Bucs fans have known it for a while, and others throughout the football have finally begun to understand it, too: general manager Jason Licht is among the best in the league.

Licht and his staff, perhaps most notably assistant general manager Mike Greenberg and vice president of football research Jackie Davidson, have been masters of re-signing their own free agents in recent years to remain competitive.

But another huge part of Licht’s reputation has been his work in the NFL Draft. Licht, his scouts and the rest of his player personnel staff, have done a remarkable job building through the draft, with a particularly impressive track record of finding talent in the later rounds.

Bucs head coach Todd Bowles, DT Calijah Kancey and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

So, just how well have the Bucs been drafting under Jason Licht, specifically within the last 10 years? Betway recently analyzed the last 10 drafts and created a system to rank the best-drafting teams in the league.

The methodology, put simply, looked like this: Betway’s team looked at every team’s picks over the last 10 drafts and looked for end-of-season award winners, All-Pros, PFWA All-Rookie selections, Pro Bowlers and Super Bowl winners. Each team got a score for each metric, with the totals then multiplied by 20 for a final “Draft Score” out of 100.

Where Does The Bucs’ Draft Score Rank?

With a Draft Score of 25.6, the Bucs ranked 10th in the league, according to Betway. Licht and his team have drafted 10 players in the last 10 drafts who went on to make the PFWA All-Rookie Team. Only the Chargers, Chiefs and Lions had more.

Tampa Bay has also drafted nine players in the last 10 drafts who have gone on to make a Pro Bowl. Only the Lions, Ravens, Cowboys and Chiefs had more.

The Bucs’ score was also boosted by the fact that they’ve drafted 25 players over the last decade who went on to win a Super Bowl, with only four other teams surpassing that total.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers nose tackle Vita Vea – Photo Credit: USA TODAY Sports

The way Jason Licht and the Bucs built through the draft in the later 2010s was a huge reason why Tom Brady felt comfortable signing with the team in 2020, and plenty of those draft picks played a role in the Super Bowl LV win and the two NFC South titles in Brady’s time in Tampa Bay.

Continued success in the draft has also been why Licht’s Bucs have stayed competitive and kept up its reign over the NFC South in the two seasons since Brady’s retirement. It was surprising to see the Saints outrank the Bucs in terms of Betway’s Draft Score metric, though the Falcons ranking 22nd (18.7) and the Panthers ranking 26th (14.9) was less surprising.

Here’s how the top 10 shook out, with the Bucs rounding it out:

1. Chiefs — 55.5
2. Cowboys — 50.0
3. Rams — 48.8
4. Ravens — 43.3
5. Eagles — 40.3
6. Lions — 39.2
7. Saints — 35.9
8. 49ers — 30.7
9. Broncos — 27.9
10. Bucs — 25.6

Join Pewter Report For Our LIVE Draft Show — April 24-26

Jason Licht and the Bucs will soon get their next chance at drafting future Pro Bowlers, All-Pros and Super Bowl champions in just about one week, with the 2025 Draft set to take place from Thursday, April 24-Saturday, April 26. Of course, the best place for insight into the Bucs’ 2025 draft is PewterReport.com and our PewterReportTV YouTube channel.

Join us for all three days of the draft over on PewterReportTV, as our team will be LIVE starting an hour before the first round on Thursday and continuing Friday with the second and third rounds before wrapping up on Saturday with coverage of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds.