The Bucs defense has been soft long before Mike Smith got here. A lot is made of Mike Smith's scheme and he gets practically all the blame for all the woes on defense. But to me it falls on Licht and the FO for not acquiring enough instinctive hard nosed players that are also good in space.
Lets look at Licht's hand picked guys...
Kwon is pretty good not great, but excellent use of a 4th round pick.
VH3? Above average athlete, but is small and chooses to play 10 yards off the ball most the time = soft and lacks confidence. He also loses balances on deep throws due to his lack of downfield speed. Not good for an 11th overall pick, you don't need me to tell you that, but yeah...
Beckwith? Big and tough, can tackle and shed blocks, but gets exposed easily against a spread offense, no sideline to sideline speed whatsoever. Doesn't offer much versatility if any.
Justin Evans? No problem with him so far, I think he's a good mix of finesse and rugged. But still a long way to go for him.
Ayers? Everyone likes his attitude but Licht got him at the end of his prime. His underwhelming production doesn't justify the salary Licht gave him.
Gholston? Received a hefty pay raise by Licht, yet he's always been just a run stuffer, for him to be playing full time DE in a 4-3 is beyond atrocious. I get he got all the snaps because of the injury to Spence, but to not have any other pass rusher behind Spence is a disgrace.
McDonald? Depth and locker room guy, nothing more. Definition of slightly above average on the field.
Conte? Should be a depth player but he's basically been our "main" safety for 3 years now... I know I know, quite sickening to think about..
Baker? Should be gone, what a horrible waste of money.
Ryan Smith? He has some potential but I haven't seen anything to make believe that he'll actually reach it.
Other bums worth mentioning brought in at high salary by Licht: Michael Johnson, Bruce Carter, and recently with TJ Ward.
A few blue chip guys Licht could have brought in yet failed to do so... Chandler Jones, Michael Floyd, Julius Peppers, Calias Campbell, Olivier Vernon, JPP... among countless others, feel free to add to the list.
As of now, Grimes, Evans, and Kwon are the only good pieces Licht has been able to scrum up on defense in 4 freakin years... maybe Spence if he can keep his shoulder from falling off. And Grimes has $$$, playing for a contender, and also retirement at the front of his mind... not a long term piece for this defense, another strike against Licht...who is clearly at the root of the problems we have on D, not Smith.
This D sucks ultimately because of Licht, Smith is just a damn pawn to those who don't see or understand what's actually going on. Like I've said for years, Licht is only a notch or 2 above Dominik... while delusional Buc fans and writers think he's light years better than what we've had in the past... which is not the case if you look at his overall moves.
