TAMPA — The Buccaneers' recent draft success has been one of the best in the league. This week, they kept all seven of their picks from this year's draft. 44 of the 53 players on their current roster were either players they drafted or players they signed as undrafted free agents.
Jason Licht is entering his 11th season as Tampa Bay's general manager. He's the one who makes the final decision when it comes to who makes the final roster, but he's quick to deflect most of the credit.
"I have a great staff. The secret to being successful is… I wanna be the dumbest guy in the room- which isn’t hard," Licht joked during Wednesday's news conference. "These guys are very, very… very, very good. These guys and girls I have working on the scouting staff."
Licht said the goal is always to choose players with talent, but he quickly added that talent must come with an equally high amount of character.
"It’s hard to resist the temptation," he said when talking about passing on players who might not be a good all-around fit. "And I’ve taken more players off the board in the last few years just so I would resist the temptation of taking them. And for the most part we’ve been spot on and glad that we didn’t take ‘em."
Tampa Bay drafted rookie running back Bucky Irving in the fourth round. Listed at 5'10" 195 lbs, Irving wasn't the biggest, strongest, fastest back in this year's draft. But the Bucs think they struck golds, and Bucky says he wants to prove them right every day.
"They could’ve picked any other running back, but they put their trust in me coming here. Holding me to a higher standard," Irving said after practice. "Everything they heard from going through the draft process. I just wanted to be that guy I showed on tape and then come here and showcase my talents every day."
Fellow rookie Kameron Johnson went undrafted after playing his college ball at Division II Barton College in North Carolina. Johnson made the 53-man roster as a receiver, and now he wants to use his position to inspire other players from smaller programs.
"It gave me a sense of motivation, honestly. I’m motivating other people from my area, from other small schools," Johnson said in the locker room. "My phone’s been blowing up with other people talking about- 'Hey how’d you do this? How’d you get to that level?' Guys smaller than me. So it’s definitely a good feeling to be that inspiration to somebody."
"You're going to see a big improvement to traffic flow in this area,"
Nearly $865 million later and the new Howard Frankland bridge is entering its final phase of construction.
