Bucs GM: Team Needs Not Tied To 2025 Record
March 1st, 2026
Interesting and telling take from Buccaneers Ring of Honor general manager Jason Licht.
When Licht wasn’t busy hosting news conferences with local and national media last week at the NFL Scouting Combine — and sitting down for TV spots and 20-plus minutes on the Ira Kaufman Podcast — he joined SiriusXM NFL Radio and answered a question about filling the Bucs’ holes and avoiding knee-jerk reactions in free agency and the draft.
That was an easy answer for Licht, who said the Bucs’ plan is unaffected by last year’s late-season collapse.
“I think even if we had made the playoffs and made some noise in the playoffs, no matter how far we went, I think we’d still be in the same position that we are right now,” Licht said.
Now that’s a GM confident in his process!
“We know where we need to make improvements. We know where we’re lacking. We own it. We all own it. I’ve gotta do a better job on my end as well. We didn’t play as well at certain positions as we could have. So, right now we have plans. I feel confident in what we’re gonna do here. We’ve got free agency, we’ve got the draft, we’ve got different avenues that we can add some more players. We’ve had some really good luck in the past finding some, you know, not necessarily the flashy player: Ben Bredeson, Chase McLaughlin, you know, Shaq Barrett. Every team has these, but we’ve done a pretty good job with those. So it’s not necessarily the flashy [player], it’s also some of the doubles that you hit that help get you over the top.”
Licht’s message was clear across his various stops last week. Don’t expect the Bucs to deviate from their roster-building path of the past few years. Sure, it could happen, but that’s highly unlikely.
March 1st, 2026 at 5:17 pm
Dead man walking. JL is a career loser that was saved by Tom Brady. He sucks without Tom as proven by his .449% record over 12 years.
losers are just gonna lose. And he is the definition of loser as a GM.
March 1st, 2026 at 5:52 pm
He’s lucked out with a few players here and there and hopes to luck out with some cheap signings this year. 5-12
March 1st, 2026 at 5:59 pm
Licht is the GM and he can build the team in the fashion to which he sees fit and in the way that the Glazers will allow – Licht does not desire “flashy” players such as Brady, Gronkowski, or Antonio Brown – he will construct the team in a steady methodical fashion that will result in predictable results over several seasons – middle-of-the-pack is the Bucs comfort zone – not bad enough to clean house but good enough to say after every year of mediocrity “you’ll see, wait til next year” – however the idea that the Bucs are anywhere near Super Bowl-ready is laughable
March 1st, 2026 at 6:00 pm
These are going to be some ugly comments, lol
March 1st, 2026 at 6:08 pm
I have full faith in Jason however, I have zero faith in our head coach. The guy is probably in the bottom third of the league at best. He has run his team into the ground the past couple years and the regression of the defense has been startling and 100% his fault. It is a joke, an absolute joke that he was retained.
March 1st, 2026 at 6:11 pm
HC, definitely a team need that was directly tied to the 2025 record…
March 1st, 2026 at 6:17 pm
Said it before, offensive picks decent to real good. Defensive picks not so good. Defensive coaching? Doesn’t take a”genius” to figure that out.
March 1st, 2026 at 6:25 pm
Bottom line Jason. Your record is garbage. Your defensive picks are garbage. Your intelligence for understanding what we need and how that looks is garbage.
Bain Rodriguez messidor styles. These are the guys we want here. Will you do what it takes to even get one????? You royally screwed ys by not going after verse in the draft. I told everyone he was the best in that draft. If he can get messidor and Rodriguez wed be set
March 1st, 2026 at 6:26 pm
Joe … ‘Now that’s a GM confident in his process!’
Nah, that’s a GM who’s spewing a ton of BS right now. He’s been here for 13 years now, and the Bucs have had TWO excellent seasons (2020 & 2021 with a combined 24-9 record in regular season & 5-1 record in playoffs). He’s also had THREE other seasons with winning records (2016, 2023 & 2024 with a combined 28-22 regular season record & 1-2 record in playoffs).
Reality is that those TWO excellent years were built around bringing in a number of EXCEPTIONAL FAs (not bargain FAs) like Brady, Gronk, Brown, Fournette, Jensen, Suh, RNR, JPP, Shaq plus others. That was NOT cheap as we found out afterwards. It also required a LOT of quality draft picks in the Top-4 Rnds (Wirfs, Vea, D White, Winfield, Davis, SMB, Dean, Cappa, Whitehead) over just the 2018-2020 period.
