GENERAL MANAGER JASON LICHT

(On who he is picking in the draft)

"[Laughs] I've got 19 players that I'd be happy to take right there."

(On how the local prospect workout day went and how many prospects attended)

"I can't remember how many we had. It was good. I love that day. We had a good overall group. I don't typically want to talk about any individuals but we had a good group. It was competitive. I can foresee us having a few of those guys on our team after the draft."

(On if it's harder to evaluate individual talent of defensive linemen when there are a few schools that have multiple players on their line likely to get drafted)

"I think that goes just back to evaluating your skills as an evaluator or scouts – my staff. You single out the player and you watch the player – I guess they're playing more in waves now and they're playing more sporadically than they did in the past. You're still watching the player and evaluating when he's in there. It's a little bit tougher now, a lot of these players at multiple positions are playing less and less because the colleges want to make sure they keep the younger guys there in the pipeline without entering the portal. We talk to a lot of these seniors that are coming out and they had to be a team player and they had to allow the freshmen and sophomores play more even though they may be better, just so the team can keep the player. You see a lot more platooning now than you ever have."

(On how he evaluates production of a transfer player at their current school versus where they left if one they performed better at one than the other)

"I'm still going back to watching the tape and what he does when he's in there – not necessarily evaluating the numbers of the production that he had. It's what he did when he was in there."

(On if the fewer snaps by college seniors will lower the potential of them being drafted because they may be less developed)

"I don't know. It's a case-by-case basis. You know, they're still getting a lot of reps in practice that we don't necessarily see. You have to go by what you see on the tape. There could be cases of that. I haven't come across that yet, luckily. We've been drafting pretty well here, but yeah, could be [the case]."

(On Licht saying he wouldn't be opposed to trading down and if that's more the case specifically this year with this draft)

"I don't know about more. There have been years where I've thought about it more than others. It just kind of depends on how things fall. You can't walk into it saying, 'I am definitely looking to trade back,' because you don't know what's going to fall to you. I do think this year is going to be – I could be wrong – you're going to see maybe a little less people maybe wanting to move up and offering enough to make it worth your while just because the draft is pretty leveled out at a certain point. You might be able to get the same level of player in the second round as you can in the fourth round at certain positions, so I think you'll maybe see a little bit less of that."

(On if his consideration in trading down has to do with his success in later rounds in previous drafts)

"It might have something to do with it but I think it's just the way this draft is. We've had some good production. My staff and the coaches have done a great job. The last three years – I would say combined, those drafts were elite when you put them all – add them all together. We want to try to keep doing it. It doesn't always work out that way but keep doing it. I think this particular draft just seems it be a little bit more leveled out which I'm excited about. I'm not saying that's something I don't like about this draft. It's something I do like about the draft."

(On if it's fair to say this draft has a lot of potential starters in the first three rounds but not a lot of blue-chip prospects)

"Yeah, if you get a little lucky, but yeah. I'd say it goes beyond the third round if we do everything right."

(On the need to constantly try to provide depth at wide receiver even with already having Mike Evans and Chris Godwin)

"Yeah, we could always use receivers. I think Todd [Bowles] even said, 'You have to score points to win.' You know, we're fortunate to have those two, and who knows how long they'll play. It could be longer than what people are saying, and then kudos to our offense, our coaches, last year, for getting production out of Sterling Shepard and Jalen [McMillan] like you said, and Ryan Miller and those guys. We always want to try to keep that group fresh and look for the next 'J-Mac' (Jalen McMillan). We're not going to overlook that position at all if everything falls that way for us."

(On if he knew how successful last year's draft class would be, particularly RB Bucky)

"I'll say this, if I would've known what Bucky was capable of, I probably would've taken him in the second round or first round. We knew that we had a special group of guys – the individuals, but you still never know until you get out there and they start playing. To say that we knew that it was going to be what it was, no, but just like the last two drafts previous to that, we came out and were giving high fives saying, 'We've got great guys, if anything, that work hard, that are team guys, all those things.' So you knew you had a chance, and we thought at the time that they were good players, but you still never know until you actually get out there. You feel confident about it but you never know."

