Jason Licht SPEAKS OUT About Mike Evans | Lavonte David's Lingering Decision | 2023 Draft Redo

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Jason Light speaks for the first time since the combine and shed some light on what happened

with Mike Evans and that his decision was most certainly not about the money.

You are Lockdown Buccaneers, your daily Tampa Bay Buccaneers podcast, part of the Lockdown

Podcast Network, your team every day.

What's up and welcome into the Lockdown Bucks podcast.

I'm your host, James Jarko.

We are going to be getting into Lavante, David's, drawn out decision process of whether or

not he's going to return.

And we're going to jump into the mail back for a really interesting time machine question

that is all coming up a little bit later.

Starting things off today with some reaction to Jason Light meeting with the media on Wednesday

and as expected, talking about the decision by Mike Evans to move on from the Bucks and

head to San Francisco to join the 49ers.

A couple of things stood out from this conversation starting with the fact that Mike Evans absolutely

did not make this decision based on money.

And if you go by the LaShawn McCoy snippet that went around on Twitter as well as a recent

interview with George Kittle, Evans may have made this decision on heading to San Francisco

long before free agency actually began.

You can say it was tampering.

I would say that it's business as usual players talk to one another.

They feel each other out in terms of situations.

It really doesn't make a difference in this case.

However, we know that Evans got a three year deal worth up to $60 million in San Francisco.

But looking at the breakdown of the contract, it's essentially a one year deal worth less

than $15 million guarantee.

Jason Light made a much stronger offer than that.

Quote, Evans means everything to me, but he needs everything to the entire organization.

Obviously, he's the best offensive player we've ever had.

And an even better person than he is a player.

So it's always tough.

That one was really tough.

We made a significantly higher offer and that was just the first offer.

It became pretty clear that him and his family were just ready, like he said publicly for

another chapter.

And ideally, of course, you'd want him to be a one helmet player.

But if you look back, there are several of those great players in that category.

Dan Moreno comes to mind because I was there.

You know, Barry Sanders, all of those.

But then for everyone you made, there's Jerry Rice, Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, Tom Brady,

did just at some point wanted another chapter.

He had already established himself as the best player we've ever had on offense in 11

straight years with a thousand yards, setting records.

He won a Super Bowl in my conversations with him.

You know, we got emotional and quote, now those that want to blame light in bowls are going

to continue to do so, but light only got to make one offer and it was significantly higher

his words than the offer that Evans took to go to San Fran.

It was about the situation and sure, maybe Todd bowls played a part in that.

Evans said he was looking for a top tier offensive coordinator and there aren't many in the

game better than Kyle Shanahan.

I, nor anyone else that's actually serious.

And you know, I'm not going to argue that bowls is a better head coach than Shanahan.

He's not.

We all know that.

Does that mean that Evans thought that bowls was a bad coach?

No, it just means that he wanted to play for a coach that he thought was better.

Just because you think one is better doesn't mean you think the other is bad.

Breaking it down even further, Evans talked about wanting to get a lot of targets and that's

something that he is going to get with the Niners that he may not have gotten with the Bucks.

Yes, of course the Bucks were going to target him, but it may not have been to the level

that he's going to get in San Fran as he continues to try to climb the all time receiving leaders

list and add to his Hall of Fame resume.

There just aren't as many mouths to feed out there compared to here.

Kiddle probably isn't even going to be back to start the season.

You don't have Brandon, I you got there anymore.

You have McCaffrey, you have Pearson, and you have who else?

Christian Kirk to Marcus Robinson, like no one else out there is going to eat into Mike's

targets the way Chris, Mech and Jay Mac would have.

Go back to the end of last season.

Mike Evans targets to start the year where 8 11 and 9.

Okay, that's that's pretty solid.

You're you're talking about 28 over nine targets again against Detroit.

He gets four, but he left the game with the broken color book.

Maybe returns against Atlanta.

He gets 12 fantastic.

The rest of the way when they needed one game to make the playoffs.

97 in two.

That's it.

18 targets.

Over the same span of Buka had 10.

Godwin 15 Macmillan had 13.

So while Evans still led the team, it was only adding up to six targets again.

That's nearly three targets fewer per game than not just the start of last season,

but his career average.

And for a guy that's trying to get into the top 10 all-time in yards,

he's 1293 away from passing Reggie Wayne for 10 all-time.

And touchdowns where he's currently 10,

but he's 20 touchdowns away from breaking into the top five.

That's just not enough targets with the amount of time that he has left in the lead.

So you combine those factors, better offensive coordinator slash head coach,

more opportunities, and you add that in with the frustration of missing the playoffs

and not being able to close things out at the end of the season as well as just not having

enough playmakers on the defensive side.

Yes, San Francisco is an overall better opportunity for him to accomplish not just his

personal goals, but the goal of winning a Super Bowl.

