Where Does Jason Licht See 2025 NFL Draft Having The Most Depth?

The 2025 NFL Draft is closing in, and with that will come answers to the questions that have had fans on the edge of their seats since the Bucs’ playoff loss to the Commanders on January 12th. That seems like forever ago as the focus immediately shifted to how general manager Jason Licht can improve a talented roster that has some holes to fill.

Speaking on “The Drive With TKras” On 95.3 WDAE last week, Licht discussed which positions he sees as being the deepest in this year’s draft, whether or not the team is actively looking to move around the draft board, and why a glance Tampa Bay’s big board would be shocking.

Jason Licht Likes The Depth At RB, DL, and EDGE In 2025 NFL Draft

Thanks to the work of Jason Licht and the Bucs’ front office, the team has found a lot of talent in recent draft classes. That process starts by finding talented players and identifying the right people to bring onboard. That team-building philosophy has ripple effects every offseason with the team being able to re-sign its biggest free agents.

As it stands at the moment, Tampa Bay’s biggest draft needs are not as large as they seemingly were a couple of weeks ago.

Inside linebacker is not as dire with Lavonte David returning and signing Anthony Walker. Outside linebacker was addressed in a big way with the signing of Haason Reddick. Not letting cornerback Jamel Dean go lessens the urgency to draft a corner, while re-signing Bryce Hall and adding Kindle Vildor ensures there will be more depth in the room. That’s not to say each of those positions should not be prioritized early in the 2025 NFL Draft, but it opens things up a little bit to select the right player at the right time.

Licht revealed which positions he sees as the deepest and where some value can be found.

“It’s deep at running back, but we’re pretty good there right now [laughs],” Licht said. “It’s a very deep group at running back. There’s a lot of depth at interior defensive line, which would be good to — it’s always good to have great depth and be able to sub in waves at defensive line. We’ve seen that in recent years in the Super Bowl, the Eagles had unbelievable depth at defensive line this year. Defensively across the board I’m pretty happy with the way it looks right now.

“Even if it wasn’t deep, it’s just about making sure you take the right player. There have been years in the past where I didn’t think — running back wasn’t very deep last year. I didn’t think it looked good going into the draft, but we were able to get Bucky Irving. Sometimes it just works out in your favor if you just make sure you take the right guy at the right place.”

Reading between the lines, Licht sounded like he supported the notion of adding another defensive lineman. It comes as no surprise with his propensity to build up the trenches. Just look at his draft history of selecting big guys with top picks at a high volume.

2018: Defensive tackle Vita Vea

2020: Left tackle Tristan Wirfs

2022: Defensive tackle Logan Hall

2023: Defensive tackle Calijah Kancey

2024: Center Graham Barton

That is not even mentioning adding right tackle Luke Goedeke after Hall and right guard Cody Mauch after Kancey. With how deep this year’s defensive line class is, it makes too much sense to see the team add more depth with a value pick at defensive line.

You might be reading this and wonder, what about outside linebacker?

Reddick helps bring production to the room, but he was only signed for a year. Looking at the position’s long-term outlook, it would be beneficial to add another young piece to pair with Yaya Diaby, even with 2024 second-round pick Chris Braswell in the fold. If you are a fan of this idea, Licht had an intriguing response when asked about how he views the outside pass rushers in this year’s class.

“I do like it, I think it’s a very good group overall,” Licht added. “Probably as good as it’s been for a while. Maybe not super flashy, super elite, but some really good players that I think will be there on Day 1 and Day 2.”

Jason Licht Is “Always Looking” At Draft Day Trades

It had to drive Jason Licht nuts sticking and picking in the 2024 NFL Draft, especially with all the thumb-twiddling he did between selecting Bucky Irving at pick No. 125 and Elijah Klein at pick No. 220. It all seemingly worked out in the end, but that does not mean Licht and the front office are not constantly evaluating the opportunity cost of moving around.

“Always looking,” Licht said about moving up and down the draft. “Both scenarios we do a little project, it takes us about week to do. It’s an Excel sheet that would blow your mind of all the different scenarios depending on what player is there or what group of players are there. ‘How far you would move back, who are those players, who would you move up for and how far would you move up?’ I typically wouldn’t want to mortgage all of the picks and future picks unless there was a player that just blew our socks off and we thought was going to be the answer and take us over the top this year.

“I’m not sure that’s there right now, but it certainly is appealing to me to possibly, if there’s a group of let’s say five players that we really like that are there when we’re picking, to move back and secure some extra picks. That doesn’t seem to work out very often, it’s usually you have a group of five players and there’s only one left when you pick so just take them [laughs].”

When it comes to having a pool of players in mind in each pick range, who those players are for the Bucs would be a surprising revelation. Licht obviously did not share those secrets, but did suggest that the team’s draft board is different than you think.

“I’ll tell you this,” Licht said. “You’d be shocked at a few of the players, and not just our board, this could go for any teams really. What you’re hearing in the media right now that are first-round picks in every mock, there’s a handful of [players] in all of these mocks that we have buried on our board for a myriad of reasons. Sometimes it’s character, sometimes it’s medical but a lot of times it’s, ‘Geez, we don’t really think they’re that good [laughs].’

“Every year before the draft, my owners are awesome, they don’t ask and look over my shoulder and ask me every day, ‘Who are we taking?’ or give any input. They trust me. I give them a document the day before the draft. These are the players you’re going to see possibly go very high that we have low and these are the reasons why. There’s usually about a dozen of those players. It’s kind of interesting.”