The Right Man In Charge

The Tampa Tribune's Ira Kaufman had an amazing article about Jason Licht which you can read here, where he described a lot of who the man Jason Licht is and what he has learned throughout his front office NFL career. Licht has picked up a couple different things along the way to becoming the head man here in Tampa as he's learned from many of the best. Per Ira Kaufman.

"In New England I learned the value of putting players on the board in the right way in terms of what they’re going to do for us — being specific in how you grade players. With Philly, I learned leadership style from coach Andy Reid, making your staff realize how important they are in the process and empowering them to do their job. I also learned about taking blame when things go wrong and giving credit where it’s due.
“In Arizona, with Bruce Arians and (GM) Steve Keim, I saw a collective process, with everybody on the same page ... being bold, not afraid to do things out of the ordinary.”

 Jason Licht has all the qualities of a leader, whether he learned that along the way or has always had it in him, he has that special quality. Here at Real Bucs Talk we are a strong believer in Licht and the direction he has the bucs going. He has built this team not just up from the player but from the front office all the way down. You know you are doing things right when teams are taking your staff away to become their GM (Jon Robinson). Licht has full control of all personnel decisions now and I feel like thats the best decision the Glazers could have done.

Licht has always given off the feeling of the smartest man in the room and thats not just because he is, but that he trusts all the guys around him. He fully believes in newly acquired John Spytek and Mike Biehl whom all will be working together to bring Tampa back to the playoffs and being a respected franchise again.

“I’m so proud of my staff,” said Licht, who developed his scouting chops in turns with the Dolphins, Patriots, Eagles and Cardinals. “I love Spytek — he brings a different dimension because he’s more animated and opinionated. The room has learned to adjust to my personality and Mike Biehl has learned to say what you really mean, and not what you think the boss wants to hear.” 

Tampa has the right man in charge and most definitely is headed in the right direction. He and his staff will do all the homework needed to make sure the guys they select will be the best fit for the team. Can't wait to see the direction Licht goes with full command and the draft no more than 4 days away.

The Rise of John Spytek

John Spytek realized early on during his Michgan playing days that he wasn't going to play at the next level. So he started scouting the guys around him as a hobby not knowing that it would turn into his future profession. After finishing his college career in 2002, He would join the Detroit Lions as a football operations intern, where he would learn the ropes there for a year before joining the Eagles working his way up the ladder to pro/college scout in 2007. Spytek would be in that role for three years in which he grew as scout in which he wrote reports on 200 NFL players and 250 college players per year.

In 2010, Spytek was hired by the Cleveland Browns, becoming their director of college scouting where he would truly show his high football IQ and talent as a player evaluator.  It was a quick transition, but Spytek adjusted very nicely. Here is Spytek on the 2010 draft: per cantonrep.com

 “It was challenging, no doubt,” Spytek said, “especially making the move and all the things that come with relocating. All of a sudden I was in this new role where I had to have an opinion on all the top guys.

 “But we all work together so well. We knew it was a huge draft for us. It was a little bit hurried. We couldn’t put in place maybe everything we wanted to but ... I think we did a good job touching on the things that were important.

Spytek helped the Browns get impact players in Joe Haden, Tj Ward, and Shawn Lauvao and would only improve in his next draft. In 2011, the Browns got key players in Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard, Jordan Cameron, and Buster Skrine. Spytek added solid talent for the Browns and was quickly becoming a popular name around the league. In 2013, he would join the Broncos becoming an area scout before being national scout in 2014. At age 35, Spytek has climbed up the ladder very quickly and is now the director of player personnel for the Bucs, in which he will be the right hand man for Jason Licht. This guy is a true football scout and just loves football, here is a quote on him talking about Tom Heckert and how they find value in the middle rounds: per cantonrep.com

 “This business is just identifying players. Tom has proven to be very good at it. You can either watch players or identify players or you can’t. You can learn and get a little bit better, but if you can’t do it, you can’t do it.

 “I mean, it’s easy to put in film on Luck and Griffin and say, these guys are really good. It’s not as easy to continually make really good second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-round picks.

I think the Bucs found a young smart mind in John Spytek, another good pickup by Jason Licht.

Bucs Hire New Director of Player Personnel

Earlier this off-season, the Bucs lost former Director of Player Personnel Jon Robinson to the Titans as he became their new general manager. It was a big loss for Jason Licht and his staff as Robinson was basically Licht's right hand man, and they were together on a lot of key moves made in the draft as well as free agency. Finding his replacement would be tough, as you don't find guys with the background that Jon Robinson has. Initially, I thought Licht would promote within as key guys like Mike Biehl, Shelton Quarles, and Rob McCartney all have done a great job and have a good eye for talent.

However, that has change as of today per Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times, the Bucs have hired former Denver Broncos national scout John Spytek to become their new director of player personnel. Spytek, 35 started with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2005 and then in 2010 he became the director of college scouting for the Cleveland Browns, where he drafted key guys like Travis Benjamin (above) and Mitchell Schwartz. Spytek has a football background as he was linebacker for Michgan from 1999 to 2002, and got into football operations shortly after that.

This is smart move by Jason Licht as he went with somebody he knows from his time with the Eagles in John Spytek, who has risen up the ranks very quickly, displaying his vast football knowledge. Hopefully, Spytek can apply what he has learned from a winning organization in the Broncos, and help the Bucs become one in the near future. Jason Licht has done it again, as this is just another solid move by adding a smart, young, football minded guy in John Spytek to his staff. Plus it allows Jason to get an inside look from Spytek in how the Broncos were elevating guys for the Draft and to see if their thinking differ at all. With one week to go till the scouting combine, this move couldn't have came at a better time.