmal, so how much of a factor will Love truly have until they fix the OL issues? So is Love the player that would help them “win games period “?
Now for the Bucs, I do belythe offense is in a position where they could add a play maker like sadiq (I’m not a fan of it) but will sadiq be able to help the team “win games period” more so than a defensive players selection? Guess it depends on how the board plays out and ultimately that’s the decision Licht and Bowles will have to make.
My opinion, with all the TE talk they will be going a different direction in rd 1.
April 16th, 2026 at 6:30 am
Well, I am crying out that the Bucs need to take Jeremiyah Love and need to do whatever it takes to have the ability to draft him!!!!!
PS I too have been crying about Bowles, he should be replaced at DC by Jim Schwartz, but still keep that HC Job
I mean Great Googly Moogly!!!
April 16th, 2026 at 6:36 am
I said after the season that TE was a position of need
My question is……why pay Cade Otton?
The money spent on Cade Otton could have been spent on a Devin Lloyd
Then you would have solved the ILB problem, and could draft a TE
Everyone knew this was a deep draft for tight ends
That’s why this TE talk makes no sense
April 16th, 2026 at 6:54 am
If Todd didn’t do double duty as the D coordinator he would shake some of that moniker, but he won’t hire one so pretty obvious he is defensive minded HC
April 16th, 2026 at 6:54 am
Hey Joe, how about a follow up of last year’s draft, and I don’t mean Emeka Egbuka.
Everybody had Jihad Campbell mocked to the Bucs, what kind of season did he have?
April 16th, 2026 at 7:16 am
Jason Licht has had 12 seasons as GM of the Bucs with only 5 winning seasons – in 2020 and 2021 the Bucs went 11-5 and 13-4 with Brady calling the shots and Licht standing aside to not screw everything up – without Brady the Bucs and Licht have had winning seasons of 9-7 9-8 and 10-7 with one playoff win – not especially impressive – but we get folks on JBF screaming at the top of their lungs about how great Licht is – confounding –
April 16th, 2026 at 7:21 am
should some folks quibble with the assessment that Brady was steering the Bucs in 2020 and 2021 and Licht was not a contributor – please recall the 2021 “special teams” draft with Trask JTS and KJ Britt that would have gotten any other GM in the NFL fired
April 16th, 2026 at 7:30 am
Licht is one of the top 3 drafters in the entire NFL. He’s also one of the top GM’s.
April 16th, 2026 at 7:34 am
Joe … ‘Bowles gets ticked that he’s called a “defensive-minded,” coach, eh? Is that because he’s ashamed of his defense?’
Sometimes you surprise me Joe, but other times you just leave me scratching my head. Stirring the pot to get a reaction is one thing, but ASHAMED? This is Todd Bowles 30th season coaching defenses. Over that span he’s had some very good defenses (to include good enough to win a Super Bowl), but he’s also had some pretty bad ones. Most coaches who’ve been coaching for 30 years are likely in a similar boat.
I’m sure that Bowles has coached some defenses that are more memorable to him than others. Might be that he was ‘prouder’ of some than others, but I doubt ‘ashamed’ was ever a descriptor he felt (or used) for any of those defenses.
April 16th, 2026 at 7:44 am
“I feel like I’ve said this every year, you can never go wrong with taking the best player. You’re going to be happy at some point that you did instead of trying to force a pick.”
Y’dont say, Jason.
The thing with BPA, at least with how it’s quoted here is that “for us” is always omitted.
There’s no real true consensus top player list in the draft process, at least not based off all 32 teams’ rankings that they spend ridiculous amounts of time and resources to flesh out.
What there is however, is speculation and an entire NFL offseason ecosystem that thrives off, and makes some pretty good money guessing what all 32 teams will do.
If after the BPA question a reporter asks “could you give us some positions you’re looking at in the 1st/2nd?” in terms of BPA.
Who wouldn’t put money on Licht answering “All of’em” and chuckling into the next question lol
April 16th, 2026 at 8:23 am
lakeland
i agree…
if we swap out cade for lloyd, our offseason additions make this team extremely better….
that wouldve made it 1-DE, 1-DT, 3-LBs, 1-RB, 2-DBs 1-WR
but whatever lol…lets see how the draft shakes out lol
GO BUCS!!!!
April 16th, 2026 at 8:26 am
This guy has been here too long. Time for a change. He is stale and needs to go.
April 16th, 2026 at 8:34 am
I think the bad poker player is Joe for believing what JL is selling. You can tell JL is trying hard to sell the notion that if Sadiq is there they may take him. Smart because what JL really wants is to trade down.
They aren’t taking Sadiq at 15..no chance.
My guess is they have an edge and/or Lber ranked much higher than these draft geeks. J Rodriguez or Mesidor. I also believe they have some OL rated too high to pass at 15.
We shall see…
April 16th, 2026 at 8:49 am
Then that’s the problem. If Bowles is fine with how his defense played last year right there is the issue. He *should* be ashamed he was in charge of such a soft, ole’ defense.
April 16th, 2026 at 8:53 am
Without doing any research and totally off the top of Joe’s head, he had a pretty solid season, no?
April 16th, 2026 at 8:55 am
🙂
April 16th, 2026 at 8:56 am
Best player available ….according to whom? The Bucs choice could be different than 31 other teams….
Doubt there is a consensus.
