Entering his 11th year as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ general manager, Jason Licht is one of the longest-tenured front office executives in the NFL today. That’s a rarity in a league where change is the only constant.
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Since 2014, Licht has been the architect behind the Bucs’ rise to sustained relevance, building through the draft, mastering the cap, and winning a Super Bowl in the process.
But if you had asked a younger Licht what he’d be doing as an adult, “NFL GM” would not have made the list. “I wanted to be a small town doctor,” he shared in his latest appearance on the Field Talk Podcast.
An admission like this coming from a former CFB Linebacker and current NFL GM seems shocking at first, but it all makes sense when you realize that he majored in biology and pre-med with the goal of becoming a general practitioner.
“There were deals back then, there probably still are, where you go to a small town, they’ll pay off your student loans if you commit for a few years,” he explained. “But about my junior year, I realized I didn’t want to go to med school. It wasn’t my calling.”
Still, Licht finished his degree. His attention then slowly drifted to a different dream, working in football, particularly scouting. Initially, he had no clarity on how to break into scouting. As Licht admitted, “I didn’t really know how to one day become a scout.”
But fate met preparation when he decided to visit his former coaches at the University of Nebraska.
He walked into the office of legendary defensive coordinator Charlie McBride and asked, point-blank, “How do I become a scout?” McBride told him, “Next time one of these scouts I’m close with comes through, I’ll call you so you can ask them yourself.” Luckily for the now Bucs GM, that call came just two hours later.
“Get your ass off the couch,” McBride told him on that call. “I’ve got someone I want you to meet.” And that someone was Tom Braatz, a longtime NFL executive then working for the Dolphins. The two went out for pizza and beer and talked football — a conversation that led to Jason Licht’s first NFL opportunity, an internship with the Miami Dolphins.
From that moment, he never looked back. Licht went on to hold scouting and front office roles with the Panthers, Patriots, Eagles, and Cardinals before landing in Tampa Bay.
Since taking over in 2014, he’s turned the Bucs into one of the most stable franchises in the NFL. His drafts have yielded stars like Mike Evans, Tristan Wirfs, and Antoine Winfield Jr. And yes, he pushed for the Tom Brady signing in 2020, delivering the team’s second Super Bowl that season. In 2024, he locked in Baker Mayfield, re-signed key veterans, and continues to lead a team that’s won four straight NFC South titles.
So even though his biology degree may not be in daily use these days — “I can’t even help my kids with their biology homework now,” he laughed — the instincts, work ethic, and people skills that might’ve made Jason Licht a great small-town doctor have made him one hell of a GM. Tampa Bay fans must be really glad he ended up choosing what he’s doing today.