(On how he evaluates hybrid position players even if they may not have the numbers)

"It just takes a lot of discussion with Todd [Bowles] of what his vision is, what his vision is with each player because we don't want to just take a player and say, 'Hey, we think he can do this so we just assume you're going to do that with him.' It takes a lot of discussion which we do have and we have a lot of great discussions about that. At the end of the day we have to all feel comfortable that if we get this player, this is what we hope he can do."

(On his staff's ability to pivot on players, for instance RT Luke Goedeke changing positions after his rookie season)

"Yeah, it happens. In some cases, it doesn't always happen that way. On the case of Luke, Todd [Bowles] and I were talking, it was [that] we needed a left tackle and we thought we might have one of the best left tackles sitting here playing right tackle and Luke was a very good right tackle in college and why not give him a shot? It worked out. He doesn't have the prototype arm length and all that, but turns out he can overcome that so he's pretty good at it. It worked out in that particular case."

(On how he weighs drafting injured players that may potentially miss rookie mini camp and training camp)

"I guess you weigh it in a little bit. You can only evaluate what he puts out there and what he has out there so you weigh it a little bit. You don't ideally want to bring in players that have a history of being hurt so we work that into the algorithm, if you will. You ideally want a healthy player so you have to weigh it in a little bit."

(On how the draft process has changed this offseason without former Assistant General Manager John Spytek and if he is worried that Spytek may want to draft similar players)

"We're picking so far apart so [no]. Of course, I miss him as my friend. We've had the same process, [with] a lot of guys working in the process all these years. Everybody is stepping up a little bit. I've made some promotions and I usually wait until after the draft for those. I've got guys like Rob McCartney, Mike Biehl and Shane Scannell and Tony Hardie and all the scouts – Byron Kiefer – you name them – Antwon Murray. Everybody is stepping up a little bit more into their role but it's been great. They've been ready for it for a long time so we're all excited about that."

(On how his evaluation of edge rushers has evolved over time)

"It's an ongoing, evolving process and you're always trying to get better as an evaluator. In a lot of those cases, I was the one running up the mountain with the flag on some of those guys and you're not always right. I think I've grown in my profession, in my job, to know that you can't always be right but I think as a group we look and see what some of the traits were on some of those guys and every year we try to tweak it a little bit, then you tweak it and then another player ends up [having] some of the same traits as some of the ones that didn't work out that work out for somebody else. It kind of all depends now, if you have a lot of good players along your defensive line, everybody tends to play pretty well. We feel good about where we're at and like I said, I've talked about it before – with [Chris] Braswell Jr., I'm excited about what he can do this year. I think he's going to become a little bit of a coming-out party in his role and we're excited about just the whole front."

(On how much of a unique advantage it is to have Head Coach Todd Bowles attend games at the University of Georgia to see his son and have such a strong connection to a program that's produced strong NFL talent)

"Yeah, it's great. They're just so extremely well coached. You could say that about a lot of programs. We've had success with other programs too. I think they also were able to recruit very well and had a lot of talent and then they coach them up well so any time that kind of meshes, it feels pretty good. Now, we're not the only organization – the Eagles – that have a connection with Georgia. A lot of them do, so we'll try to take advantage of those relationships as best we can."

(On how much he trusts his locker room to be able to help lead a prospect that may lack attitude or effort)

"We've done such a great job of bringing in the right kind of guys for that reason – because they police themselves. Todd [Bowles] has a great culture and great relationship with everybody. Our coaches do a great job. Not all things that you may read about a player having maybe issues with his attitude or whatever it is…You can't believe everything you read, but also, it's a case-by-case basis with those. [If] these guys are immature, I'll take immature. They can mature pretty quickly in a locker room like ours and fall in line. There's certain things that we won't tolerate but a little immaturity is one that we can live with, especially with the culture that we built."

(On if the trust in the locker room being able to lead a draft prospect goes hand and hand with some of the seniors who give up snaps for younger guys in college)

"Sure, yep."

