Jason Licht will, in certain cases, draft "d-bags and a—holes"

NBC Sports

08-05-2025

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 JoeBucsFan.com, 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.