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NBC Sports
27-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Haason Reddick skips first Buccaneers' OTA
After a 2024 season marred by an extended holdout following a trade from the Eagles to the Jets, defensive end Haason Reddick joined the Buccaneers as a free agent. Reddick wasn't present for the first OTA of the 2025 offseason program. Yes, it's voluntary. No, the Bucs didn't add a financial incentive to his one-year, $14 million contract aimed at getting him to show up. Still, there's a presumption that players who are serious about getting ready for the coming season will participate. Via coach Todd Bowles said this about Reddick's absence: 'I'm sure one of these days we'll see him.' Coaches aren't allowed to say or do anything to suggest voluntary workouts aren't voluntary. All coaches want all players to be there. For players who plan to work out anyway, it's always better to exercise at the team facility than somewhere else. Any injuries sustained while working out with the team are covered. Injuries happening away from the facility are not.
NBC Sports
08-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Jason Licht will, in certain cases, draft "d-bags and a—holes"
Various things can get a player removed from a team's draft board. In Tampa Bay, there's one category of prospect that isn't automatically excluded. The 'd-bags and assholes.' Via Buccaneers G.M. Jason Licht recently explained his willingness to tolerate certain antisocial personality traits during an appearance on The JP Peterson Show. 'We have a long process of defining who we're taking off [the draft board] and who we're not,' Licht said. 'Now just because a guy, maybe people don't like him, or he's a d-bag or an asshole, we're not just going to automatically take them off. It's got to affect their football character and it's got to affect the team. There's a lot of people that fit that description that are very good football players and maybe it works in their favor.' Indeed it can. Sometimes, it takes a d-bag and/or an asshole to embrace the physicality of playing football aggressively and effectively. "[T]here's a difference between a bad guy and an immature person, and we'll take immature and help them develop,' Licht said. 'But, you know, we just don't want people that are going to affect the locker room in a negative way that affects the performance of others and the team.' As often happens, objectively undesirable qualities can take a back seat to undeniable talent. 'We'll take a guy that's a little bit of a d-bag or an asshole if they can get to the quarterback, for sure,' Licht said. He didn't name names, unfortunately. But that makes sense. A d-bag and/or an asshole wouldn't take kindly to being publicly labeled a d-bag and/or an asshole.
NBC Sports
01-05-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Jason Licht: Emeka Egbuka was a "top-10" player on the Buccaneers' board
Buccaneers G.M. Jason Licht has been making the media rounds in the aftermath of the draft. Appearing with Rich Eisen, Licht made a fairly significant disclosure about Tampa Bay's first-round pick, Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka. 'He was super-high on our board,' Licht said of Egbuka, via 'You know, top-10 on our board, kind of stood out like a sore thumb.' The Buccaneers got Egbuka with the 19th overall pick. He gives them short-term insurance as receiver Chris Godwin continues to recover from a serious leg injury, and a long-term replace for Godwin or veteran receiver Mike Evans. Evans was the seventh overall pick in the 2014 draft. Godwin arrived in Tampa with a third-round in 2017.
NBC Sports
30-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Jason Licht: Emeka Egbuka allows us to make sure Chris Godwin doesn't rush back
After the Buccaneers took wide receiver Emeka Egbuka in the first round last week, General Manager Jason Licht said that the selection had nothing to do with how Chris Godwin's rehab from a dislocated ankle is going. The selection of Egbuka isn't completely unrelated to Godwin, however. Licht explained on WDAE on Tuesday that the rookie's presence means that there's no need for Godwin to fee like he's under any time crunch to get back to full speed. "[Egbuka] does allow us to make sure that Chris does do his rehab correctly and we don't rush him, and all those things,' Licht said, via 'So that does give us a little comfort with the pick — that we can do that, to make sure that's he's not rushed back. But [Egbuka] had nothing to do with where Chris is currently in the rehab.' The Bucs were looking to the future with the Egbuka pick, but Licht noted that's also the case for Godwin. He said 'three years in the NFL is long-term' in reference to Godwin's new contract and that timeline is all the more reason not to overemphasize how quickly he is back in action.