(On if former Head Coach and current Senior Advisor to the General Manager Bruce Arians has been involved at all with studying quarterbacks)

"We talk from time to time. He's liking the golf course quite a bit right now. I just saw him this week actually. I had dinner with Ronde [Barber] for his birthday. He's enjoying the golf course and he's enjoying a stress-free life right now. I'll talk to him from time to time. I always enjoyed bouncing something off of him."

(On if Arians has been involved at all with this year's draft process)

"He hasn't been here for draft meetings but I'll call him from time to time. I'll give him a project or two."

(On if he agrees with Greg Cosell's opinion of the potential of 20 defensive tackles drafted in the first three rounds)

"I guess everything is possible. Potentially, I guess. Anything is possible. You go on a run at a position then all the sudden they can all go pretty quickly."

(On the process and what he learns from the top 30 visits)

"I just enjoy getting to know them. There are some guys that we talk to at the combine that I wasn't in on the meeting for various reasons and I just enjoy getting to know them. I just like hearing their story and I feel like I can get a lot from it. I know that they're coached up on it. There's really few tactics that some of our guys use to get them off their game a little bit but I just really like hearing their story and just how they've overcome some of the things that they have or some of them haven't had to overcome things but just how they're wired. I just enjoy meeting people so it's just fun for me in general."

(On what specific traits he looks for in prospects in terms of character)

"How accountable they've been, what kind of leaders they are, their general character, how they treat everybody around the building, whether it's the interns or the people working in the kitchen and the janitors or whoever it is. We try to get a report from everybody that touched them during the day. I don't know if they realize this. Some of them probably wish they would've known that [laughs]. Just hearing them talk about their teammates and what players that they went against this year and in past years that gave them troubles and hear their confidence and their humility too."

(On how involved Offensive Coordinator Josh Grizzard is with the draft process)

"Just like any coordinator that we've had in the past, we just went through draft meetings this week. We get together – myself and a few on my staff get together with all the coaches and meet one on one with a coordinator and Todd [Bowles] obviously, and talk about all the players that we assigned them to look at, which is a lot and they really get into it. It's very helpful not just for this year's draft, but it can be helpful down the line too, what they thought about these players. I mean, we've been watching them all year and talking to people for over a year on these players and [the coaches] have basically a month to do it, but some of the information they get is very valuable. It can pay dividends in the future or when these players get released at some point or when they're available when they're free agents. Some of it carries over. They really enjoy doing it and he's no different. He's got a big passion for it and I was really excited to see him in the meetings in his new role this year of just how detailed he got into it."

(On the perception of the Buccaneers will focus solely on defense because they had offensive success or if that doesn't matter and they just go for the best overall players)

"No, it really doesn't. Sometimes, people think you're playing games and you're trying to throw people off the scent and you're really not [laughs]. It really truly depends on how it's going to fall. I've got Todd [Bowles] excited about a lot of offensive players and we have a good offense but we can make it even better. We do need help on defense and it would be fun to see us improve there and I think we will without really making any huge changes. I think we're going to be better, but obviously, getting some new players in there is going to make it a lot better. It really truly depends on how it's going to fall."

(On how optimistic he is about keeping RT Luke Goedeke, CB Zyon McCollum, and TE Cade Otton when their contracts expire a year from now)

"We'll definitely be having discussions. I guess you just look at our past, we've been able to get them done and you can see the timeline when we usually try to get those done. We'll definitely be having discussions and that was a good class and we definitely want those players all as Buccaneers in the future too."

(On if he uses resources like mock drafts and other teams' top 30 visits and meetings to develop scenarios of who will be available at pick No. 19)

"All of it. All of it. Mainly, knowing what every team needs and our staff has done a great job with that and then just kind of knowing how they've drafted in the past, their decision makers there, whether it's the coach or the GM. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know [who] are the really good players in this year's draft so you kind of can link it all. You go through all of it. All of that is involved in it and usually it works out pretty [well]. I've been very fortunate."

(On if it makes it difficult to predict what a team will do if they have a first-year general manager)

"Yeah, it does. That's why this is so fun. It's unpredictable at the end of the day. You can look at all the mocks you want. I look at mocks just as a fan. If I didn't have this job I'd be looking at mocks anyway. I enjoy looking at mocks but we don't throw all of our chips into that."

-BUCCANEERS-