Jason Licht’s Input Into Hiring Josh Grizzard
May 5th, 2025
How things work inside One Buc Palace.
Since Bucs AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht is the shot-caller when it comes to football operations, how much does he pull strings behind the scenes when there’s a coaching vacancy?
Last week, when appearing on “The Pat McAfee Show,” the former Colts punter wanted to know if hiring new Bucs offensive coordinator Josh Grizzard was Licht’s call or what say he had in the matter.
Since that was a coaching staff issue, Licht said he pretty much let Todd Bowles handle the hiring process, though Licht said he was involved in the interviews. How much was unclear.
“You know, I trust Todd, obviously, to know who he likes as a coach and what he’s seen all year,” Licht said. “He’s been in the meeting rooms with [Grizzard] the whole year.
“And for us this [offseason], we interviewed a lot of candidates. I was a part of the process, but Todd did the majority of it.
“But really, at the end of the day, it was pretty easy with Josh Grizzard, or ‘Grizz’ as we call him.”
McAfee was fascinated that Grizzard hails from Lizard Lick, N.C. McAfee wanted to know if that had anything to do with the truTV reality series “Lizard Lick Towing.”
Then, Licht went into how much the Bucs offense celebrated when they found out Grizzard would replace Liam Coen, who bolted in the dark of night to Jacksonville.
“He has a great relationship with our entire offense, and he’s a sharp guy,” Licht said. “Just because he went to Yale doesn’t mean that he’s sharp. I know some people from Yale and Princeton and other Ivy League schools that I wouldn’t trust coaching our offense.
“He’s just a great dude,” Licht said. “And I know when we when Todd named him the offensive coordinator I got text upon text from players, and most notably Baker, that was really really fired up about [the hire]. So he’s off to a great start.”
The only thing that worries Joe is will the Bucs’ luck run out? Being a first-time play-caller is not easy.
The Bucs got a little lucky with first-time playcaller Dave Canales in 2023 and Baker Mayfield had a career year. Then the next season, first-time NFL playcaller Coen did a masterful job and Mayfield had an even better year.
Is it too much to expect Mayfield to have a third-straight career year? If that does happen, the Bucs will be in great shape come January.
May 5th, 2025 at 10:39 am
Grizzard the Lizard Wizard
May 5th, 2025 at 10:48 am
No doubt in my mind the offense is still better yet.
It’s not so much the coaching as Baker having a running game and the right WRs.
They are ranking NFC QBs this morning and Baker hasn’t been in the top 3 yet.
Always the underdog and I love it as a fan.
May 5th, 2025 at 11:00 am
for some reason i’m confident, just like i was the last two years. weird lol.
May 5th, 2025 at 11:14 am
I think Canales was the lucky one. Baker on a good team is a King Maker and Canales just road the coat tails.
May 5th, 2025 at 11:42 am
I’ve been critical of Bowles but he’s done pretty well picking OC’s. Some other clubs have been terrible. Great WR’s, Baker development, and run game improvement have helped.
I think the OL will improve from very good to elite this season, so Baker and Grizz will benefit. Grizz just needs lots of mental reps in play calling before the season starts. Get a sharp programmer to develop an AI play calling simulator! If the offense is healthy, another great offensive season.
May 5th, 2025 at 12:04 pm
don’t need another career stat year from baker. just need to be more efficient, spread the ball around & decrease turnovers. 40 tds, – 4000 yds passing – 70% comp. rate – less than 10 int. – no fumbles. that’ll work
May 5th, 2025 at 12:13 pm
Lizard Lick is a town just south of Raleigh, North Carolina. Lizard Lick Towing is based out of that town. It has to be the same place.
Go Griz! Barring any key injuries, he has all the tools he needs to be a sensation. We are pretty deep at most every offensive position… except maybe QB. But then again, who is? SF got pretty lucky when they found out Mr Irrelevant could actually play. 95% of the time you lose a bunch of games and find out your third stringer is playing third string for a reason. NE got more than lucky with Brady. His combine results are what dropped him down to the 6th. Belichick didn’t have a crystal ball. That was a flyer move that ended up turning out pretty a-okay for them… biggest understatement ever.
Go Griz and Go Baker!! Go Bucs!!
May 5th, 2025 at 12:23 pm
I agree 100% with Joe on this one.
A regression is almost inevitable.
If that does take place the defense will have to improve significantly.
That doesn’t inspire a ton of confidence after seeing the results the last few years.
Probably still good enough to win the NFC Least though.
May 5th, 2025 at 12:38 pm
I get on Bowles a lot and IMO for legitimate reasons. But one of his strengths seems to be relationship and culture building. If that’s the case I would assume that one play caller or one player is not responsible for the success, rather it’s the sum of its parts. I would predict another great offensive year. Not sure if it’ll be better but it should still hum.
May 5th, 2025 at 1:06 pm
People, including JOE, really do not remember CANALES very well. That offense was horrible most the time. Showed signs of life in the last 1/3rd of the season but it was run for 1.5 yards & dump it off 80% of the time.
GRIZZ was responsible for the amazing 3rd down track record of the Bucs last year. I have full confidence they will be over 30 points per game, wouldn’t be surprised if it’s closer to 32.
May 5th, 2025 at 1:11 pm
Look at it this way – we went to the playoffs with Leftwich as our coordinator. Leftwich! The surrounding talent is pretty much as good as we had that year, and the rest of our division still stinks like it did that year.
May 5th, 2025 at 1:23 pm
No reason not to have goals of the best offense AND best defense.
May 5th, 2025 at 1:27 pm
Baker Mayfield and a very talented supporting cast on offense is the common thread regarding the ‘success’ of our last 2 OCs….. Especially last year when the OLine improved so much and Bucky took over at RB1.
I’m not sure a new OC has ever walked into such a promising situation as Grizz did this year. Should be fun.
May 5th, 2025 at 1:35 pm
ToddBowles#1, you agreeing 100% with Joe on this one makes it sound like Joe thinks a regression is almost inevitable. I don’t think you show any signs that your reading retention is any better than your writing prowess.
May 5th, 2025 at 1:48 pm
Great job by Todd 😎.
NFC south champs…Improving every year in spite of cap hell, devastating injuries, new O.C.s
.
Coach has exceeded all reasonable expectations the last 3 years.
Teams that want to compete for the SB are built incrementally….it takes a few years to build out a roster of top talent with depth. We’re well on our way thanks to JL and Todd 👍🏼
May 5th, 2025 at 2:00 pm
@Kenton Smith:
“The only thing that worries Joe is will the Bucs’ luck run out? Being a first-time play-caller is not easy.” – Joe
“A regression is almost inevitable.” – My take
I wasn’t putting words into Joes mouth. Based off of Joe’s take I included my thoughts. And I used almost in my take because I’m hoping it doesn’t happen.
My overall point was that with a below average defense we cannot afford an offensive lapse.
But I wouldn’t expect someone of your low IQ to understand such things.
May 5th, 2025 at 2:26 pm
Alright. Let us break this down, 2 oc, hired as head coaches, 2 years. 1, home grown. Game plans, are exactly that. When, you have a top 5 quarterback, who, apparently, is destined, for..10 oc? just stupid, to discount, the why. premier players(evans, godwin), resign. david, whoever. who they draft. it is all, because Baker. Doesnt care about stats, does care about team. teaM 1ST, then players, then, he cares baker. not discounting his family life, seperate
May 5th, 2025 at 2:27 pm
“The Bucs got a little lucky with first-time playcaller Dave Canales in 2023 and Baker Mayfield had a career year. Then the next season, first-time NFL playcaller Coen did a masterful job and Mayfield had an even better year.
Is it too much to expect Mayfield to have a third-straight career year? If that does happen, the Bucs will be in great shape come January.”
This Offense should be better. Irving and Barton, year 2. Fully healthy Evans and Godwin, plus EE and more downfield passing. Tucker and White should be pushing for more touches. The injured G who did not play last year will be back. Baker, one more year of the good life in the Bay Area, and most importantly, a dramatic improvement in the quality of players on Defense. Should be more TOs and more opportunity on Offense.
May 5th, 2025 at 2:52 pm
ToddBowels#1 so you are saying that with the players we drafted that we will still have a below average defense? You don’t know that. Who knows they may make a big jump like the offense did last year but by all accounts we had a pretty good defensive draft. We shall see.
May 5th, 2025 at 3:09 pm
TB!
Kenton nailed you. I wouldn’t be tossing out low IQ comments with the way you post.
Worry is concern, inevitable is far beyond concern as Merriam Webster’s points out.
The meaning of INEVITABLE is incapable of being avoided or evaded.
IE It’s a done deal in your mind or as Kenton correctly points out you’re not that crafty with language!
Since the vast majority of your posts are doom and gloom it’s INEVITABLE? that you’d add another negative one? Not really. Just incredibly likely!
May 5th, 2025 at 3:24 pm
Or maybe, it’s not the play caller at all but rather the play runner. I am of the belief that Bake is the guy that’s making the O-coordinators look good. He basically made them head coaches.
May 5th, 2025 at 3:46 pm
Lot Grizzard
May 5th, 2025 at 4:18 pm
Loved McAfee’s introduction for Licht, which included this nugget:
All 38 of Licht’s round 1 – round 6 draft picks, from 2019 – 2024, were still playing on an NFL roster last season.
That’s simply insane.
Also insane that some fans still want to run him out of town.
May 5th, 2025 at 4:33 pm
stpetebucsfan Says:
“The meaning of INEVITABLE is incapable of being avoided or evaded.”
This just furthers my point exactly.
It is indeed inevitable that the offense will regress from the highest of standards set.
Just look at the playoff game for proof. You know, the one and done vs a rookie QB and forcing zero punts. Yeah, that one.
The offense simply cannot score points from the sidelines.
Ergo, a drop down in offensive production is inevitable.
Here endeth the lesson.
May 5th, 2025 at 4:51 pm
David, I remember Canales and you aren’t exactly wrong. His stubbornness running up the gut behind Hainsey, rookie Mauch and whoever was manning LG at that time was ridiculous. It’s the main reason we never scored on opening drives, too far behind the sticks all the time.
Having said that… Canales was great at scheming the pass game and getting WRs open. We still put up points because of that and if he leaned into it, the odd game the O exploded, like in GB. Give Canales that OL,Bucky and McMillan like Coen had… he would have had similar success, maybe not as prolific but 26-27 pts a game.
May 5th, 2025 at 4:52 pm
Coen was a big step above Canales because he had actually called plays during a live game, something Canales hadn’t donce since high school. One reason the Bucs offense started out so slowly during Canales’ reighn. Gizzard hasn’t called plays either.
May 5th, 2025 at 5:14 pm
TB1
Actually it’s not inevitable that the Bucs will regress. They haven’t even hit training camp and you’re already predicting regression without any proof, although I concede NOBODY has proof of anything “inevitable” happening next year. It’s the future Nostradomas.
May 5th, 2025 at 5:21 pm
@Drdneast. Gizzard called 3rd down plays last year if I’m not mistaken.