If there is one thing the Bucs have done better than any other team in the NFL recently, it is retaining their own talent. As alluded to on Tuesday’s Pewter Report Podcast, the league has yet to wake up to what has been cooking down in Tampa Bay.

Between general manager Jason Licht and assistant general managers Mike Greenberg and John Spytek, among many others, there has been a change in the front office formula in recent seasons as the team has kept 22 of their 23 draft picks over the past three years and 44 players of their 53-man roster having started in Tampa Bay.

On Wednesday, Licht discussed further what the secret is to how they approach each NFL Draft.

Jason Licht And His Front Office Staff Are “All Aligned”

Bucs GM Jason Licht and assistant GM John Spytek – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

When it comes down to the Bucs being able to make the playoffs four straight seasons were completely different iterations of the team during that span, credit is due to the front office for being able to make it happen and doing it while paying off a massive credit card bill. Not only was Tampa Bay able to pay the bill off, but they did so in a diligent manner by sticking to the plan.

Talk about financial literacy.

Jason Licht shared the reason for the team’s success, and how everyone knows what to look for when it comes to the NFL Draft.

“It starts with my staff,” Licht said. “I’ll always say that. They do a phenomenal job. We’ve been together for a long time. John [Spytek], Mike [Greenberg], [Mike] Biehl, Rob McCartney, my scouts – I could sit here all day and I would name every single one of them, so I don’t want to leave one of them out. They do a phenomenal job. They know what I’m looking for when they present it to me and they whittle it down and I look at the players and make the final decision – along with Todd [Bowles] – but I make the final decision.”

The final result of each decision speaks for itself as a whole.

“We’re all aligned – that’s number one,” Licht added. “Number two, just because a lot of players make your team – draft picks – doesn’t mean that that’s good. In our case, we think it is – we think that they’re all very good players, but you could select 15 guys and then I could tell Todd [Bowles] they’re all making the team and they could be no good. In this case, they are. We’re excited about them. I love the process that we have with the coaches and how they’re involved and we all get along.”

Bucs Have Shown They “Love To Develop Young Guys”

Bucs GM Jason Licht and HC Todd Bowles – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

This process has meant determining which direction was best for the football team and planning out the course years ahead. It has not been the easiest to chart, and it has been filled with tough decisions, but it is one the Bucs have taken head-on.

Having a coaching staff that is eager to build up young players helps.

“One thing [about] Todd [Bowles] and his coaches – they’re not afraid to play young guys and they love to develop young guys,” Jason Licht said. “That makes our job – my job – really easy, because we love young talent. We don’t love getting rid of older guys, that’s not the point. It’s [that] we want what’s best for the football team.

“The last couple of years, it has been because of the salary cap and the dead money that we had. It was crucial for us to draft well and to have undrafted free agents on this team, just to survive just with the debt that we carried. It worked out that way. We’re very happy with the way it’s worked, and now, we’re hoping to win this year, too.”

Speaking of undrafted free agents, two more made the team this year in wide receiver Kameron Johnson and cornerback Tyrek Funderburk after four (running back Sean Tucker, wide receiver Rakim Jarrett, outside linebacker Markees Watts, and defensive back Christian Izien) have stuck around from last year.

That is like hitting on extra draft picks, and Funderburk was complimentary of the team hedging its bets on guys like him.

GM Jason Licht Admits Changing This Aspect Of The Bucs’ NFL Draft Formula

Has there been any marked change in the Bucs’ draft philosophy? Jason Licht, understandably so, would not give up his Krabby Patty formula, but he did share one change the team made a few years ago.

Bucs HC Todd Bowles, OL Graham Barton and GM Jason Licht – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

“Well, I don’t want to give away secrets too much, but I alluded to it before – I have a great staff,” Licht said. “The secret to being successful is having – you know, I want to be the dumbest guy in a room, which isn’t hard, but these guys are very very good, these guys and girls that I have working on the scouting staff.

“Several years ago, I kind of made a commitment to – let’s go after the high character – they have to be able to play, but let’s stay away from the guys we have concerns about and it’s hard. It’s hard to resist the temptation and I’ve taken more players off the board in the last few years just so I would resist the temptation of taking them, and for the most part, we’ve been spot on and glad that we didn’t take them.”

Safe to say it has worked.

Going after high-character guys first while still finding talented players has led to a locker room that meshes well together with not a lot of unhappy campers. That is something Jason Licht has learned over the years since becoming Tampa Bay’s general manager a decade ago.

“Oh yeah,” Licht added. “[There’s a] common denominator in the type of player that’s turned out to be a great player.”

Scott Reynolds Discussed Jason Licht’s Draft Secret In A Recent Pewter Pulse

In mid-August, Pewter Report’s Scott Reynolds discussed some of what Jason Licht talked about in recent Pewter Pulse video on the PewterReportTV YouTube channel.