The Athletic: Bucs Will Bounce Back Due To “Sound Front Office”
March 18th, 2026
Stability.
Joe has noticed fans sharing an uptick in angst towards Bucs’ AC/DC-loving general manager Jason Licht.
Eh, comes with the territory. The Bucs just missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019. Some nasty feedback is expected.
When your Hall of Fame receiver tells the franchise to get lost (in so many words) and takes a pay cut to play for a team the Bucs beat last year, claiming it’s an easy chance to make a Super Bowl run, that is a pretty ugly slap in the face.
Mike Evans sure did rub Licht’s nose in the dirt. And fans are angry as a result.
Over at The Athletic, Jourdan Rodrigue has noted it’s been an unpleasant start to 2026 for the Bucs. But she does not think the Bucs will be down for long, if at all.
Why is that? Because Licht has built one of the better “sound front offices” in the league, per Rodrigue.
The Bucs’ slide through the second half of last season was a bit shocking. But it’s hard to bet on multiple down years for one of the more fundamentally sound front offices in the NFL.
Licht may have a sound front office but where is the team headed? Does anyone believe in the wake of Jamel Dean and Evans bolting the Bucs can make a Super Bowl run this year?
The brutal truth is the Bucs currently are a worse team on paper than they were when they collaspsed losing seven of their final nine games, which (likely) chased Evans off.
#Third-and-28.
“This Joe” believes the Bucs are closer to a No. 1 overall pick than they are playing in the Super Bowl next February in Los Angeles.
What keeps hope alive for Joe is Seattle playing New England in the Super Bowl. Joe would have had to be drunk to predict that last summer.
And look what happened.
Ira Kaufman Talks Jamel Dean Files, Free Agency Fixes And Lingering Holes, Edge Rush Philosophy Versus Reality, And Much More