April 16th, 2026 at 9:18 am
If I’m not mistaken Campbell had a no-show first half of the season and then came on towards the end where as EE had a great start to the season and then disappeared towards the end so is that a wash? Do we give Licht credit for not drafting an injured Campbell but then gets roasted for drafting Morrison? Morrison was coming on towards then end of last season as he was getting healthy and if that continues forward this year how will Jason look then, especially if Parrish continues to trend upward?
April 16th, 2026 at 9:41 am
If this is really the truth, then you can’t just stand pat by taking whomever is leftover. You have to be AGGRESSIVE, and get “that guy!” If you’re talking about THE player who would help us WIN the most games this RIGHT NOW (and would be best for our future), then that would obviously be Jerimyiah Love. Without a DOUBT. Would be a TOP-5 “TALENT” even in next year’s ‘all-time’ LOADED Class. A BIG-TIME ‘Playmaker’ who is a literal threat to take it to THE HOUSE every time he touches it, whether that being as a RB or WR. Whatever HE WANTS to do. And, would be THE BEST help to Baker, and his shot at a ‘top of the market’ longterm contract next season. BUT, it would take us having to give up our next year’s 2027 1st, in order to pull it off. So, then you could kiss Jeremiah Smith down the drain. Whoa, what a DREAM scenario for a rebuild to be able to gettem both, with a young and aggressive modern day HC and GM. I just can’t see ANY scenario where Love would drop enough for the Bucs to pull-off a move. It’d have to be at least at #10 and that ain’t happenin. I can’t see him making it out of the Top-5. You van always dream. Not even a last minute bong photo would work in this case. He’s TOO GOOD. The perfect modern day RB. EXPLOSIVE with a mean streak, who can line up and BEAT YOU all over the field.
April 16th, 2026 at 9:48 am
Our offense is NOT what most Bucs Fans think it is. It’s just NOT. We don’t have any legit big-time, explosive playmakers. Our RB room is NOT a Top-20 room. And, you canNOT bank on Chris Godwin looking like the 25 year-old “Chris Godwin. You canNOT just assume that our O-Line is going to be completely healthy for all 17-Games at every position, or that they’d even be ranked in the top HALF of the league, even if they were. And, we haven’t even gotten to BAKER YET. Is everything going to be “perfect” enough FOR HIM!? Hmmmm…
April 16th, 2026 at 9:58 am
BPA in 1st round. Needs in all the rest.
April 16th, 2026 at 10:25 am
Most fans would prefer a full time defensive coordinator who can coach defense, who reports to a full time head coach who knows how to prepare a team to win every week.
And a GM who would make the changes necessary to football operations for that to happen.
3rd and 28
4th and 14
2-7
59-73
Annual Swoons
Mike Evans
April 16th, 2026 at 11:12 am
Stpetematt Says:
April 16th, 2026 at 7:30 am
Licht is one of the top 3 drafters in the entire NFL. He’s also one of the top GM’s.
+++++++++++++++++
Yup.
And no, Brady did not “call the shots”.
Guarenteed that some other troll will repeat this…
April 16th, 2026 at 11:24 am
Can’t be a “Defensive Minded” Head Coach when your defense is BAD every year. Maybe someone in the media can ask Jason “What is Todd good at?”
He’s not a good defensive coordinator; he can’t inspire his players to play hard and he’s AWFUL managing the game and clock.
If the Bucs collapse and they are located in a market that cares, or a larger market Todd and Jason are unemployed
They both have jobs due to being in a market that doesn’t care and a tiny fanbase
April 16th, 2026 at 11:26 am
If you think Licht is a TOP 3 GM or one of the best, you have to re learn the game and pay attention to more teams than just the Bucs.
Licht is not the worst but he’s no where near the best. His roster building is laughable for someone who has been in his job as long as he has
April 16th, 2026 at 11:27 am
If Todd’s not a ‘defensive minded HC’, what exactly is he?
April 16th, 2026 at 11:33 am
That makes so much sense. Bowels is not a defensive head coach. At least they can acknowledge that. Wait! But then why does he call the defensive plays. Now I’m confused just like the defense. It’s a Bucs life
April 16th, 2026 at 12:53 pm
Section 312 just hit the nail on the head. These people don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, while only living in a Bucs Fantasyland. 13-YEARS, and a LOSING RECORD even with BRADY!? Living off of the pathetic NFC SOUTH, and was 💯 responsible for just 60% of the “Lost Decade,” while screaming ahead towards ANOTHER. Call-it LD2.0. Lost Decade 2.0 – cause, that will definitely be what it is if HE is left in charge. 93-104. 13-YEARS. I don’t believe ANY GM has ever been able to hang on to their job for THIS LONG. It’s just too long period, and he’s never held accountable by this ownership group.
April 16th, 2026 at 1:31 pm
BucFan4Life Says:
April 16th, 2026 at 11:27 am
If Todd’s not a ‘defensive minded HC’, what exactly is he?
^^^^^^^^
All we know for sure is that the Glazers love him. I’m not sure why they do, if they actually watch the games I highly doubt it’s because of his coaching prowess.
April 16th, 2026 at 3:02 pm
“He hates the [description] ‘defensive-minded’ head coach,” Licht said.
Makes sense. I wouldn’t want that moniker either if I was a “defensive-minded” head coach who’s defense is perennially terrible.
April 16th, 2026 at 4:07 pm
I think absent minded is the best description.
April 17th, 2026 at 12:23 am
You win games by outscoring your opponents.
That can happen on offense or defense.