Bucs GM Jason Licht gets another backhanded slap.
NBC/Rotoworld analyst Patrick Daugherty, who is tasked with ranking NFL general managers every year, came clean on the Sharp Angles podcast this week.
“Jason Licht is the one; he really does just fry my brain,” Daugherty said.
Sharp Angles is part of the data-driven pipeline of content produced by noted stats guru/handicapper Warren Sharp. In their latest episode, Daugherty and host Ray Summerlin dove deep on a short list of “most confusing” GMs to evaluate.
They seem to agree that Licht leads the pack.
Daugherty ranked Licht [as his 10th-best GM](http://NBC/Rotoworld NFL analyst Patrick Daugherty) in a deep dive for NBC last week. Summerlin countered that Licht is probably worthy of No. 8 in the league.
“I think the Bucs are overlooked a little too much because they do have an easy path to the playoffs and they still almost mess it up,” Summerlin said. “That’s not great, but then we’ve seen them get to the playoffs and like really go toe-to-toe with these other teams. And I think that we probably underrate this roster and we probably underrate Jason Licht because of that.”
Daugherty acknowledges Licht’s recent success but says fans need to pump the brakes on overrating the Bucs’ and their GM.
“Top 10 is very good. I don’t think he’s top-5, but he’s clearly one of the best executives in the NFL, Jason Licht,” said Daugherty, who later called Licht’s body of work “flawed” and admitted the Bucs’ cumulative record under Licht flummoxes him.
“It’s been 11 years on the job for Jason Licht and he still has 10 more losses than wins in 11 years. It’s not a small sample size,” Daughtery said.
Then Daugherty threw some low blows. He said Licht is a symbol for what could happen when you don’t fire a GM that deserved to get launched.
“Licht is like “a haunting counterfactual, too,” he said. “They even game him an extra year. … What if you gave a guy six or seven years to actually build a front office the way he wanted to, what might happen? Jason Licht might be the answer to that question.”
Joe would love to throw a key lime pie in Daugherty’s face.
Summerlin countered that Licht deserves a ton of credit for having the Bucs thrive and not “fall off the cliff” after Tom Brady retired.
Then Daugherty couldn’t seem to help himself and sarcasitcally noted how Licht being “confirmed a wizard” is an oversell after the Bucs have averaged 9 wins a year over the past three seasons.
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