Is that an indictment on Jason White and Todd Bowles?

Sure, to some degree, but this wasn't a situation where there was really

anything that they were going to be able to do about it.

Mike had already made up his mind.

Whatever the reason or reasons, and that was that.

This is just the nature of the game.

Another part of it may have been getting to experience something new, something different.

Now, the grass isn't always greener on the other side.

So we'll see if this was the decision that works out for both Mike and the 49ers,

or if maybe he winds up regretting leaving, but he won't ever know unless he tries.

You know, maybe there's a part of Chris Godwin that regrets coming back rather than

taking the Patriots off for last year.

You know, he's not going to know because the decision that he made is the decision that he made.

I'm sure many of you have been in similar situations where you had a chance to do something,

and you either took that chance in it worked, or you didn't take that chance and you regretted it.

Maybe you took that chance.

It didn't work, and you learned from that experience and you move on.

But it's the same for Mike Evans.

This was a risk that he was willing to take and that he felt was best for he and his family.

There's been plenty, and I keep going back to it because it's the God's honest truth.

This is a job to them.

They don't have the loyalty and the

infatuation with one particular franchise the way fans do.

It's not the same.

It's apples to oranges.

You know, these guys are loyal to whoever is writing their checks and whoever is giving

them an opportunity to win.

I still think that the box are in great shape a receiver without.

Of course, they're better with him, but without him, it's not as if the cupboard is bare bones.

Maybe if they don't drop to Buka in the first round last year, Mike comes back.

But maybe if they don't drop to Buka in the first round last year, Mike still leaves,

then you have yet another glaring weakness on your roster that you have to try to address.

We're never going to know for sure, but this offense is still built to compete with the best

in the league and they have an offensive coordinator that can help them do that.

But as I said, those that want to point the finger solely towards Jason Leiden Todd,

goals are going to continue to do so no matter what.

I say personally, it was a huge combination of multiple factors that all

played into it and ultimately led Mike to the decision that he made.

And while I think the box probably would have been better off changing the head coach after

last season, I think that Jason Leiden has done an overall good job as the general manager.

There's only so much that he can do if he isn't being afforded to cash from ownership to make

splash signings and free agents. The glazers open the checkbook during the Brady era,

but things aren't the same now. Not to mention, you don't have top tier talent willing to take

a third or half of what they could get other places just for the chance to play with Tom Brady.

Those days are over. So you turn the page, you move on and you continue to build the future

of the team through the draft and hope that Jason continues to hit on more picks that he misses.

You know, I saw the other day on Twitter that Steve Palazolo of the 2013 did a production-based

ranking of draft classes since 2021, excluding quarterbacks and the box ranked fifth in the NFL.

That means that outside the Rams, Lions, Eagles and Chiefs, no other team has had more production

from their draft picks than the box. Like it or not, Jason Leiden has been really, really good

at draft. Nobody bats a thousand, but you have better batting averages than Jason does in these

drafts. What on earth is taking so long with Lavante David? That is coming up next on today's episode

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Levante David has still not made his decision on whether or not he's going to return next year.

And that has a lot of people. I won't say anything, but word, maybe concern is the better word.

Because that would mean that as of right now, you're starting linebackers are Alex Angeloni. Great,

awesome answer bossy a dentist, not great, not awesome. Regardless, the bucks have to draft at

least one, but the longer that this Levante situation drags out, the more frustrating,

it's bound to become. Now, I would say that I'm in a place right now where Levante's decision

should not affect what the bucks do. If he comes back fine, that's that's great. If not,

he'll get put into the ring of honor this season. I don't think the bucks are going to make him

wait at all. He will immediately go up the year that he retires. That said, the bucks need to

start moving forward with the assumption that he is not playing. And the reason I say that

is simple. You need to stop holding money over waiting for Levante and use it to get another

linebacker on this roster. There are still some guys floating out there that won't be expensive

and that would at the very least be an upgrade over boss as the starter next to Angeloni. I realize

that's not a high bar, but it's an upgrade nonetheless. You know, you heard Evan earlier this week,

talk about, you know, the glazers might just say, you know what, Levante is on us. We're,

you know, we're not going to count that against the cash that we said you get to spend. We're going

to go ahead and cover it because he's Levante David. But as far as other players out there, you got

Logan Wilson, Matt Milano, Devon Bush is still out there. Now, he would be on the more expensive side,

but he's a locked and loaded starter for you. You have Jack Cocker and Jermaine Pratt. These guys

are still available. So either they're asking for too much money or teams are waiting until after

the draft in case they don't get the guys that they like. If it's the former, then the agents of those

players are doing them a disservice by not being honest about them with, you're honest with them

about what the market is. If it's the latter, it's all the more reason that the bucks need to

address things now rather than continuing to wait. It means a lot of teams like this year's

crop of linebackers and guys like Jacob Rodriguez and CJ Allen and Jake Golday and Josiah Trotter,

they're not going to last as late into the picks as we think they are right now with all these

mock drafts. That means that you could wind up being stuck with a guy like Deontay Lawson

as you're starting linebacker, which no offense to Lawson. I think he's a solid prospect,

but I wouldn't want to go into the season with him as my other starter. At that point,

you're likely better off just starting Savasi Aidanis while Deontay Lawson develops and comes along

and maybe he's your starter in the final third of the season. If these players all jump up the

draft board compared to where they're being projected, that means the third rounders are becoming

second rounders and day three guys are going to be your option if you don't take one at pick 15.

