Buccaneers give general manager Jason Licht extension

In the wee hours of the morning, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and general manager Jason Licht agreed to a contract extension for another five years.

This morning, the Tampa Bay Times reported that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and general manager Jason Licht have agreed on a new deal, extending his deal for an additional five seasons. Licht and new head coach Bruce Arians are great friends, leading to Arians coming out of retirement to coach the Buccaneers, and now the two are attached at the hip for the long haul.

Licht was originally hired as the general manager of the Buccaneers back in 2014 after years as the director of player personnel with the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals and one year as the vice president of player personnel for the Miami Dolphins. This extension comes on the heels of a report earlier this offseason that the Buccaneers kept Licht just to avoid too much instability and turnover.

As the general manager of the Buccaneers, Licht does not have the greatest track record of draft picks, with the likes of Austin Seferian-Jenkins and the entire 2016 draft class to his name. However as the new coaching staff has rolled in, Noah Spence, Vernon Hargreaves, and Ronald Jones have seemed to take a step forward after looking like busts.

Also as the GM in Tampa Bay, Licht has been known as a big spender, signing free agents DeSean Jackson, cornerback Brent Grimes, defensive linemen Chris Baker and Vinny Curry, and trading for the likes of Jason Pierre-Paul. Now with Arians handling a portion of personnel management as well, it will be interesting to see the role that Licht plays in Tampa Bay moving forward.

It will be interesting to see if the hiring of Arians or if the head coach had any say in Licht’s extension. Whether or not he has earned this extension, Licht is a Buccaneer for the long haul as the marriage with Arians is here to stay.