Jason Licht, general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has created a team that consistently wins; the Bucs have won three NFC South division titles in a row. Tampa has made the playoffs four times in a row after signing Tom Brady in 2020, ending a 12-year run of missing the postseason. This week, Licht stated on SiriusXM NFL Radio that the culture of expectation for victory has been shaped in part by the recent success. “We have an interesting dynamic here, where a lot of these young players that are still young came in 2020, let’s say, Tristen (Wirfs) and Antoine (Winfield Jr.), two of our leaders on our football team,” Licht stated. “Their inaugural year coincided with our Super Bowl victory—
that is, the year we signed Tom.” They truly have no idea how to go about things other than trying to contend for the division title and postseason victories. That has truly permeated every young athlete. Then again, there are some, like Lavonte (David), who have experienced hardship.Mike Evans and Chris (Godwin), who had experienced hardships, recognised the benefits of having Tom in the mix. After Tom departs, we go on to Baker (Mayfield), who, according to his style of play, is a fiery, charismatic leader in his own right. This has been a good recipe, in my opinion. Particularly considering all of the sceptics who believed that we would fail when Tom left. I believe that this football team’s DNA has always been to disprove everyone. This recipe has worked really well, and I hope it does so.” After Brady’s retirement last season, many predicted the Bucs would tank. But to the credit of Licht, Mayfield, coach Todd Bowles, and the rest of the seasoned team, they advanced to the Divisional Round in addition to winning the division once more. The Bucs don’t start as division favourites in the jumbled NFC South, but after their success the previous season and the fact that they have the majority of their core back, there should be a lot fewer people questioning their abilities in 2024.
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