That makes the entire process more difficult since you then would kind of feel cornered into

needing to reach for a guy and potentially pass up a better talent at a different position

just because you have to fill a need. That's not what you want in the draft. You want to take the

most talent you can while filling needs, not settling because you have to fill a need.

And I realized that's going to be some people's argument about taking Kenyan Sadik at 15.

That's a completely different animal. I've talked about that numerous times. I don't agree. I

don't think that's the right decision, but that's neither fear nor there. We are talking about

linebackers right now. Lawson will have a spot on this team regardless of when he makes his decision

if that decision is indeed to return. But waiting around on him to do so is not the smart move.

You have to prepare yourselves for the potential of his retirement while not screwing yourself over

in the process. Worst case scenario, say they go out today and they sign Matt Milano to a one-year deal.

Now you have Milano and Anceloni as your starters with bosses third guy and then Lavonte returns.

All right, well now you have a great three-man rotation between Anceloni Lavonte Milano.

You still have Sebastian is deaf and you don't feel pressured into forcing a pick in five weeks

just because of a hole on your roster. You can absolutely still go out there and take Ron Riegas

or Golday or Anthony Hill Jr. out of Texas and you can work them in as they get more comfortable

with the system and they get their legs under them. But now the pressure is not there for them to

have to be in every down player right out of the gate. At that point, you're filling your roster

with the best talent that you can and you've prepared yourself for next season when Milano

goes back to free agency because you only signed them for a year and Lavonte likely retires.

You'll also have boss hitting free agency next season and likely won't feel the need to bring him

back as anything more than a backup but that's not okay with him then he's going to walk

because you're not going to overpay him when you don't have a starting job for him.

This is all about protecting yourself this year, next year and preparing for the future.

Sure if Lavonte leaves and you let you know boss walk, you're talking about linebackers being

in need again next season but it's not going to be the disaster that it is this year. Your

starters will be Anzaloni and whoever you draft this year unless these linebackers don't sit on

the board as long as we think and you get stuck with a player that just isn't going to be starting

caliber then it becomes a clearing weakness again and it's another big need next year and I don't

know about you but I would love absolutely love to go through an off season where we're not talking

about edge rusher and linebacker being a massive need for this team because honestly it feels like

we've been talking about those two positions every year for the last four years and there's only

so many ways to talk about this. There's only so many scenarios that you can play out. Yeah sure I

could spend 30 minutes talking about how the bucks are not out on max crossbeat which is something

we're going to talk about tomorrow according to my ten involved but you know I could talk about

trade scenarios out the wazoo but it's year after year after year and if there was ever a draft

where the bucks can get out ahead of it and stockpile for next year in the years to come at both

linebacker and edge rusher it's this year this is the draft class to do in interesting mailbag

question that dives into a potential draft mistake. We are going to be talking about that next

on today's episode of lock on bucks. Welcome to the five hour energy flavor draft. We are looking at

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Rep and things up here on today's episode of lock on bucks and Fausto reached out via the mail bag

which is currently open. I am taking as many questions as we can. No topic is off limits if you're

an insider or an everydayer club member just text. If you're not you should be but you can reach

out in the DMs on Twitter but Fausto asks knowing what we know today would you rather we had

taken Jackson Smith and Jigba at 19 instead of Kalaijia Canci? Fausto this is a great question

and you know Fausto went back to the 2023 draft where the bucks took Kalaijia Canci at 19

Seattle took Jackson Smith and Jigba at 20 now to put things in perspective here.

