Jason Licht has been one of the best general managers in the business since accepting the job in Tampa Bay back in 2014.
He’s one of the NFL’s longest tenured general managers, and for good reason. He’s overseen a complete turnaround of the franchise, developed homegrown talent at one of the highest rates of any team, and engineered some of the best personnel decisions across the league in recent history.
But despite his proven track record, he’s not ranked as one of the NFL’s best general managers.
NFL General Manager rankings brutally snub Jason Licht
Patrick Daugherty, an NFL writer at CBS Sports, recently ranked the top 10 NFL GMs.
GM Rankings hot off the press from @RotoPat! pic.twitter.com/jMyIrX0nKN
— Rotoworld Football (@rotoworld_fb) May 20, 2026
Of the top ten listed, only 4 have built a roster that won a Super Bowl as Licht has. Licht is ranked at No. 12.
Licht is the one who was able to get Tom Brady to sign with the Buccaneers. He traded for Rob Gronkowski, and signed Antonio Brown and Leonard Fournette.
He signed Ndamukong Suh and traded for Jason Pierre Paul in the years prior, which helped lay the foundation for the Super Bowl-caliber defense that attracted Brady in the first place.
He also drafted All-Pro left tackle Tristan Wirfs and All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr., who both played a massive role in the team’s championship run.
Licht put together one of the best rosters in NFL history — and he wasn’t just a one-year wonder like Daugherty asserts in his article.
“Jason Licht has been on the job 12 years. The number of times he’s won more than 10 games without the greatest player in league history? Zero. In fact, Licht has one total playoff victory without Mr. Thomas Brady,” wrote Daugherty.
Last year, the Bucs ranked No. 3 in the entire NFL in homegrown talent. 71% of their roster had only ever played in Tampa Bay, meaning the Buccaneers are one of the league’s best in identifying, drafting, and developing talent.
They’ve reached the playoffs in five of the last six seasons and won four division titles in the last five years. Licht has built a consistently good and competitive team, and has one of the best draft track records of any executive in the league.
Not putting him in the top 10 and crediting Brady for all of his success was a brutal snub, but it’s just another receipt for Licht to keep as he continues to build a perennial contender in Tampa.
Add us as a preferred source on Google