It's difficult because having good character in general does not make you a good football player. There are plenty of high character teachers and firemen and bus drivers and chefs and college football players. But being a high character college football player doesn't directly correlate to being a good NFL player. You can't just say Player X has A high character plus B good measurables = C NFL good player. Not that simple.Wow that sounds easy. Just draft the guys with good character! But of course it isn't. How do you really identify guys with character vs. guys who are just for sho
Definitely difficult, but very important. I think the Bucs do it by looking for some basic traits like team captains and production, but also by interviews and and lot of talking with coaches and other players. Even then they obviously have misses, but at least they are trying to narrow the scope of the misses by looking beyond just measurables. Kudos to them.
Licht says "it was about five years ago." That is probably just a rough recollection, but it is interesting because of Devin White. Devin White's primary issue is/was his character and specifically that he does NOT love football. Lots of physical skills, but not the kind of guy Licht is focused on now. ironically, Bruce Arians specifically said that White was the right pick because he loved football. Maybe White was the turning point, but he was playing well in 2020 season, obviously, so maybe not.
More recently, the Bucs sort of questioned McMillan's character a bit early last season. He responded well, but then they went big at WR this draft. Imperfect process for sure. Either way though the picks this year seem to suggest they have an actual method and are sticking with it.
I wouldn't say its difficult
It's difficult because having good character in general does not make you a good football player.
All you have to do is reverse your equation and it makes sense.
all things being equal the Bucs would choose the high character good football player over the good football player with questionable character.
Nothing is an absolute in a player evaluation except maybe something extreme. Licht just talked about this. If they have their eye on a good football player the question is what kind of person. That doesn't mean the player has to be a high character player (their definition) it just means that high character probably pushes them toward that player. Licht said they woukd take a good player who was immature (our 3rd WR might be that) but probably not a player who has shown all kinds of bad character traits.
Licht distinguished between bad character and immaturity. He’s willing to take someone with talent who may just need time and some good examples … he’s not willing to take guys who have criminal associations or has SA allegations. I think the allegations are just red flag for interviews.
im sure the Bucs do a good job of investigating allegations & distinguishing between rumors and guys with legit issues.
We likely will never hear about the ones removed from the board, but he said they do remove them.