Other than those TWO years (under BA’s singular not dual-hatted leadership), Bucs have been mired in mediocrity … 3 barely winning seasons out of the other 11 under JL’s management. But ya, JL’s ‘confident in the process’. Whooppee.
March 1st, 2026 at 6:28 pm
If Licht can’t see Todd B. is the biggest part pf the problem, then we have 2 big problems.
March 1st, 2026 at 6:31 pm
2025 Bucs roster
$184 mill on offense
$102 mill on defense
The roster structure sucks and so does Jason Licht.
Wake up people. Todd is awful but Licht sucks too
March 1st, 2026 at 6:40 pm
Denial is not just a river in Egypt.
March 1st, 2026 at 6:54 pm
I think we should look at the 49ers back up QB
March 1st, 2026 at 8:03 pm
Buccaneer Bonzai Says:
These are going to be some ugly comments, lol
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I’m sure I’m in the tiny minority with a comment like this:
Licht built a team that won a Super Bowl. I have zero doubt that he’s capable of building another team that can contend for another one.
While Bowles seat is quite hot, I doubt Licht’s seat is much above room temperature. All six of his draft picks in 2025 made the team last season and contributed. And I bet several of the undrafted free agents he signed (including Ben Chukwuma) will have long NFL careers.
March 1st, 2026 at 8:03 pm
” Wake up people”… Wake up and, what? Sit around all day and make negative comments? None of us are sleeping. Most of us know what the issues are. There is no waking up that needs to occur. If you’re referring to people that don’t spend all day making negative comments, then I’ll give you that I suppose. Otherwise, clearly it’s the weekend and most people are out living life. And then a certain percentage of people can’t wait to lay down the same crapola that they spew day after day in the service of what exactly? Enlightenment? Get out of here. If you like the team, hope for the best. If you want to have some real influence, get a job with the team and make your way up the ranks. Or you can wallow in your misery and recycle the same garbage day after day. Enjoy.
March 1st, 2026 at 8:07 pm
Hitting doubles will keep us hovering at 8-9. No thanks.
You swung it before (Brady, Gronk). Big boy swing Jason. Let’s see that game face.
March 1st, 2026 at 8:08 pm
There’s just nothing really to be exited about with this Bucs team. Of course I’m a fan for life but really.
March 1st, 2026 at 8:10 pm
Or don’t swing for the fence, go 8-9 at best, then it all gets blown up early ‘27.
It’s now or never for Bowles and Licht.
March 1st, 2026 at 8:18 pm
buccintimeforchanges Says:
The roster structure sucks and so does Jason Licht.
Wake up people. Todd is awful but Licht sucks to
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In the 2023 season, the Bucs had 75+ million in dead cap money, and finished the season Top 5 in scoring defense. Then they held the defending NFC champs (Eagles) to ZERO TD’s in the playoffs, several years after they held the Chiefs to ZERO TD’s in the Super Bowl.
@Bucintimeforchanges, who called the defense in 2023, and for those two games?
By the way, the team had a Top 10 scoring defense four consecutive years (2020 – 2023), something that has happened infrequently during the salary cap era.
March 1st, 2026 at 8:18 pm
Not surprising, the plethora of negative takes here such as “your [Licht’s] defensive picks are garbage” – you know, players like Vita Vea, Antoine Winfield, Tykee Smith, Robert Parish, Kwon Alexander, Carlton Davis III, Jordon Whitehead, Mile Edwards, Sean Murphy-Bunting, Jamel Dean, Yaya Diaby, Calijah Kancey.
Clearly, the guy has no clue what he is doing with defensive pick [insert eye roll here].
March 1st, 2026 at 8:24 pm
BucsFanSince1996 Says:
“Licht built a team that won a Super Bowl. I have zero doubt that he’s capable of building another team that can contend for another one.”
I agree but the genuis wasn’t the hc. He probably did what Bruce told him to do but jl put that team together.
March 1st, 2026 at 8:43 pm
Jason are Lovie and Todd fixing you cocktails ?? D line / Pass rusher and LB depth had nothing to do with a terrible defense ? OK , it’s time to retire !!
March 1st, 2026 at 8:56 pm
The Chiefs, Lions, Washington, and Cincy GMs are saying the same thing as Jason.