The bucks had lost in Dominic and Sioux after the 2021 season. They had played in 2022 with a

defensive front of B2Va William Goldstein and the team Hicks. That did not go well. However,

the bucks had signed Russell Gage prior to the draft to come in and be the number three receiver

to go along with Evans and Godwin back in the 2022 season. Unfortunately Gage was designated

with injuries that year and we never really got to see that trio do the work that we thought

that they would. So the need to beef up the defensive line was much bigger than the need at

receiver. Of course, you could say the same about a mecha booth the last year but again that seems

like a smart choice now in retrospect. So the bucks had drafted Logan Hall in 2022 and he went

through his rookie struggles started to show some improvement late in the year but you needed someone

that could upgrade the trenches. Kancy was a smart pick. Now when he's been on the field he's been

great. The problem is we know now how impossible it is for him to stay out on the field and to stay

healthy. So that does play into the hindsight a little bit. Now had the bucks drafted JSN instead

of Kancy, I don't think you're signing Chris Godwin back. He likely leaves in free agency last year

since you know he would have signed his deal coming off of the torn ACL prior to the draft so I

don't think you're you're letting him walk in free agency in 2023 but you're not bringing him back

last year. It's either that or you're not drafting Jalen Macmillan. So there is a ripple effect if

you swap those two picks or just swap out JSN or Kancy. Ultimately I think the Buccaneers made the

right decision when they took collage of Kancy in the given situation that they had. When you put

it in the context of what the Bucks were lacking at the time versus how things have played out it was

the right call. I mean you can go back to any draft and you could cherry pick guys that were way

better than you know where they were drafted or talk about how the Bucks took player X instead of

player Y and you know should they have taken somebody else. Go back just a few years and ask if

the Bucks would have been better off drafting Josh Allen instead of trading out of the pick where

Allen was drafted and then taking B2V later in the draft. Both are great players but one happens

to play the most important position in the game and isn't MVP. You know the ripple effect there is

if you draft Josh Allen you're not getting Tom Brady and maybe the Bucks have not won their second

Superbowl. You can point to the same draft that we were just talking about. You know in 2023 and say

the Bucks you know they took pain Durham at 171 should they have taken Pukinakua who went 177 to the

Reims. 2019 the Bucks took Devon White over Rashon Gary, Brian Burns, Jeffrey Simmons,

Montez Sweck was back to right call because you could point to Brian Burns as being a fantastic

edge rush or something that the Bucks severe the black but I would say the drafting Devon White

was the right decision considering how crucial of a role he played in that 2020 playoff run

in helping the Bucks win a Lamaritrope. Beyond that in that same draft class they took Sean Murphy

Bunting, Jamel Dean and Mike Edwards all of which were ahead of Max Crosby. Max Crosby was taken

the pick before the Bucks who took Anthony Nelson. Now we're the Bucks I'm Max Crosby with that

Anthony Nelson pick and the Raider Snytem baby but in hindsight would the Bucks have been better off

taking Julian Love who went a couple of pits after Anthony Nelson and is a pro bowl of

Warner would they even better off take Love over SMB or Dean and then taking Crosby over Edwards

maybe but again all three of those defensive backs were crucial members of a Super Bowl team.

One that I always love to kind of refer to is I go back to the Bucks in Ears taking Cadillac

Loons and we all loved Cadillac you know rookie of the year but they took him over Aaron Rodgers

and John Groven had flat out told Aaron Rodgers that if he's sitting there at five he was going to

be a buck in ear. The ripple effect was that two years later the Bucks pass on Adrian Peterson

because they have Cadillac and instead they draft Gaines Adams. Now if they didn't want Adrian

Peterson you can look at the selection of Gaines Adams you had Patrick Willis,

Derell Revis and Laurent Landry all sitting there at the same time. So then the next year you take

a key to lead who was he was really good for the Bucks on the field he didn't get his head on straight

until after he left the city of Tampa but because you took Gaines Adams you pass on Derell Revis

and in hindsight you could have taken Derell Revis and then instead of a key to lead the next year

you take Clayis Campbell who's still in the league. So we can play this game all day long you know

we absolutely can. At the end of everything though you have to ask yourself what the situation was

and what played into the decision that was made. For the Bucks in 2023 it was the fact that

their defense of front in 2022 was not good at all. They drafted Logan Hall but they needed more.

They were optimistic that Gaines was going to bounce back instead he ends up being cut in the Bucks

role with Evans Godwin and Trey Paul. Hopefully we'll get through an entire season in 2026

where Cancy stays on the field and shows that he can get it done for 17 games so that makes everyone

feel a little bit better about not taking JSN but it's the sheer domino effect. If you take

this guy you're not taking this guy and it's the team better off you know passing on JSN in order

to resign Chris Godwin and draft Jayla McMillan and or Ameca Abouka or should they have drafted

JSN now you still have the need on the defensive line mate you get somebody who's

not as talented but consistently on the field more than Cancy you're passing on Jayla McMillan

and so now you have JSN, Ameca Abouka and Chris God you know we can we can play those hypotheticals

all day long but bringing my my brain back to 2023 no I don't think the Bucks should have gone with

JSN over Kawaii Shakansi despite how their careers have pinned out to this point that is going

to do it for this episode once again if you have any questions no topic is off limits we are five

weeks away from the NFL draft we are through the first wave of free agency any questions that you

have again insiders every dayers you can reach out via text message if you're not then reach out

in the DMs on Twitter at Locked On Bucks I'm at Jay Yarko underscore Bucks Instagram and Tiktok

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