TAMPA, Fla. — Tampa Bay Buccaneers' general manager Jason Licht is really good at not giving up much information on the team’s draft day plans.
Like he’s said in the past, “all options are again on the table.”
With Tom Brady back at quarterback, the Bucs are all-in at winning another Super Bowl, but Brady’s return won’t factor into their draft day plans.
“I’m not sure it will not change as drastically as you are insinuating,” Licht said Tuesday. “It changed a little bit of how we went about free agency. We had a lot of players we wanted to bring back which we were successful in doing.”
The Bucs still have several unsigned free agents including tight end Rob Gronkowski and defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Licht won’t be working under the assumption they will come back.
“You have to keep that in mind, but you never really want to push a need or a perceived need to high up and that’s where you start making mistakes,” Licht said.
With Todd Bowles being named head coach so late in the offseason and Bruce Arians moving into a front-office role, the strategy won’t change.
“The philosophy hasn’t changed. It’s just been meeting more with Todd now as the head coach,” Licht said. “More one-on-one, more in some group settings, too. Bruce is still involved, in our meetings, I meet with Bruce periodically. And he’s going to be involved here as we put the final touches on our draft, too.”
The Bucs will have the 27th pick in the first round of the NFL Draft that kicks off Thursday, April 28.
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