It’s already been a busy offseason for Jason Licht and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
They re-signed quarterback Baker Mayfield, wide receiver Mike Evans and linebacker Lavonte David to highlight their efforts in retaining the talented nucleus of a squad that won the NFC South and won a playoff game.
That doesn’t mean the work is over for Licht, who has some other potential signings to work through and perhaps surprisingly might be looking for a quarterback in the upcoming 2024 NFL Draft.
With the draft looming, Licht is still hard at work trying to lock up extensions for Antoine Winfield Jr. and Tristan Wirfs, and expressed confidence the deals will get done.
“We’ve had really good discussions there,” Licht said Thursday, via team transcript. “Once again, it’s like the same thing when we were at the combine talking about Baker and Mike and Lavonte. We really want them here, we want them here long term, I think they want to be here long term. We’ve had a good track record with getting things done.”
2020 first- and second-round selections for the Bucs, respectively, Wirfs and Winfield have earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro accolades en route to becoming standouts for Tampa.
Wirfs, a three-time Pro Bowler, is entering the final season of his rookie deal, having had his fifth-year option picked up, while Winfield, a 2023 All-Pro, was kept around via the franchise tag.
Though Licht didn’t offer a truly detailed update, he exuded confidence that promising news is ahead.
“I feel pretty good about things getting done,” he said.
First things first, though, and that’s the draft, which kicks off Thursday, April 25 in Detroit.
Slotted to pick at No. 26 overall in the opening round, Licht is of the mind that the team has plenty of areas to address.
“We have a lot,” Licht said when asked of his team’s biggest need. “And that’s OK, to have a lot of needs. I think it’s a good thing, actually. We came very close to going to the NFC Championship Game last year and we still signed our guys back and we still have a lot of needs. I think that shows that if we do this right, pretty soon, the next couple of years -- or even this year -- [we] could be competing. I always like the trenches, and I think we need help in both trenches.”
Perhaps the Bucs will address both sides of the line early, perhaps not.
One area that could be surprising is the Bucs looking for a quarterback after re-signing Mayfield.
That wouldn’t disqualify Licht from taking another signal-caller, though it wouldn’t be to compete with Mayfield. Behind Mayfield currently are Kyle Trask, a 2021 second-rounder of the Bucs who’s appeared in only three NFL games, and John Wolford.
“We look at all of the quarterbacks,” Licht said. “We spend a lot of time looking at the quarterbacks. I would never say that we wouldn’t take a quarterback because you could take one and be glad that you did at some point. Now, we like our room right now, but we will take a look at all of them, or we already have. It’s a little bit top heavy this year, but there is always that instance if we like somebody, and like I said, if we think he’s better than the other positions on the board that we would consider.”
Indeed, a busy offseason for Licht and the Bucs has hardly concluded.