Bucs Continue To Follow Jason Licht’s Healthy Free Agency Plan

There is no question that when it comes to building a team, few NFL general managers have taken such a diligent approach in identifying which free agents will supplement the core of the team than Bucs general manager Jason Licht. Adding a player or two as missing pieces to a contending team is necessary, like when Tampa Bay added quarterback Tom Brady, among other free agent moves, back in the 2020 offseason.

Licht has stuck to that plan but made a surprising move during the first week of free agency. Outside of the usual re-signing key players, the team added outside linebacker Haason Reddick. Looking at this from a different perspective, Pewter Report alumni and Pro Football Focus’ lead NFL Draft analyst Trevor Sikkema joined us on Sunday’s Pewter Report Podcast to do a live mock draft after assessing how the team has done so far in the Wild West of NFL free agency.

Bucs’ Free Agency Has Been “A Little Bit Of Par For The Course”

Trevor Sikkema, who also co-hosts the NFL Stock Exchange Podcast (which I highly recommend, by the way), went into detail about how the Bucs have fared during free agency so far. Jason Licht likes to keep his own, but the team has also made some external moves, bringing in Haason Reddick, swing tackle Charlie Heck, inside linebacker Anthony Walker, cornerback Kindle Vildor, and punter Riley Dixon.

Not the splashiest additions outside of Reddick, but there are still more signings to come. Plus, Licht puts more focus into constructing the core of the Bucs’ roster through the NFL Draft.

It is better to build a ship from the ground up the right way than rush to get out onto the water by plugging up holes.

“I thought it was sort of exactly what they needed to do,” Sikkema said. “I think that outside of a couple of free agency periods here and there, Jason Licht’s free agency plan is always like, ‘Hey, we’re going to draft really well and then when it comes to free agency, we’re going to take care of the guys that we want to keep on this team.’ It was a little bit of par for the course, if I’m sort of remembering things correctly of how he likes to operate things.

Bucs GM Jason Licht and former QB Tom Brady – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“You’re building the health of your team through your draft and you’re not necessarily going out — outside of the Tom Brady year where it just felt like it was Tom Brady and friends coming in from the outside. Even when that was the case, the roster was very healthy and the core was there because of how they go about the strategy. I figured that it would be a lot of taking care of your own, but the Haason Reddick move really surprised me.”

Licht has not deviated from a proven strategy that has worked for him and the rest of the Bucs’ front office for the past decade. He learned from his mistakes after his first free agency where he brought in big names that led to little results. The proper blueprint is identifying who fits within the building and molding them from the start of an NFL career.

That’s in part why the team is known for its high-character players and has built a cohesive locker room that gels. They know what they’re looking for, but that’s not saying they will not make a notable addition when needed.

Jason Licht Does Not Want Any Headaches, But Haason Reddick Is Different

Bucs OLB Haason Reddick – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Haason Reddick characterized his 2024 season as “very bizarre” when speaking to the media for the first time after signing a one-year deal with the Bucs. After Reddick was traded from the Eagles to the Jets, he reportedly had agreed to a new deal before it fell through, and he never received one. That led to the two-time Pro Bowl pass rusher holding out for the first half of the season before returning with underwhelming results.

Trevor Sikkema thinks that Jason Licht and Co. did their research and peeled back the layers before bringing him in. The organization vets its players better than any team in the business, which is why Bucs’ players are not found in the tabloids.

Reddick comes in with connections to the coaching staff, and there is no question he has the potential to bring that “it” factor rushing the passer.

“It was very confusing to watch from afar what was going on with the New York Jets,” Sikkema said about Reddick’s last season. “This is somebody who was very successful when he was in Philadelphia, he was very successful when he was used the right ways. Early on in his career teams tried to say he was this off-ball linebacker. He’s not really an edge rusher, he’s too small to be an edge rusher. It wasn’t until you got to the coaching staffs and the regimes who said, ‘No, no, no, you’re better rushing the passer’ that you exactly started to get the most out of him. It made sense the New York Jets wanted him.

“Then there was that whole [contract situation]. Normally Jason stays away from those situations. He doesn’t want to deal with the headache, he doesn’t want to deal with all of this and that. He wants to go through the character evaluation process of drafting the right guys, the guys that they believe are Buccaneers through and through. That are culture fits, and then they take care of the team like that. They must have gotten to the bottom of what happened last year and they must be pretty okay with it, even though it’s just a one-year deal, to say, ‘We need better pass rushers. We need guys who win one-on-one.’”

Head coach Todd Bowles stated at the 2025 NFL Combine that he wanted to have better pressure from the team’s four-man fronts, and after adding Reddick to the trio of defensive tackles Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey along with outside linebacker Yaya Diaby, it is safe to say it will be. If Reddick gets back to his double-digit sack ways, he joins a front led by someone in Vea who commands double teams and young talents in Kancey and Diaby who are only continuing to get better.

Zooming back and assessing the Bucs’ roster as a whole through the first week of free agency, some might be critical of Licht.

Bucs GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“What are the Bucs doing?”

“Why didn’t the team add more defensive star power?”

Well, this is how the Bucs operate, and given the circumstances, it is hard to argue they have not taken care of business.

“They retained everybody that they wanted to from an offense that they really loved last year,” Sikkema said. “They’re hoping they can supplement some of their changes on the defensive side of things with a good draft. I would give the Bucs an A- type of a grade. They didn’t touch corner, but you can’t touch every single position so it’s hard for me to say that.

“Bringing Chris Godwin back was obviously the most important thing and showcased what kind of an organization this is. It’s hard for me to not — even though they still have a major cornerback need, it’s hard for me to not give this an A given realistic expectations of what it could have been for them.”

Watch PFF’s Trevor Sikkema On The Latest Pewter Report Podcast

To hear more of Trevor Sikkema’s analysis and to take a trip down memory lane of his time on the Pewter Report Podcast, check out the live Bucs mock draft he did with myself and Josh Queipo below. Leave your thoughts in the comments below on how we did with our picks.