“They’ve Continued To Put Resources Into Positions A Year Early”
May 10th, 2026
Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht.
New coaches all over the place but the front office remains the same.
That’s one hell of a tell that a franchise believes coaching was a core problem, one much bigger than the guys picking the roster.
The Bucs are paddling that boat down the Hillsborough River. And Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht gets all kinds of praise for it.
Licht soaked up the love during his visit to Up & Adams last week, earning kudos for the Bucs not having a bare cupboard and terrible seasons after Tom Brady left. Also, a colleague threw a lot of love Licht’s way.
Former Chargers and Raiders general manager Tom Telesco (Tom Brady canned him after one season and a quality draft) was on SiriusXM NFL Radio last week lauding Licht’s team building.
“They’ve continued to put resources into positions a year early, which is a great way to build your roster,” Telesco said.
Interesting perspective from Telesco.
The Bucs have planned well in several areas, but not all. Did they need to draft two cornerbacks with premium picks last year? No. But it could pay off big this season if Benjamin Morrison takes the second-year leap good players do. Receiver Emeka Egbuka was that kind of first-round pick last season, as was this year’s third-round pick receiver Ted Hurst. Same for Jalen McMillan in 2024.
One could argue the Bucs should have drafted a quality inside linebacker last season and beefed up special teams, especially after they mis-evaluated SirVocea Dennis and didn’t do much to address special teams in 2023 and 2024.
May 10th, 2026 at 12:22 pm
football is hard to preemptively make draft selections for positional depth…
too many groupings than draft picks available.
but jason has done well enough
May 10th, 2026 at 12:23 pm
a year early and 4 years too late
May 10th, 2026 at 12:25 pm
Based on this, which is a sound philosophy, in 2027 the Bucs need to draft another DT (Kancy, Vea last year) and DE early followed by a TE (Kief, Durham last year) and RB (Gainwell, Bucky’s last year). LB also (Anzalone last year).
May 10th, 2026 at 12:26 pm
Licht will sink or swim based on Todd Bowles as it should be.
May 10th, 2026 at 12:30 pm
New coaches all over the place but the front office remains the same.
Well, except for Defensive Coordinator!!!
Apparently the Glazers and Mr AC/DC ‘Fear the Beard’…… although the Beard says nothing about DC… so maybe they just fear,…. which is unacceptable!!!
May 10th, 2026 at 12:30 pm
The roster isn’t elite but it’s good. Good enough to consistently win in the double digits.
It’s why Kyle shannahan is considered an elite HC. Even with injuries his teams can get to 11 or 12 wins in an impossible division .
This is why Licht most likely won’t be canned with Todd after we win 8 or 9 games this fall and miss the playoffs.
May 10th, 2026 at 12:41 pm
If Bucs crap the bed again Licht is finished. Licht is Ok at drafting , but his real weakness is making any FA moves during the season to help a floundering squad. Bucs could have made a move and added NFL leading tackler and good coverage LB Jordyn Smith at the trade deadline last season. Smith would have made the difference and gotten Bucs to the playoffs. Not getting a home game in the playoffs cost the Glazers about 2 million-owners never forget.
May 10th, 2026 at 12:41 pm
The players on the roster are good enough to win this weak division. It’s Bowles coaching that is the weakness of this team. Personally I think he may be the worst coach in the division at this point.
May 10th, 2026 at 12:49 pm
The team has been competitive for years now. The games are usually close despite the horrendous defense lately with a lot of room to improve.
May 10th, 2026 at 12:51 pm
Jason Licht biggest problem is not drafting the right QB
This fanbase always moan about the lack of drafting an Edge Rusher
But, drafting a franchise QB is the key to being a successful franchise
Once we get that franchise QB, everything else will fall in place
May 10th, 2026 at 1:13 pm
Yes! Super Bowles.
May 10th, 2026 at 2:38 pm
D-line has gone from very thin to relatively deep.
Starters
Kancey
Vea
Robinson
Backups
Elijah Roberts
Nacho
Capehart
EDGE
Yaya
Bain
Mohammed
Nelson
Braswell
Practice Squad NT
Elijah Simmons
We’ve got more competition this year.
We need to start chopping heads and bringing in more competition on the defensive line.
Last year was truly pathetic.
May 10th, 2026 at 2:58 pm
Teacherman —
You’re leaving out David Walker.
Braswell is on the roster now but is an endangered species.
May 10th, 2026 at 3:06 pm
I see signs of our division getting much improved. No one is talking about the Panthers, but I think they got sneakily even stronger with the draft, etc.
May 10th, 2026 at 3:22 pm
Baker..
I think it’s make or break for our qb…. I like many lately haven’t counted him out. He Did have a bad half last season. And it cost us dearly just as the perpetually lousy defense but I’m not calling for Bakers head just yet. Not so fast. He’s Really Made THE Difference in our last 2 1/2 seasons. That’s approximately a 75% success rate for us. So he Certainly has earned another shot at straighting his self out. I’m pretty sure he got hurt Multiple times last season. I mean… defenses were bouncing him around like a ball back there with some of the WORST guard play I’ve ever seen! CONSTANTLY running for his life and he had a FULL almost 2 seconds to figure the entire field out… And Because he had LOTS of pie and vinegar trying to body slam him! Also…. Even Though he Should Have come out of a few of those games, WHO was going to take over? TRACY ULLMAN?! O COME ON MAN! We literally didn’t have anybody behind Baker who could “ACTUALLY PERFORM”! Bowles MADE SURE of that… So Baker toughed it out! Best he could. I bet he would have paid Good Money himself for some help at one point in the season.
So in All fairness, let’s give him a shot to bounce back. You KNOW he’s Earned It! He’s fought Hard to get us wins WAY to many times not to give him the respect of proving himself to us all that He Can Be the man and leader we Need him to be.
May 10th, 2026 at 3:32 pm
They’re gonna give mayfield a multi year deal he deserves” make or break” is delusional
May 10th, 2026 at 3:34 pm
Who cares about 9 wins if it gets you into the playoffs
May 10th, 2026 at 3:38 pm
Shanahan wins all the games in the season weather the team is banged up or hurt ..Im sure 49 nation is happy about the success hes having even without a SB win…lol
May 10th, 2026 at 3:46 pm
It takes a few years to rebuild a team. JL has done as good a job as possible given the circumstances.
May 10th, 2026 at 4:14 pm
Most teams would have been worse after Brady era cap issues. We did OK. This team is getting younger and better cap wise. Baker for 3 years and draft a couple of QBs with high round picks to develop. A better defensive coordinator would go a long way too if u know what I mean.
May 10th, 2026 at 4:21 pm
Well said oldskool!
May 10th, 2026 at 4:37 pm
I get sick of this troll, Lakeland. Dude, go watch a football team that you deem having a franchise QB!
May 10th, 2026 at 4:42 pm
“Continue to put resources into positions a year ahead” should read are again putting resources into positions a year ahead.
It is something they fell behind on for several years after the Super Bowl win and wasting a pick on a backup QB and blowing ILB picks.
May 10th, 2026 at 4:43 pm
And edge picks and DL picks.
May 10th, 2026 at 5:29 pm
The backup QB pick was a good plan for the future
They needed to groom TB12 replacement
Which they thought were Kyle Trask, it was an excellent idea.
The problem was drafting the wrong QB
So when TB12 retired, Trask couldn’t win the starting job
So now, they are replacing TB12 with Baker Mayfield
Which is replacing a band-aid with another band-aid
And they still haven’t found their franchise QB
May 10th, 2026 at 6:43 pm
Offense will score points. Defense is going to be better. Wont know how much for a few games in.
May 10th, 2026 at 7:05 pm
Obvious one, based on the tenor of your post, it’s obvious that Baker was not to blame for the team’s failures last season. Giving him a chance to redeem himself should not even be a question.
May 10th, 2026 at 10:04 pm
2-15 Baby!
Super Bowles!
May 11th, 2026 at 3:18 am
Lakeland that’s crazy. They replaced a stud with another stud. That’s what they did.
Some of the best player personnel moves in HISTORY.
May 11th, 2026 at 8:46 am
They didn’t “Misevaluate Dennis”… he was a 4th round pick and he has the tools to play but he hasn’t panned out as a quality starter at this point. If he was misevaluated he would be out of the league or sitting on someone’s practice squad, not spending last season as the de facto starter and showing us he is not a quality pass defender. A 4th round pick that has his resume wasn’t misevaluated… he hasn’t grown as a player.